Interview Guests – Page 125

321: John Feeney on gut strings, the 8 foot register, and the real history of the bass

It was such a pleasure to sit down and chat with John Feeney for this episode. As principal double bass of the American Classical Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, John has created an extraordinary career for himself.

319: Andrew Hitz on hard work and blue ocean strategy

Andrew Hitz and I go way back. Not only did we both attend Northwestern University together, but we actually lived in the same arts dorm! In fact, I remember Andrew playing tuba in the great room for performance night.

We reconnected last year when I discovered his wonderful podcast The Entrepreneurial Musician. He had me on as a guest in the fall, and I’m thrilled to have him on my podcast today!

We dig into topics like:

blue versus red ocean strategy and how we’re trained as classical musicians to live in red oceans
ways you can stand out in a noisy field
concepts from James Altucher
the best time to start a project.. and the second-best time
how so many people seem to be waiting around for people to become more educated and suddenly fall in love with classical music again
the crazy hard work that is behind every seemingly overnight success
lessons learned from shared podcast guests: Ranaan Meyer and Peter Seymour
Seth Godin – Andrew’s spirit animal

…and much more!

Links to Check Out:

More about Andrew:

Andrew Hitz is an internationally renowned soloist, clinician and speaker having appeared in over 40 states and 30 countries including Japan, Brazil, Russia and Singapore. He recently ended a 14 year tenure as the tuba player for Boston Brass. Andrew has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound and the Marine Band of Mexico.
Andrew currently teaches tuba and euphonium at George Mason University and Gettysburg College. As an Educational Ambassador for Jupiter Band Instruments, he appears all over the world as both a teacher and performer. Andrew has presented at over 20 state music educator conferences and taught master classes at some of the finest music schools in the world including Juilliard, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. He has also spoken about entrepreneurship and music business at many colleges and universities including Carnegie Mellon, the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina, where he appeared as a thought leader specializing in marketing and social media at The Savvy Musician In Action Retreat.

Andrew hosts two podcasts through his latest venture, Pedal Note Media, a digital media company founded with former Boston Brass colleague Lance LaDuke. Pedal Note Media provides products and programs to educate, entertain and inspire music teachers, players and fans.. “The Brass Junkies” is a podcast interviewing the best brass players in the world on everything from the serious to the ridiculous, just like the music business. Previous guests have included Joe Alessi, Carol Jantsch and Marty Hackleman. The other is “The Entrepreneurial Musician” which features interviews with some of the most successful people in the music business. Previous guests on TEM have included David Cutler of The Savvy Musician, Ranaan Meyer of Time for Three and Gavin Chuck & Michael Clayville of Alarm Will Sound. Both podcasts are available through iTunes or streamable through the Pedal Note Media website.

Andrew is also the author of “A Band Director’s Guide To Everything Tuba: A Collection of Interviews with the Experts” which features interviews with Sam Pilafian, Pat Sheridan, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser and others. The second volume, “A Band Director’s Guide to Everything Trombone: A Collection of Interviews with the Experts”, features interviews with Joe Alessi, Harry Watters, Ralph Sauer and others and is available now.

Thanks to our sponsor!

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318: Marcos Machado on the Tao of Bass

Marcos Machado is in the middle of launching his excellent and fascinating series Tao of Bass. I saw this book pop up in my Facebook feed in the fall, and I got in touch with Marcos to do an interview about this project.

We dig into topics like:

how 20 years of scratching his head about bass technique led to this series
why he settled on Tao of Bass for a title
the wild mix of pedagogical styles that Marcos draws from
how important supple technique is for sound
how the 3rd finger is a secret weapon
taking a non-dogmatic approach to bass technique

…and much more!

Links to Check Out:

More about Marcos:

Marcos Machado is the only South American to have earned both the “Teaching” and “Performance” diplomas from the L’Institut International de Contrebasse de Paris where he has studied with renowned double bassist François Rabbath.

While in Brazil, Machado began his double bass studies with Uruguayan professor Milton Romay Masciadri (1931-2009), the former principal bass of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra.

Machado later moved to the USA and earned his BM and MM degrees at the University of Georgia, where he was a student of Dr. Milton Walter Masciadri. Marcos holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied with Professor Michael Cameron.

Thanks to our sponsors!

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