196: Andrés Martín on the creative process, the composer mind, and forging a bass scene

Double bassist Andrés Martín

Today’s episode features composer, teacher, and bassist Andrés Martín. Andrés has written works recently that have become quite popular in the bass community these past few years, and I’ve been looking forward to talking with him ever since hearing his music. Andrés is also the composer of Anna’s Gift and is currently writing the music for Anna’s Promise, the project spearheaded by Barry Green (a former Contrabass Conversations guest) that we featured on episode 189 of the podcast.

We’ll be playing excerpts from Andrés’ music throughout this episode, and we’ll start with an excerpt from the second movement of Andres’ bass concerto. He’s a distinctive and exciting new voice in the world of the bass and has captured the bass world’s imagination for sure. Andrés is a great guy and a deep thinker about creativity and the compositional process, and I think that you’ll learn a lot about inspiration and the composer mind from this discussion.

Tracks featured:

Bass Concerto No. 1 (excerpts from movements 2 and 3)
Suite Para Contrabajo Y Guitarra Española (2009) III. Milongitana
43 by Andrés Martín and Donovan Stokes (excerpts from movement 2 and movement 3)
Elegia Para Contrabajo Solo (2011)
Andrés Martín solo CD Cera
andresmartin.net

About Andrés:

Native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, bassist, arranger, and composer Andrés Martín has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, England, Germany and United States. Since his arrival in Tijuana (Mexico), Andrés has been immersed in teaching as well as performing as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a member of the “Orquesta de Baja California” and “Cuatro para Tango”, a chamber ensemble with whom he has released four recordings. He also organizes and directs “Contrabajos de Baja California A.C. ”, a Double Bass academy who celebrates an international double bass festival and chamber music course held in Tijuana every summer. As a composer and arranger, he works with a wide language which ranges from contemporary techniques to tango and rock. His work has been performed and recorded by very successful orchestras, ensembles, and soloists in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Japan and the United States.

195: Gaelen McCormick on bow strokes, Progressive Repertoire, and the Pomodoro Technique

Double bassist Gaelen McCormick is today’s podcast guest

We are featuring double bassist Gaelen McCormick on today’s episode. Gaelen is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic, teaches at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School and is the author of Mastering the Bow, a two-part series for bass. Part one is based on the violin studies of Franz Wohlfahrt, and part two features off-the-strings strokes.

We had a wonderful conversation about her early years in music, studying with Jeff Turner for graduate school (and you can listen to Jeff on the podcast—he was a guest back on episode 26), structuring practice time, the George Vance Progressive Repertoire series, and many other topics.

Before and after the interview, we feature Gaelen and Ed Paulsen performing a couple of Dave Anderson’s wonderful duets, and you can check out our interview with Dave on episode 75 of the podcast.

About Gaelen:

Ms. McCormick has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic’s bass section since 1995. Before joining the RPO, she held positions with regional orchestras such as the Erie (PA) Philharmonic, the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony. Ms. McCormick has performed regularly with other major orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Syracuse Symphony. She holds degrees in performance from the Eastman School and Carnegie Mellon University.

Teaching the double bass to students of all ages has become a significant part of Gaelen’s life. She joined the faculty of Nazareth College in 2010, and has been the bass instructor for the Eastman Community Music School since 2001. She enjoys working with talented high school aged string players in the summer at Eastman’s Music Horizons program where she teaches chamber music and gives bass lessons. In 2003, she was invited to teach for the year at Duquesne University’s City Music Center, a program for talented, pre-college students.

Gaelen has given masterclasses and recitals at Ithaca College, Williams College, the College of St. Rose, and Roberts Wesleyan College. In 2013, she gave classes on double bass technique at both the International Society of Bassists convention in Rochester and the NYSSMA Winter Conference. “Mastering the Bow”, the first of three books on double bass bow technique, was published by Carl Fischer in 2013, and the second will be published during the 2014 season.

Playing chamber music has been a passion for Ms. McCormick. Before moving to Rochester, she often performed with the St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra (Albany, NY) as their sole bassist. During her tenure in Pittsburgh, she became the founding bassist of the Pittsburgh Live Music Chamber Orchestra. She was the founding member of the innovative string quintet “Gibbs and Main”, and recorded a cd of tango standards with them, and commissioned a new work for the ensemble by Judd Greenstein.

In recent summers, she has been performing with the Music in the Mountains chamber orchestra, a festival based in Durango, Colorado. She is frequently invited to play chamber music with musicians from around the country in festivals such as the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival and the Syracuse New Music Ensemble. This summer, Ms. McCormick will make her debut appearance at the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Music Festival.

Gaelen has been involved in volunteering and arts advocacy, and is proud to be the representative for the RPO in the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians. She is honored to be a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda, groups recognizing and supporting excellence in the humanities and in music specifically. In her spare time, Gaelen enjoys kayaking, Argentine tango and West Coast swing dancing, and spending time with her toddler Clara.

194: Inez Wyrick on 911 bass teaching, creating artists, and teaching the whole fingerboard

Double bassist Inez Wyrick is featured on today’s episode

Inez Wyrick has been a huge name in bass pedagogy for decades. She really is one of those teachers that I think we all aspire to be like—she can take a student at any level and develop their technique while also instilling in them a passion for making music of all sorts.

Today’s conversation with Inez is a journey through the topics of education, inspiration, the development of bass teaching from the “dark ages” to the embarrassment of riches that we have today and the thoughts and perspectives of a truly beautiful human being. You’re going to learn a lot and come away with a bunch of new ideas about teaching, and I’m sure that you’ll feel rejuvenated and inspired by Inez’s passion and energy.

After the interview, we feature listener feedback and some upcoming plans for the podcast, and before we get going with our interview we will feature a clip of Inez conducting the Orchestra of Lady Bassists from the 2013 ISB convention. Kristin Korb was the current president of the ISB when this was recorded, and she makes some introductory remarks (Kristin was also a podcast guest on episode 79), and we have a ink in the show notes to this complete video, which you should definitely check out.

About Inez:

Former International Society of Bassists Board Member Inez Wyrick currently resides in Winchester, Virginia where she is adjunct instructor of bass at Shenandoah Conservatory, maintains a private bass studio She perviously edited the young bass page of Bass World and serves on the board of directors for the Bass Coalition.

Mrs. Wyrick is an internationally acclaimed pedagogue who specializes in pre-college string education and has numerous publications to her credit. An active lecturer, clinician and traveling “911 bass teacher,” she is a regular clinician at the Richard Davis Bass Conference in Madison, WI and the Golden Gate Bass Camp in San Francisco, CA. Previously, she has been on the faculties of Indiana University String Academy, Amarillo College, Odessa College and Texas Tech University Orchestra Camp and was founder of the Amarillo Bass Base, a bass ensemble which held an international reputation. Her students teach and hold professional positions in ensembles and educational institutions worldwide.

Her arrangements and compositions for bass ensemble have been performed worldwide and her CD-ROM of bass ensembles entitled Music for Double Bass Ensemble, Vol. I: 30 Christmas Carols for “Same Level” and “Mixed Level” Double Bass Ensemble was released in 2005. She has over 300 heterogenous bass ensembles for all levels, and varieties of levels. Email for a complete, graded, inventory.

In 2001 she was the honored recipient of the “Young Bassists Ambassador” award from the International Society of Bassists. She is married to fellow bassist Dr. Donovan Stokes.

193: Gary Karr on making recordings, “retired” life, and arranging Baroque music

Double bass soloist and International Society of Bassists founder Gary Karr

This episode from the archives features an interview that Barry Lieberman did with Gary Karr. In preparation for it, Barry listened to all of Gary Karr’s recordings and picked out his very favorite, and he and Gary listen to these and discuss the context behind them. It’s a fascinating window into this great artist, and it’s well worth a listen. This was originally released in 2008 on episode 89 of the podcast.

There is a video version of this episode as well.

About Gary Karr:

Gary Karr, acclaimed as “the world’s leading solo bassist” (Time Magazine), is, in fact, the first solo double bassist in history to make that pursuit a full-time career. It is a career that adds new lustre to his already lustrous 1611 Amati doublebass which was given to him by the widow of Serge Koussevitzky.

Since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1962, Karr has performed as soloist on six continents with orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra (Caracas, Venezuela), Jerusalem Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with all the major orchestras of Australia.
On Italian cable, three Karr doublebass recitals reached 20 million classical music lovers. The numerous CDs that Gary Karr has recorded and released in Japan are “top of the recording charts” favorites in the Far East. The BBC has featured two video films of Karr, one an illumination of his life and music (Amazing Bass) and one a series for children. On his third recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Karr performed the Concerto for Bass by John Downey. CBS Sunday Morning celebrated Gary Karr’s career and the University of Wisconsin has released a video demonstrating his instructional approach to the doublebass (BASSically Karr) in addition to a special video concert for children (Karrtunes).

One of Karr’s proudest achievements is the Bronze Medal he received from the Rosa Ponselle Foundation which recognizes him as an outstanding lyrical musician. Gary is the proud holder of the 1997 Artist/Teacher of the Year Award from the American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA). He also holds the Distinguished Achievement Award (1995) from the International Society of Bassists (ISB). Gary Karr participated in the Bi-Annual Rainforest Concert in Carnegie Hall with fellow-bassist Sting, Stevie Wonder and others in 1997. In 1999 a new book by Claude Kenneson, entitled Musical Prodigies — Perilous Journeys, Remarkable Lives was released by Amadeus Press, which includes a passage describing Karr’s early love affair with the doublebass.

In June 2001, Gary Karr played his farewell public concert as part of the International Society of Bassists 2001 Convention in Indianapolis. A large audience that included eight hundred bassists from twenty-seven different countries attended this event. At the close of this recital with his pianist, Harmon Lewis, Karr was given the ISB’s Distinguished Teacher Award. He was also presented with a very special gift from more than two hundred of his colleagues and fans…a newly developed rose named in his honor to commemorate his forty years on the international concert stage.

192: Michael Klinghoffer on driving a double bass, how not to hold the bow, and directions in education

Michael Klinghoffer, author of Mr. Karr, Would You Teach Me How to Drive a Double Bass?

Today’s episode features double bassist, author, conductor, and educator Michael Klinghoffer. Michael is a former Gary Karr student and is the author of the unorthodox and compelling book Mr. Karr, Would You Teach Me How to Drive a Double Bass?

Michael is one of the most interesting minds in the world of contemporary double bass. In addition to his book, he has a wealth of articles, videos, and resources on is website pertaining to bass, musicianship, education, and numerous other topics.

We talk about his first encounters with Gary Karr, the impetus behind writing his book, how not to hold the bass and bow, and integrating performance, conducting and composition, and where education is going in the near future. This conversation is a deep philosophical dive into technical and mental aspects of musical practice, thought, and development.

We’ll feature two selections from Michael’s album Mostly Transcriptions Vol. 2. We open the episode with an excerpt from the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 1 in Bb Major, and conclude with the final movement of Strauss’ Sonata in F Major. This album, along with Drive a Double Bass and an interesting solfege book titled The Bottesini Project.

Check out the following links from Michael–they contain a wealth of useful content on a variety of topics):

About Michael:

Michael Klinghoffer, Author of Mr. Karr, Would You Teach Me How to Drive a Double Bass?, Dean of Performing Arts and Senior Lecturer of Double Bass at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Israel.

Michael Klinghoffer, double bass performer, conductor and educator studied under Gary Karr at Yale University, where he received Master of Music and at the Hartt School University of Hartford, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts.

He has been assistant principal bass player in the Israel Symphony Orchestra and in the Israel Sinfonietta.

Currently, he performs solo concerts, recitals and chamber music and conducts master classes in Israel and abroad. His repertoire ranges from contemporary Israel music, (much of it composed for him), to his own arrangements for double bass, which have been published in the U.S. and in Europe and recorded on two compact discs.

He has published articles on Music Education and on Pedagogy in Israel professional periodicals as well as in the U.S. “Music Education in Institutions of Non Formal Education” was published by MATAN in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Education.

Since 1987, he has been on the faculty of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, conducting orchestras, teaching the double bass and other subjects. He was the Head of the String Department, the Dean of Students and he is currently serving as the Dean of Performing Arts and is the Direcor of the Jerusalem Consevatory Chamber Orchetsra.

Along with his academic commitments and performing engagements, and after being Music Director for seven years at MATAN, (Arts and Culture Project for Youth), Dr. Klinghoffer still devotes much time and energy to working with young musicians from diverse backgrounds all over Israel.