Repertoire: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It's winter and I'm suddenly abandoning my usual "summer thinking" (daydreaming about Eastman@Keuka, which I am organizing for this summer) and catapulting to NEXT winter's NYSSMA conference here in Rochester.  And what double bass fun I can unleash on our teachers...mwahahaha!

So here's what I've come up for my next session in December, yes 11 months from now.  Deadlines are always so far in advance, as most of you know, so I've been reviewing the comment cards teachers returned from my last session and pondering how I can meet their needs at the next one.  The overwhelming notion I heard was: repertoire!  For young ones, for intermediates, for my advanced kids!

Ok - this is going to be a lot of work to pull together, but I *think* I can do this, with a little help from my Nazareth College bass studio.  Below is the proposal I sent in.  Please feel free to write me your suggestions on what you'd like to see presented, or if there are specific questions you'd like answers to about teaching the double bass.

In the past two years, I've given sessions on bow technique (2013) and left hand technique (2014), and had a ton of fun presenting them alongside my pre-college students.  Seems only right that I let the college kids get in on the action now.

That's all the news for today!  Happy practicing!

Gaelen

Widening the road - for all bass players and teachers

Hello Bass friends!

They are about 1/4 done with a project in front of my home to widen the road and add drainage to our otherwise soggy area.  Exciting, no?  And from where I practice in the front of the house, right now I see all kinds of large machinery being hauled by, lots of flagpeople helping to keep the flow of traffic safe, and not much else.  I live pretty far outside of Rochester, and it's very scenic and hilly, which makes for great road biking and running in the warmer months.  So I really enjoy seeing the bicyclists zip by as I practice.   But alas, they are wisely avoiding my road for the rest of summer.  The good news is that the road shoulders will be widened, making it even safer and smoother for our biking community.

Today, however, I am thinking a lot about the upcoming workshop I'm planning - 

Bass Boot Camp at Nazareth College  

We just named the date: Tuesday, August 19th!  And I was thinking about how this one day camp will be about "widening the road" for more ideas and more kinds of bass playing.  It's not always the case that lots of different ideas are welcome at the table, but I want you to know that here it is!  There are so many styles of bass playing, sizes of instruments, kinds of bows and bow grips, types of strings.... you see where I'm going with this?  

Bass playing isn't just one thing, and teaching it isn't either.  So let's widen the road together.  Let's share our ideas, play with them right away on our instruments, and help each other grow as players and teachers.  Save the date August 19, from 9am to 5pm for a friendly and fun day of bass playing and learning together.  A formal announcement and marketing materials will be coming out soon.  I have a great list of teachers and players joining me for this event:

Jeff Campbell - jazz bass professor at the Eastman School of Music

Katie Fittipaldi - Alexander Technique teacher, cello teacher at the Kanack School 

Nicholas Walker - bass professor at Ithaca College

and of course, me too!  Gaelen McCormick, bass instructor at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School

Until we meet again - happy practicing!

Gaelen