Making a bent endpin

Hello Bass players!

I recently spoke to a great room of teachers at the NYSSMA Winter Conference here in Rochester, NY. One of things I recommend highly to teachers who must keep their bass players standing (for whatever reasons) is to use a bent endpin.  My favorite supplier is Slava.net but sadly the owner has decided to close the business.  And my research for another supplier led me only to sites that sell a kit which you place on the bottom of the bass that provides for a spot for the straight endpin (which you also buy) to be angled back correctly.  But those kits run about $250, which seems quite out of reach for most public school programs.

So today I'd like to share with you the directions, as given to me by George Vance about 15 years ago.  Don't be put off by the need for a gas torch.  Your facilities department may have one.  I purchased one from an Ace Hardware store years ago and they are lightweight and very easy to use.

HOW TO MAKE A BENT ENDPIN

Any steel rod may be bent.  Grunert uses the Gotz endpin assembly which has a sufficiently thick rod (10mm).  If a thinner rod such as is found on cheaper endpin assemblies is bent it will tend to wobble.  It is possible to bend hollow endpins such as the Ulsa model but the procedure is more complicated.  The rod is bent so that it will hit the floor at a point lined up with the back edge of the bass when it is in playing position.

The bass cannot be carried around with the non-retractable bent endpin sticking out, so a sort rod with a rubber tip (or a wheel) is a necessary piece of equipment.

Equipment:

• Mapp Gas torch. Propane will work but more slowly
• Vise
• Bucket of water
• grinding wheel or hand file
• Endpin (I have purchased lengths of 10mm steel from the hardware store to do this)
• rubber cap - if you are using plain steel which you purchased

How to do it:

• The endpin will be bent at the point where it leaves the socket when it has been adjusted for playing. (Simple math here: measure how far out the student is using the endpin, then accommodate for the angle when deciding how far up to bend the endpin - ex: 4" of  straight endpin will yield 5.6" of length before the bend)
• Clamp it vertically in the vise and heat the bending point to incandescence.
• Wearing a glove, pull the endpin back to the desired angle. (44 degrees is optimal, I'm told by George)
• Remove it from the vise and plunge it into a bucket of water to temper the steel.
• Grind a flat spot on the pin just above the bend.  This is where the screw will hit when it is installed.  Without this flat spot the endpin would twist in the socket.

Here is the page written by Francois Rabbath talking about why he developed the bent endpin idea and how it helps players.

My recommendation is still that players sit from the time they start learning to shift.  However, I have run into enough teachers telling me that they aren't allowed stools or don't have room for stools that I want to make this possibility available to everyone.

Please feel free to contact me with questions!  gmccormick@esm.rochester.edu

Happy practicing and happy holidays!

Gaelen

Holiday bass carols event - this Saturday at 3pm in Rochester

Dear Bass Community,

Dan Ziemann and I, both teachers at the Eastman Community Music School are hosting an afternoon of FREE bass ensemble fun, playing through some holiday tunes and new swinging arrangement Dan has done just for us!  The Eastman School is where we'll meet this time, in room 209 which can be reached either by elevator or taking the grand staircase up from the main hall.  We will read through the carols at 3pm, take a short break, then play them through for our friends and family.  All levels are welcome and parts are available for any ability - yes even all open string parts are available!

We really had fun at our last community event - the Open Studio Class - and can't wait to see everyone this weekend and play together.

Parts can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tcq5l9qara9jlg8/AACQJj0PvAgFmkbp598qgj58a?dl=0

Feel free to browse the folders and see what appeals to you, print it off and join us Saturday!

Happy practicing!

Gaelen

NYSSMA 2014 Winter Conference presentation

My dear bass friends,

I just finished giving my second presentation to the NYSSMA conference attendees. Since last year's topic was right hand, his year I spoke about left hand technique and development.  What a great crowd of teachers and players!  For those of you who couldn't join us , or who want to follow up with me, I'm going to give all the handouts below.

click here to grab them from Google docs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2u-DJW4jF15UjZrODVYNjlQSHM/view?usp=sharing

Please give credit if you are going to use them for any publications, but otherwise just grab them and start working with your students.

I'm incredibly happy three of my students got up early to come downtown and help me out (you really should have seen how professional they all were!) - Jill Alexander (5th grade), Mabel Zawacki (7th grade) and Sarah Wager (10th grade).  They were my role models and did a great job trying out some of the exercises we talked about, and they played a few of the solos that are mentioned in those sheets but were not included online.  Most of my examples come from Progressive Repertoire volumes 1 and 2, and the Essential Elements series.  I chose Essential Elements because I see that book being used the most frequently in NY state.

I'm happy to come work with your bass students at your school, so please feel free to contact me about that.  I'm also happy to try skype-ing with a group class if the distance from Rochester is far.  And - save the date! - I'll be hosting the Rochester Bass Retreat in mid-August 2015 for teachers and players of all levels.  This year will be 3 days of fun including a track for pedagogy (with in-service credit available), new jazz and classical teachers coming in to work with us, and large bass ensemble where we'll all (yes, even you teachers) work on preparing a couple of works for last recital of the retreat.

Meantime, happy practicing, as always!
Gaelen

Early Christmas present for teachers and students

Good morning Bass players!

I received an email from a student who's recently graduated from Nazareth and off and running her own string program here in Rochester.  She's very excited that her bass players, whom she started with the Vance Progressive Repertoire, are getting really good left hand setups and finally able to play some simple tunes in the high position (3rd position, end of the neck).  They had been a little sad that all their peers were playing simple tunes in first position, and wanted to be able to go home and play something for their families to show off what they were learning. We had talked about things like Hot Cross Buns and Twinkle, so that she could keep them parked in the high position for a little longer.

As I thought about how few tunes we get from Progressive Repertoire that stay exclusively in the high position, it popped into my head that "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" would work really well in that high position and give them something popular to be proud of learning.

So, here it is for you, too - Do You Want to Build a Snowman - put in G major and can be played entirely in the high position.  I included some notes at the bottom about how to adapt it to be a shifting exercise between 1st position and the high position, and about the little pivot you'll need to add so they can reach one new note.  The pivot is something you would get to with them in Progressive Rep volume 2, but it's easy enough to show and the kids will probably want to "get it" just so they can learn the whole song. I've marked when it's time to pivot as "move up" and when it's time to return to the "home base" of 3rd position as "move back".

If this jpg isn't clear enough, email me (gmccormick@esm.rochester.edu) and I can send you a pdf of it.

Happy practicing and happy teaching!  Merry early Christmas, y'all!

Gaelen

Hal Robinson's audition preparation video

Dear Bass Family

I stumbled across this "old" video of Hal Robinson, now the principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra, giving a lecture/demo of THREE HOURS of audition excerpts and preparation advice on YouTube today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1D30AgYAk4

I'm blogging here so that we can all find it again in the future.  I saw this video, and yes it was recorded on videoTAPE years ago before everyone had a digital camera in their phone with better quality than tape.  But the advice he gives and the playing he demonstrates is so outstanding I want to recommend this to you and any of your students who are interested in pursuing orchestra or college auditions.

Scroll through the comments to find someone who has exhaustively listed the excerpts and the timings on the video for those who wish to jump in and examine only the pieces they are studying now.  (so much easier than fast-forwarding videotape, if you recall)

I'm not going to summarize or adapt anything from this video because I think it's worth your time to watch at least some of it and to hear his playing.

Happy practicing!

Gaelen

So who's coming to Bass Retreat?

I'm at my desk looking over the registrations so far for the Rochester Bass Retreat, which is just over a week away!!!, and smiling widely at the number and variety of people who are going to get together and talk/play/listen/learn/share BASS!  I bet you're curious, so here's the skinny:

about 1/3 of the group are middle and high school teachers who want to brush up on their pedagogy skills, ask questions on posture, and get the nitty gritty on using our oversized bows in a healthy, ergonomic way.

Of the other 2/3, who are primarily players, we have several local professional players coming.  Almost all of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Hochstein Youth Orchestra bass section players will be here.  Quite a few upstate college bass students are joining us - some from Buffalo!  And a few students from community orchestras and the New Horizons program at Eastman will be with us too.

I absolutely love the diversity of this group!  One of the pro's who is joining us said, "I just love the vibe at these bass events!"  I know what he means - we're not a competitive group, people love hanging out and talking shop with each other, and given the nice spread of ages and experiences, the conversations will be quite interesting and varied as well.

For those of you who haven't been to a bass workshop, or the bass convention when it was here last year, this isn't about doing things one way.  It's about sharing our experience, and everyone involved knows that becoming a better musician means a lifetime of learning and refining. We're all after something slightly different when we play, and we have a lot to learn from each other.

Which brings me to the guest faculty for this year - all people I've known a long time, all good spirits and great players and teachers.  These are people who lift up their students and help them become their own kind of player.  They build confidence in their students, and equip them with great technique so they can go out and create their own sound.  I've know Jeff Campbell since we were both at Eastman together a gazillion years ago, and even shared a practice room with him.  He's an incredible musician, and always looking at how music fits together (theory, ensemble, sound, rhythm) and thinking and experimenting with how he wants to sound, what he wants to write.  He's also been a member of the RPO for a long time now and brings so much to our bass section.

Nicholas Walker has been bowling me over with his compositions for years now.  I feel like I"ve known him so long, I can't even remember when we first met.  He asked me and Colin Corner to come work with his students at Ithaca College a few years ago, and I was so impressed at how they all have their own musical voice and style.  All of that backed up with solid technique.  He's growing a garden not of one kind of plant, but a big variety of beautiful flowers, with their own personalities.  He brings lots of background in composition, contemporary performance, Baroque performance, and the standard repertoire too.  Nicholas thinks a lot about ergonomics and developed the angled end pin that helps keep the bass more balanced when you stand.  He'll also share his insights about practicing and how to develop a plan that makes it not a "chore" to do every day.

Last but no where near the least is our Alexander Technique teacher, Katie Fittipaldi.  I met Katie through her husband, Mike, who is a bass player here in Rochester.  Mike subs with the RPO and is a great guy to sit with on stage.  Calm and competent.  I started studying with Katie a few years ago after I had developed tendonitis in both elbows and was sidelined from playing for several months.  It seemed to me it was a golden opportunity to examine everything about my playing and rethink what I had been doing.  I had taken a few lessons during my undergrad days, and was familiar in a very general way with Alexander Technique, but Katie helped to demystify so much of it, and showed me how to use it in everyday life.  We spent a full school year working together and I discovered many ways in which I could use my body more efficiently, and more naturally.  She's also a cellist, so translating her work to ours was a breeze.

If you're not signed up yet to join us, it's not too late!  The flyer is posted at the Nazareth website here, or you can do the simple online form at www.bassretreat.com

Bass Retreat- what's in it for students?

Good morning from the Rocky Mountains!  Scales at 8,000 feet of elevation never sounded so good :D

** Reminder: early registration discount ends August 1! **

Register online at www.bassretreat.com or print your form and mail with check to Nazareth College. The form is here.

I've bee getting some requests for a more detailed schedule of events for our Bass Retreat and today I'd like to share a sample schedule with you. I'm reserving the right to change the order of events based on how many players sign up, and what ability levels we have attending. I want to be sure our Retreat gives everyone something they can work with. Some important things: there will be plenty of group playing opportunities, you will get to work with all of our faculty at least once and the there is built in social time at lunch - we'll be eating together family style- so that you can ask questions and get to know our faculty more personally. Trust me- I only invited the nicest people who are also GREAT players and teachers. There will also be a separate schedule for teachers who are attending, and if you are a college student, you are welcome to mix and match between the two tracks as you like. 

2014 Rochester Bass Retreat -- Players Schedule

9 am - Alexander Technique and posture with Katie Fittipaldi, basic bow work

10 am - fundamental skills workshop (group) with Gaelen McCormick

11 am - caring for your instrument, why strings, rosin, and setup change the sound of the instrument with Justin Rister from Stringed Insrument Services

12pm -LUNCH! Faculty and students together, food provided

1 pm - Improvisation class with Jeff Campbell, no experience needed

2 pm - masterclass with Nicholas Walker, some group exercises 

3 pm - faculty recital in Wilmot Hall

Teachers Schedule

9 am - Alexander Technique and posture with Katie Fittipaldi, basic bow work (both bows available to try)

10 am - how to handle simple repairs in school with Justin Rister from Stringed Instrument Services

11 am - bow fundamentals and ergonomic playing with Nicholas Walker

12 pm - LUNCH! Faculty and attendees together, food provided

1 pm - using Progressive Repertoire alongside standard methods in your orchestra with Gaelen McCormick

2 pm - using Improvisation in your teaching with Jeff Campbell

3 pm - faculty recital in Wilmot Recital hall