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.

191: David Murray on the Karr sound, bow technique, and the spirit of Koussevitzky

Double bassist David Murray is this episode’s featured guest!

Today’s episode features double bassist David Murray. David is on faculty at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has been on the board of the International Society of Bassists for past two decades. The former winner of the ISB solo competition, David is known around the world as a soloist and clinician. He is also a member of the Bad Boyz of Bass, a quartet rounded out by Volkan Orhon, Anthony Stoops (a former Contrabass Conversations guest), and Paul Sharpe. We actually featured the Bad Boyz on episode 71 of the podcast back in 2008, which is well worth a listen if you haven’t checked it out before!

We talk about David’s experiences having Gary Karr as his first bass teacher, where the “Karr sound” came from, focusing on bow technique, the spirit of Koussevitzky, his long relationship with the International Society of Bassists as a former competition winner and longtime board member, traveling with a bass, and several other topics.

We also feature the title track from David’s solo album Vocalise, and we conclude the episode with a recording of David playing the first movement of the Franck Sonata from his Sonatas by Franck and Shostakovich album. Both the Vocalise album and the Sonatas album are available through the ISB Web Store. I’d also encourage you to check out David’s performance of the B.B. Wolf by Jon Deak. It’s a great piece and David knocks it out of the park!

About David:

David Murray has an international reputation as a solo bassist and teacher. He is currently Professor of Bass at Butler University in Indianapolis and Principal Bassist ofthe Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He also plays as Principal Bassist with Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois, and at the Bear Valley Music Festival in northern California. Before coming to Indianapolis, David was Instructor of Bass at West Texas A&M University and principal with the Amarillo Symphony.He has been a member of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra and also toured twice with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

David’s first private teacher was bass virtuoso Gary Karr, with whom he studied in high-school and at the Hartt Music School, University of Hartford, in Connecticut. Summers were spent at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival, where he worked with Stuart Sankey. At Aspen, he won the 1981concerto competition. In Los Angeles in 1988 he won the International Society of Bassists (ISB) Solo Competition, the first prize being a solo debut at Carnegie Hall. David has made solo appearances, both in recital and with orchestra, and given clinics and masterclasses throughout the United States, his native Canada, and in South Korea, Brazil, Israel, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal,Denmark, Germany, and Holland. He has performed at several summer chamber music festivals including Scotia Festival, Killington, and Cape May. In June, 2001,David hosted the ISB convention at Butler University for 800 bassists from 27countries and is currently a Past-President of the ISB. He has been published in the ISB journal, Double Bassist magazine, the Suzuki Association of America journal, and American String Teachers journal. He has recorded three solo CD’s(most recently in 2012), a duo CD with bassist Diana Gannett, is a founding member of the bass quartet Bad Boys of Bass with whom he released a CD in 2006,and he released a DVD of theater music in the spring of 2003.

“…to hear David Murray play it, the string bass is a vastly and unjustly neglected instrument. Murray…became a prime spokesman for the instrument.”

Denver Post

“…Murray is a top-notch player.”

IndianapolisStar

190: Czardas with Andy Anderson – the making of an arrangement

Double bassist Andrew Anderson is featured on today’s podcast

I had the opportunity recently to perform my arrangement of the Monti Czardas for double bass and orchestra recently, and I thought that it would make for a cool podcast episode. I though that Andy Anderson would make for a spectacular soloist, so this recording features me conducting and Andy playing bass with my orchestra. Andy is a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago bass section and teaches bass at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and he has been featured on the podcast several times in the past.

We cover some of the details behind this arrangement, including some rehearsal recordings that Andy sent me to play for my group, and I couldn’t resist adding a little bonus audio at the end of the episode featuring a well-known piece for orchestra. Enjoy!