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214: Terry Plumeri tribute May 19, 2016

Show notes

Today's episode is a tribute to bassist, film composer, and conductor Terry Plumeri, who was found murdered in his home in Florida on April 1st of this year. This episode features comments from former Terry Plumeri student Eric Swanson plus a clip from an early podcast in which I featured the music of Terry.

213: Leon Bosch - the Sherlock Holmes of the double bass May 16, 2016

Show notes

Leon Bosch is a remarkable figure in the world of the double bass. From his early years growing up in South Africa to his long tenure with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and his proliferation of solo projects, Leon has approached each challenge with a focus and determination that are incredibly inspiring. This is a "must listen" episode for any musician eager to realize their greatest potential.

After retiring from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields to devote himself fully to solo, chamber, and conducting projects, Leon has been working to bring undiscovered treasures of the repertoire to light and to encourage new works for the double bass from composers. New composition are being written for Leon from South African composer Péter Louis van Dijk, British composer Paul Patterson, and American jazz icon Wynton Marsalis.

This episode is sponsored by Discover Double Bass, and they have a course on bowing technique with Lauren Pierce that I highly recommend checking out. This course is divided into 37 HD lessons, and Lauren gives a short video overview of the three categories that these videos cover: the basics, bow control, and real world techniques. There's also a free preview lesson on phrasing with the bow—check it out!

We feature excerpts from Leon's latest album throughout the episode. Check out Leon's excellent albums (available both as digital downloads and CDs):

If you're enjoying these episodes, I'd love it if you'd give us a quick review on iTunes! These reviews help us with discoverability and they give me great feedback about how I can keep working on the podcast to make it as valuable as possible for you. Leave a quick star rating and if you could even jot down a sentence or two that would be great. You can also leave a review for our iOS, Android, and Kindle apps.

212: Real Men Don't Rehearse with Justin Locke (from the archives) May 12, 2016

Show notes

Today's episode features an entertaining couple of conversations that I had a few years ago with bassist, author, speaker, and playwright Justin Locke. These have been some of our all-time most popular and commented upon episodes, and bringing them back into the spotlight seemed like a good idea.

Justin has written several books, including:

About Justin

Justin Locke came to Boston at age 18 to go to music school, and within a year he found himself playing every freelance gig in town, including the Boston Pops.

His 18-year bass-playing stint with the Pops included the Bicentennial Concert in 1976 with Arthur Fielder, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest audience ever at a classical music concert. And of course he also worked with many of the great conductors of that era, including Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, and Henry Mancini.

One day, after playing (and criticizing) a particularly dull children's concert, Justin was challenged to write one himself. The result was Peter VS.the Wolf, a courtroom comedy based on the classic Prokofiev fairy tale.

Justin's work in other facets of "show business" continued to expand. Already a playwright and publisher, he then became a video producer, the "score reader" for live Boston Pops TV broadcasts, and manager of the Bose Philharmonic. His books, including his laugh-out-loud Pops Memoir "Real Men Don't Rehearse," have sold thousands of copies.

Justin is now a management coach and speaker. He shares what the music business taught him about managing people, through his presentations, individual coaching sessions, his blog, and his books.

211: Madeleine Crouch on managing the ISB, organizing conventions, and innovating online May 09, 2016

Show notes

Today's episode features Madeleine Crouch, who has served as general manager of the International Society of Bassists for the past 25 years. Madeleine and I talk about her musical background, the value of a liberal arts education, the growth of the ISB over the years, and new developments for the organization like the ISB/George Vance Online Research Library, Online Journal of Bass Research, ISB Connect, teacher directory, and luthier directory. We also give a sneak preview of the 50th anniversary convention which will take place at Ithaca College in upstate New York. Enjoy!

Summer camps we cover post-interview:

Golden Gate Bass Camp (I'm on faculty for this event!)
Kansas City Bass Workshop
Peabody Bass Works

Blog post I talk about:

How I'm Doubling My Productivity and Increasing My Happiness

210: Jeremy Attanaseo plays the Prokofiev Quintet May 05, 2016

Show notes

I'm thrilled to present this complete performance of the Prokofiev Quintet featuring DePaul University faculty member Jeremy Attanaseo on double bass. This performance was broadcast live in February on the radio in Chicago with the International Chamber Artists. I've known Jeremy for years—we both play in the Elgin Symphony and used to play in a bass quartet along with Michael Hovnanian of the Chicago Symphony. Jeremy's a great guy and a great bassist, and I know that you'll enjoy this performance of one of the greatest pieces in the double bass chamber repertoire!

209: Joe Conyers on Curtis, being yourself, and musical entrepreneurship May 02, 2016

Show notes

I'm thrilled to bring you this episode featuring Joe Conyers. Joe is the assistant principal bass for the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the founder of Project 440, a nonprofit organization that brings music to young people in Philadelphia. We're joined on this episode by John Grillo, my longtime podcast collaborator.

John and I talk with Joe about topics such as:

growing up in Savannah
studying with Hal Robinson at Curtis
the audition circuit
becoming comfortable with your own playing
the mission of Project 440
conducting Philadelphia's All-City Orchestra

Enjoy!

208: Guy Tuneh on transcriptions, live performance, and musical curiosity Apr 28, 2016

Show notes

Today's episode features soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist Guy Tuneh. Guy was on the podcast way back in 2007, and a lot has changed for him in the intervening years. His previous interview was one of our most popular episodes of all time, and in this talk we go even deeper, digging into why Guy makes music, how he approaches every single note he plays, and what motivates him to search out new repertoire and bring it to the double bass.

Guy has been working on several new recording projects, and we feature two of them today. We are including an excerpt from Beethoven's Romance in G Major before the interview, and we close out the episode with a complete track of Guy performing Bach's Allemande from the Violin Partita in D minor.

You can learn about Guy's upcoming solo appearances, recordings, and other details at his website guytuneh.com and on his Facebook page. We also have a video version of this episode on YouTube. Enjoy!

207: Claus Freudenstein on heavy metal, minibasses, and arranging Apr 25, 2016

Show notes

Today we're featuring Claus Freudenstein, who is pushing the boundaries of the double bass in some really interesting ways. Claus is innovative on a number of fronts. He joined the world of the bass later in life than many people, and he came to it through heavy metal and the electric bass. This resonates greatly with me because this is the exact same way that I arrived at the bass.

Claus has taken this love of heavy metal and channeled it into the Bassmonsters, a bass ensemble that is expanding the repertoire into metal and bringing a whole new audience into the fold. We feature three clips from their first album Classic Meets Rock: Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns & Roses, Creeping Death by Metallica, and Thriller by Michael Jackson. You can find this album on Spotify, Amazon, and iTunes.

Claus is looking for a new record label to publish the latest Bassmonsters release. He has some tracks to pass along, so listeners, if you have ideas for a new label for Claus, send him an email and let him know.

Claus has also been quite innovative in the world of teaching with his creation and popularization of the mini-bass. We discuss Claus' work in education, his approach to repertoire, arranging and composing, and many other topics. Enjoy!

206: Auditioning for Music Schools Apr 22, 2016

Show notes

Trevor Jones and I have done joint clinics in the past, but this is the first one since restarting the podcast, and I figured that it would make sense to put it out this week since we just released our conversation a few days ago.

This talk was held at Ravinia's Bennett Gordon Hall as part of the 2016 Chicago Bass Festival, which is an event put on by the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. Michael Cameron of the University of Illinois and Allan Dennis, former double bass professor at the University of Wisconsin and the MYA executive director, were both in the audience, so you'll hear us refer to both of them a couple of times during the talk.

I left Curtis off of my list of schools putting out successful auditions, but of course that should be at the top of the list! My mistake.

Some of the questions from the audience are kind of hard to hear, you'll get the gist of the question as soon as Trevor and I start talking again.

We talk about Don Greene's excellent books on auditioning—all three are highly recommended:

205: Trevor Jones on musical pit work, scheduling creativity, and finding balance Apr 20, 2016

Show notes

Today's episode features double bassist Trevor Jones. It actually amazes me that this is the first time that Trevor has been on the podcast. Trevor kind of does it all: he studied classical bass with Rob Kassinger at DePaul University but got a music education degree as well He has played for years in the rock band Molehill but also maintains a full-time performing schedule as a theater musician, and he has a salaried double bass teaching job at Illinois Wesleyan University as well.

About Trevor:

Based in Chicago, independent artist Trevor Jones works in a variety of musical settings. He performs with regional orchestras throughout the Midwest including the Elgin Symphony and is a substitute with the Grant Park Orchestra. He has also recorded for Realize Records on Chris Bruni's album Watch Me Burn and Kate Quinby's album Tribute To Water and has co-written and recorded two albums: Tin God and Equinox with his Chicago-based alternative rock group Molehill.

Trevor is the upright and electric bassist at The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL and his credits include Jeff®-Award Winning Musical Hero that was premiered in the Summer of 2012 and reprised in 2014 at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL. For the Glory with music Tony Award® nominee Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), Battlecry by Paul Bogaev (Aida, Spiderman). and the World Premiere of October Sky.

While growing up in Gettysburg, PA Trevor studied double bass with Duane Botterbusch of the Harrisburg Symphony, and continued with Andrew Kohn of the Pittsburgh Opera at West Virginia University. In 2009 he completed his Master's degree at DePaul University where he studied with Rob Kassinger of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While studying at DePaul, Trevor performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the DePaul Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Cliff Colnot. Trevor earned his Bachelor's degree in Music Education at West Virginia University.

Trevor performs with the Chicago-based rock act Molehill. Molehill headlines some of Chicago's most prominent venues and tours throughout the country. Highlights include appearances at CBS Studio Chicago, Metro (Chicago), Summerfest and SXSW. Their song "The Repeating" charted in the Top 10 of the KKBB Speciality Charts in 2015. Trevor has won an ASCAP+ Award for his songwriting for Molehill.

Trevor is in demand as an educator in the Chicago area and maintains a studio at Midwest Young Artists , the preeminent youth music program in the Midwest. In addition to teaching at MYA, Trevor is also the Instructor of Double Bass at Illinois Wesleyan University at DePaul University where he teaches String Pedagogy.

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