Contrabass Conversations

Contrabass Conversations

double bass podcast

466: Colin Corner on auditions and being principal bass

A podcast listener recently suggested that I re-interview Colin Corner about how he has managed to win audition after audition.  It turned out that I would be in Portland, Oregon for a couple weeks, and Colin and I sat down for a terrific deep-dive into auditioning, the role of a principal bassist, and much more.

Prior to his current positions of principal bass for the Oregon Symphony and Grant Park Symphony, Colin played principal bass for the Atlanta Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic.  He also held positions in the Minnesota Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic.

I originally interviewed Colin back in 2007 when he was playing in the Minnesota Orchestra, and I caught up with him briefly in 2009 after he’d moved into his role as principal bass of the Rochester Philharmonic.  It was such a pleasure to dig into Colin’s experiences over this past decade.  There are a tremendous amount of valuable takeaways from this conversation!

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Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Helicore strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and come in orchestral, hybrid, pizzicato, and solo string sets.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440‘s commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

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465: Henry Chen on China, Taiwan, and Chicago

I met Henry in Chicago. While in Chicago, Henry spent his time studying with Rob Kassinger and playing principal bass with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Fast-forward ten years, and Henry is now teaching at  Soochow University School of Music in Jiangsu, China.  We talk about Henry’s journey from Chicago to China and the steps in between, what it’s like teaching and performing in China, opportunities for bass players looking for an orchestra job, Henry’s teaching style, and much more!

Henry Chen and I go way back.  In fact, I remember meeting Henry at DePaul University over a decade ago!

At that point,  he had not had much orchestral experience, but he was a fabulous solo player who won the concerto competition with the Bottesini Concerto.

Chicago was Henry’s choice because of the orchestral training he knew he’d receive there.  He spent his time studying with Chicago Symphony bassist Rob Kassinger and playing principal bass with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Fast-forward ten years, and Henry is now teaching at  Soochow University School of Music in Jiangsu, China.  We talk about Henry’s journey from Chicago to China and the steps in between, what it’s like teaching and performing in China, opportunities for bass players looking for an orchestra job, Henry’s teaching style, and much more!

Links to check out:

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Kaplan strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and are great for all kind os styles of music.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

464: Volkan Orhon

Volkan Orhon was one of my early podcast guests, appearing along with fellow Bad Boyz of Double Bass members Anthony Stoops, David Murray, and Paul Sharpe. 

I chatted with the Bad Boyz ten years ago (!), and I realized that I’d never actually sat down with Volkan one-on-one for the podcast.

We fix that today!

Volkan had established himself in a professional orchestra in his native country of Turkey.  He had graduated from the Ankara State Conservatory with bass professor Tahir Sumer, and he was already a member of the Ankara Presidential Symphony Orchestra.

Volkan could have stayed in that position long-term.  He took a leap, however, and moved to the United States to study with Gary Karr at The Hartt School of Music.  Working with Gary and also with Diana Gannett, Volkan earned his Master’s Degree and and Artist Diploma.

After Hartt, found himself in a “road warrior” freelance position, teaching adjunct at a few schools and driving all over the place playing gigs.  I know that life well!

Volkan eventually got a tenure-track job at the University of Iowa and is in his sixteenth year of teaching at that institution.  We talk about what it’s like teaching at Iowa, plus:

  • What has been most surprising about being in a full-time academic position.
  • How working with Gary Karr shaped his concept of tone.
  • The challenges of relocating to the United States.
  • What he practices on a daily basis.
  • Advice for students (and their parents!) thinking about embarking on a music career.

…and much more!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Helicore strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and come in orchestral, hybrid, pizzicato, and solo string sets.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

463: The Mental Game

This year’s Winter Olympics inspired podcast listener Steven Bingham to write in the following topic request:

“If I could suggest a future podcast topic, it would be “performance psychology” with a bassist or other musician who also is a subject matter expert, for example, a university teacher or researcher. Watching the Winter Olympics reminds me of what human beings are capable of achieving when their mind is made up and their body coached up to do it.”

I put this question out on Facebook and got some great responses, so I decided to take these responses and roll them together with some performance psychology-related conversations from these past guests:

  • Dr. Don Greene – Performance Coach
  • Paul Ellison – Rice University
  • Ian Hallas – Lyric Opera of Chicago
  • David Allen Moore – Los Angeles Philharmonic and University of Southern California
  • Andy Raciti – Northwestern University and Milwaukee Symphony
  • Karl Fenner – Atlanta Symphony

These topics were also covered in my Winning the Audition book and podcast series.

Let me know if you have any other tops-specific episodes like this that you’d like to hear!

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton’s Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D’Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Kaplan strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and are great for all kind os styles of music.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

462: Posture with Barry Green

Barry Green’s creative output is filled with surprises and unexpected new directions.  The last tie he was on the podcast, we were chatting with Barry and Jeff Bradetich about Anna’s Promise.

An article from Barry just came out in the American String Teachers Association’s journal.  Titled “Chair Factor,” this article is an examination of body energy in playing, and how posture can indicate good or bad body energy.

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