Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

CBC 110: Lawrence Wolfe interview

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We’re featuring the first part of our interview with Boston Symphony Assistant Principal Bass Lawrence Wolfe this week on Contrabass Conversations. I had a chance to check out a wonderful master class that Mr. Wolfe did at Northwestern in the fall of 2008, and I did a summary/synopsis of some of the concepts and ideas covered in this class as well. I’m really looking forward to chatting with Larry–he’s one of my favorite bassists, and listening endlessly to his solo record really shaped how I approach the double bass when I was in college.

Larry is one of the most influential bass players in the United States, having taught countless players during his years at New England Conservatory and other Boston academic institutions who are now in major orchestras or pursuing other successful musical endeavors.

We’re also featuring the first movement of the Arpeggione Sonata from Larry’s solo album, which you’re really going to enjoy. Larry will be doing a presentation at this summer’s International Society of Bassists convention, which I am definitely looking forward to checking out. Be sure to check out Larry’s website (which he is in the process of revamping – listen to the interview to learn more about this), and stay tuned for the rest of this engaging conversation in the coming weeks!

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CBC 109: Max Dimoff interview

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Co-host John Grillo and I are interviewing Cleveland Orchestra Principal Bass Max Dimoff this week on Contrabass Conversations. Before winning his job with the Cleveland Orchestra, Max served as Principal Bass of the San Antonio Symphony and Section Bass for the Grant Park Symphony and Seattle Symphony.

In this first segment of our interview with Max, we delve into his approach to technique on the double bass, focusing on his warm-up exercises for the double bass. You can download this packet through the following link and follow along with the exercises as we discuss them with Max.

Max’s Warm-Ups

Max Dimoff Warm-Up Packet (PDF)

In addition to serving as Principal Bass with the Cleveland Orchestra, Max is on faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music along with Jeff Bradetich, his former teacher from Northwestern University. Max and Jeff team teach the CIM bass studio in a very interesting arrangement which we discuss during our interview.

Max’s colleague Jeff Bradetich recently appeared on Contrabass Conversations as well. Here are links to Jeff’s interview, which may be interesting to delve into for listeners as well:

More interviews co-hosted by John Grillo:

 

CBC 108: Dan Krekeler interview part 2

Dan Krekeler.png We’re concluding our interview (check out part 1 here) with Metropolitan Opera Orchestra bassist Dan Krekeler this week on the podcast. John Grillo of classicalmusicnews.tv and I co-interviewed Dan, which was particularly cool since we’ve both known Dan for many years. I played with Dan in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and John went to Indiana University with him as an undergraduate. It’s great to see an old friend have such great professional success, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with Dan and hear about his experiences on the road to a major orchestral position.

In our conversations about audition prep, Dan brings up musician coach Don Greene, and I realized that we’ve never actually talked about Don before on any blog posts or podcasts. This is surprising, since I’m a big fan of Don’s concepts and strategies for successful auditioning, so we’ll have to delve more into that topic at a later date.

If you’re in the mood to learn about the world of opera bass playing, these episodes from our archives would be a good start:

CBC 107: Michelle Fiore interview

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We’re featuring an interview with Michelle Fiore this week on Contrabass Conversations. Michelle is the proprietor of Classic Contrabass, a shop in Wheeling, Illinois catering exclusively to double bassists. I’ve known Michelle for many years–she was involved for many years with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Winter Bassfest that I started several years ago. She does great setup and repair work, and she has an excellent selection of double basses for sale as well as quality rental instruments for students.

Michelle had the opportunity to visit the Maggini exhibition in Italy a couple of years ago, an event which featured Dragonetti’s Gasparo da Salo bass from 1590 as well as several other Maggini double basses. She wrote an article about this exhibition last year for the International Society of Bassists‘ Bass World journal, and she discusses in detail some of her observations about these remarkable instruments in this interview. We also chat about instrument setup and how it differs for classical and jazz bassists, sound post adjustments, and many other topics.

CBC 106: Dan Krekeler interview

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We’re featuring an interview with Metropolitan Opera Orchestra bassist Dan Krekeler this week on the podcast. John Grillo of classicalmusicnews.tv and I co-interviewed Dan, which was particularly cool since we’ve both known Dan for many years. I played with Dan in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and John went to Indiana University with him as an undergraduate. It’s great to see an old friend have such great professional success, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with Dan and hear about his experiences on the road to a major orchestral position.

In our conversations about audition prep, Dan brings up musician coach Don Greene, and I realized that we’ve never actually talked about Don before on any blog posts or podcasts. This is surprising, since I’m a big fan of Don’s concepts and strategies for successful auditioning, so we’ll have to delve more into that topic at a later date.

If you’re in the mood to learn about the world of opera bass playing, these episodes from our archives would be a good start: