Gaelen McCormick

1130: Bass is for everyone! Deep-Dive with Gaelen McCormick and Michael Geib

Join us for a conversation with two frequent podcast guests, Gaelen McCormick and Michael Geib, as they discuss their recent article Bass Is for Everyone!, published in the American String Teacher journal.

Gaelen is the Director of the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine Center and a passionate advocate for inclusive bass pedagogy. Michael teaches at the University of Central Oklahoma as a bass educator and is also President-Elect of his local ASTA chapter.

Enjoy, and check out this cool article here!

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1118: Gaelen McCormick on Simandl’s 30 Etudes

In this episode, renowned bassist and educator Gaelen McCormick joins us to discuss her newly released annotated edition of Franz Simandl’s 30 Etudes, published by Carl Fischer. For over a century, these etudes have been a cornerstone of double bass pedagogy. Gaelen’s fresh annotations bring new insights and perspectives to this essential collection.

Check out Gaelen’s past podcast appearances here and pick up a copy of her new Simandl edition here.

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When you buy a product using a link on this page, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting DBHQ.

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1111: Bass Pedagogy Evolution with Gaelen McCormick

In this episode, we’re joined by Gaelen McCormick, President of the International Society of Bassists, to discuss her groundbreaking book Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass: Historical and Modern Pedagogical Practices, co-authored with Dijana Ihas and Miranda Wilson. Gaelen shares insights on the historical development of bass pedagogy and how teaching methods have evolved over centuries.

We explore the fascinating evolution of bass pedagogy from 1800 to the present day, with special focus on how George Vance and Hal Robinson’s Double Bass Project revolutionized bass education. We also discuss the valuable transferable skills that musicians develop through bass playing and apply to other professional contexts, along with examining the significant leap forward in teaching methodologies that has occurred since 2000.

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455: How to Learn a Piece

How do we learn a piece?

That’s a question thatI recently put out to the Contrabass Conversations community. The responses I got back were fascinating.

While we all have a different approach to learning a piece (as you’ll see in this episode!), there are certain recurring approaches that I discovered:

Listening to recordings
Watching videos on YouTube.
Beginning with a “bird’s eye” perspective
Playing along with recordings.
Working in chunks.
Connecting small chunks to form bigger chunks.
Slow practice.
Identifying key notes in phrases.

364: Gaelen McCormick on Young Bassists and Mastering the Bow

Gaelen McCormick was heading up the Young Bassists Program for the 2017 International Society of Bassists Convention. Gaelen is a past guest on the podcast, and we were able to find a few minutes to chat about her role at the convention as well as her new book Mastering the Bow, Part 3: Studies for Bass.

Check out all three volumes from Gaelen below:

Check out Gaelen’s original podcast interview here.