When I got the podcast going again in 2015, I knew that I wanted to do “round two” interviews with past guests. Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist and USC Thornton School of Music professor David Allen Moore was at the top of my list.
I had David on the show back in 2009, which has been one of the most popular interviews from the first-generation podcast episodes (nearly 14,000 downloads at the moment).
A lot has changed for David since we last spoke:
- He took a sabbatical and, after analyzing Edgar Meyer’s technique, developed the concept of fractal fingerings.
- He wrote a book on Fractal Fingerings.
- He became an ultra-marathon runner.
Several of my former students have studied with David over the years. When I asked them who had the biggest impact on them as a musician and as a person, David was the first person they mentioned.
I headed down to Los Angeles and we met up at his USC studio. Here’s a shot of us along with bassists Fernando de la Fuente and Dan Carson (another former student of mine!).
Fernando de la Fuente, David Allen Moore, Dan Carson, and Jason!
We dig into all kinds of topics, including:
- building an internal map
- how bass pedagogy is still catching up to reality
- analyzing Edgar Meyer’s bass playing
- the concept of framing
- Rabbath’s approach and the German bow
- how practicing is a creative process
- how running changed David’s approach to various aspects of life
- fractal fingering
- peak performance
- raising your floor as well as your ceiling
- reveling in your successes
…and much more!
Links to check out:
- David’s previous podcast appearance
- Videos on Musaic (New World Symphony’s great service)
- Domaine Forget (David teaches there in the summer)
- David’s LA Phil page
- David’s USC page
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