Tag Archives: Geoff Chalmers

Playing in tune, album reviews, Scodanibbio, drones

There are lots of recitals happening this time of year but it seems everyone is being coy about what is on the program. Or maybe they’re cramming and hoping for the best. Who knows, but they aren’t letting us know so I’m not able to list them. Having a recital? Let me know!

However, Geoff and Lauren released a great conversation about playing bass in tune. And as part of that conversation Lauren made some excellent points about using drones and tuners to help with intonation.

Intonation is a perennial issue on bass. Our big long wavelengths get really hairy as we drift about. There are tons of ways to work on this, here’s an archive of lessons on double bass intonation here at Patternroot. Try these out and see if they help.

Also, Berio/Scodanibbio performed by bassist Mark Buchner.

Getting album reviews is the focus on the entrepreneurialist side. Get some thoughts on this and help your next recording go a little further.

pre-New Music Gathering 2016

I’m very much looking forward to attending the 2nd New Music Gathering in Baltimore later this week. Over the past year I’ve spent time getting to know a few of the attendees via my involvement with Musochat (speaking of, you can get the archives here and also hear a great interview of Shaya and two of the other co-conspirators here). It’ll be great fun to put faces to avatars. I’ve also done some thinking on community and marketplaces as a result.

Since last I did an update post I’ve added a bunch of great videos of  Frantisek Vyrostko playing some works for double bass by Carter, Scodanibbio, and Gajdos.

I wrote a little bit on revenue streams and pivoting based on a Future of Music Coalition post. I still need to write something based on my notes from their excellent conference this fall. Ah well.

New bass stuff out there on the interwebs

A couple of great new developments in past couple months as well. First, one of the inspirations for this site is Jason Heath’s blog. He’s fired it back up again as a podcast and it’s great. Very excited he’s back at it!

Also, I’m psyched that my friends Lauren Pierce and Geoff Chalmers have teamed up to do some youtubey goodness!

Tons of great info is likely to come from that duo.

 

Put a bass in a car, especially a small car.

Geoff Chalmers gives the secret to getting an upright bass in a small car. If you’re going to play somewhere else, with other people or solo, you’ll want to know how to do this.

This video is from Geoff Chalmers’ DiscoverDoubleBass website. While he is focused on jazz playing, there are several lessons on his site that are easily useful to anyone playing bass whether they are into New Music or any other kind of bass playing.

Improve speed and comfort when playing

Rx: To play quickly, you’ll want to be in greater control of your left hand. 

Geoff teaches us how to keep our fingers from flapping around, something that we need to have in control if we want to play quickly.

This video is from Geoff Chalmers’ DiscoverDoubleBass website. While he is focused on jazz playing, there are several lessons on his site that are easily useful to anyone playing bass whether they are into New Music or any other kind of bass playing.