Wonder of wonders, my 10 year old boy is playing an upright bass

[Tom Mobley]

He is quite large for his age, is able to more-or-less handle a 1/2 sized upright bass. He's already had a few years of piano and reads music pretty well.

So, the question arises: What music, either classical or modern, is good for upright string bass? I found this cool deal called The Bass Gang, but it's Italian apparently not available here in US. Are there certain composers known for strong bass lines in symphonic works? How about jazz and blues? Any notoriously good candidates?

We went to his first concert last night, it was at a school gym that had a halfway decent stage. They put him on the the front on the extreme right, he's the only bass with a few cellos and a couple dozen violins. No wind instruments at all. Anyway, I thought he would be drowned out by all those violins but I was wrong, way wrong. Even sitting in the back I heard every note he played. Came through strong and clear. He played well too, no obvious errors. It was cool, I couldn't stop smiling.

What should I buy to play back via my Khorns and LS that he can listen to and appreciate?

Downside: it's a PITA to carry around. Tough to get in a 4 door Volvo. Rides OK in the trunk of my 70 Chevelle though.

Upside: I understand music scholarships are available for young bass players coming out of high school. Not many bass players out there. We went to a Suzuki Strings event where they had a nationally known instructor, he lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw my son, spent more time with him individually than all the violin players together. Guess he doesn't see many bass players in the grade school age group.

[oldbuckster]

The upright Bass is an awesome instrument ................. old Blues and Jazz artist use them all the time ............ old Big Bands also used them, I'm sure you can find something he likes to listen to, Hell Man, Stray Cats used a stand up Bass ..................

[lwhaples]

Thanks for sharing.

Larry

[colterphoto1]

Even sitting in the back I heard every note he played. Came through
strong and clear. He played well too, no obvious errors. It was cool,
I couldn't stop smiling.

Now THERE's a proud Father! [Y] Give him our best wishes, will you?

And tell him to never give up his music lessons. My Mom always told me I'd be sorry for giving up piano after 2-3 years and I sure am.

[jtnfoley]

D a m , thats cool. I have a Great Uncle who is a very acomplished and well-traveled pro musician (plays just about everything) who has entered that "selling stuff off" age (80ish now I think.) Three beautiful upright basses, two fulls and a half, all went to the same buyer.

If your family is into the holiday thing, the Barenaked Ladies version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings (BNL Barenaked for the Holiday) features upright bass.

[Tom Mobley]

Thanks for that pointer, jtnfoley. I'll look it up on Amazon soonly.

Any other suggestions? I would have bet a couple of the classical guys would have weighed in by now. Larry CLare, you still out there?

How about Alan Songer, he still hang out here?

Not like I'm a little out of touch or anything....

[joshnich]

Hard to know what a 10 year old would like but I would look to anythng that Ray Brown was part of!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Brown_(musician)

A good example of Ray Brown is

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=10496

This includes a video so your son can watch and listen toone of the all time greats.

Josh

[boomac]

Here’s a list of my favorite jazz bassist:

Ron Carter - Anything he plays on especially with Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock.

John Heard - Played with Basie & Sonny Rollins. Check out his new LP, "The Jazz Composer's Songbook"

Charles Mingus - "Mingus AH UM"

Paul Chambers - Check out his "Bass on Top"

Curtis Counce - "You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce"

Reggie Workman - Played with Coltrane, Blakey and others.

LeRoy Vinnegar - Check out "LeRoy Walks".

Ray Brown - Many consider Ray to be the best

Eugene Wright - Dave Brubeck "Time Out" LP

Scott LaFaro - Played with Bill Evans. "A Waltz for Debbie" LP

[Mallette]

Time for you to get into the recording business...best thing you'll ever hear out of them big ol' horns is your own son. Don't waste time! Added benefit to the audiophile: As I've said many times before IMOH the best way to judge your system is to play back material you heard live and recorded accurately. The difference between the two tells all.

Also, you'll become his orchestra leaders best friend very, very quickly.

Dave

[Tom Mobley]

>> "Also, you'll become his orchestra leaders best friend very, very quickly."

LOL. That's good Dave. Sounds just like something I'd do too.

[Tom Mobley]

boomac,

Thanks for taking time. That's the sort of thing I was hoping get.

[Woodog]

For really involving lines, baroque music comes to mind.

For inspirational music (for listening) that's modern and involving, by one of my absolute favorite living players, check out Edgar Meyer and his extensive discography.

http://www.edgarmeyer.com/

trust me on this, but as a musician your son will be who he'll be. Just be sure his teachers lead him to build his technical ability. 'Cause THAT'S what will allow him to put what's in his brain out to the listener's ears.

woo

(edited for clarity... well... as much as I can convey at any rate)

[Marvel]

Ditto everything that Woodog wrote. Edgar Meyer is incredible,and a very nice guy to boot. Won a bluegrass fiddle contest on stand up bass. He has written some of the most beautiful chamber and orchestral music recently written.

You can get a taste of some great stuff with Appalachian Journey, with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor. Great cd!

Bruce

[G.Kennedy]

Again ... Ditto ... on Edgar Meyer. My fav's are ...

Edgar Meyers Greatest hits

and one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE recordings ...Skip,Hop and Wobble where Meyer(stand up bass) teams up with Jerry Douglas (dobro) and Russ Barenburg(guitar) .... an awesome mix of jazz and bluegrass.

Just played it for the millionth time last night.

[Marvel]

Meyer's wife used to do summer music workshops at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. Edgar has come over to demonstrate some things on the bass, for her students to learn and appreciate. I think he really works hard to promote good music, no matter what the genre..

[LarryC]

Thanks for the recommendation, Bruce! I just ordered it on DVD so I can watch as well as hear.

Yeah Tom, I'm around. I wrote something this afternoon but clicked the wrong button.... A good place for background info imo is the fine writeup in Wikipedia. I'm not into classical string bass literature, so am not familiar with most of the works or all the composers in the paragraphs on the 1700s, 1800s, or 1900s-present. That tuning the bass in 4ths was pioneered by someone born as late as 1792 surprised me, and it was also interesting to see that someone got Beethoven interested in writing separate bass parts that didn't just double the cello.

I am not familiar with concertos for double bass. The violin runs away with the string concerto literature, and the cello runs a distant second. (Today, Garymd and I listened to one movement from the single best-known work for viola and orchestra, Harold in Italy by Berlioz.)

As to specific pieces, there's Franz Schubert's Trout Quintet, in the paragraph "Chamber music with double bass." The work is very nice. It's scored for five solo instruments -- piano, violin, viola, cello, and double (string) bass, a rather dark and heavy distribution. Schubert may be an acquired taste for your son right now.

Several good works are listed under "Orchestral passages and solos." Haydn was an experimenter -- there are solo string bass passages in his symphonies No.6 “Morning”, No.7 “Noon”, No.8 “Evening”, No. 31 “Horn Signal," and No. 45 “Farewell.” The "Farewell" has the famous last movement in which each player gets up and leaves when his part is finished (it ends with only 2 solo violins) to persuade the big guy that they needed a vacation. A solo string bass is one of them.

Beethoven really woke up the orchestral bass section, sometimes with separate bass and cello parts in extremely challenging fast passages, e.g., his symphony no. 6. He also wrote very fast and powerful cello-bass combinations in the third movement of his Fifth symphony and the opening of the last omvement of his transcendental Ninth.

Later orchestral works include the Elephant from Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, and a satirical solo for string bass in the opening of the third movement of Gustav Mahler's symphony no. 1 which quotes the children's song "Frere Jacques" transposed into a minor key. A good classical work that displays the instruments of the orchestra is Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra which contains a prominent passage for the double bass section.

Finally, take a look at the group Time for Three, who play a remarkable mix of classical, folk and bluegrass. I believe they were trained at the Curtis Institute in Philly. You'd never know that some of the very tenor-like "bass" sounds come from a string bass! This might be a direction you and your son want to think about in the future.

Larry

[G.Kennedy]

Hey Marvel ... I got my Taylor !!!!! Grand Auditorium ... GA3. Its on hold at McCabes ... I bring it home on Saturday .... Happy Day.

[Cody_Mack]

So, the question arises: What music, either classical or modern, is good for upright string bass?

Bass is overlooked by the average listener. Non-audiophiles probably cannot name one bass player, except maybe Sting, or McCartney. The bassist is like the offensive guard or tackle; he carries a lot of the load, but gets little of the glory. He must accept that role and, at minimum, keep his band going on the right track song after song and night after night.

But some bassists will step out of that shell and create a technique and sound all their own. Some are all over the fret board and some are content with doing the basics. Some do the basics very well; sometimes, less is more! In my listening, I listen for string technique; that is, the emphasis (loud and soft, soft but loud, etc.) the player puts on each note. I listen to a lot of Latin Jazz of late; most of that music portrays the bass instrument exactly the way I want to hear it. It is adequately audible, yet subtle; and with the right reproduction equipment it just sounds so natural.

I love bass; pure bass. But if the bass is not recorded well, or if my system cannot accurately reproduce it, I had almost as soon do without. Granted, my current system does not do the last word in bass, but what is there sounds very natural and pure to me; albeit it may be missing at least one octave at the bottom. I cannot stand much of today's music because the bass is grossly overdriven. Bass should accompany the music, not dominate it.

Congratulate your son for choosing this instrument. My tip for him is to work on string technique. That is, knowing how hard to pluck the sting at any given note to produce the sound that will make the listener smile. Train your son to listen to the bass from the Khorns and LaScalas; seems to me that the horn-loaded bass of these loudspeakers would better emulate the natural sound of the instrument.

Happy Playing, and Listening!

Rick

[Professor Thump]

That's great to hear!

I recommend Big Band (Glen Miller), Classic Jazz (Count Basie, Miles Davis older albums), Modern Jazz (Marcus Miller), Blues (Any of it) or Rockabily (Stray Cats) for him to get an understanding of the range of music. The later Genres are simple chords 1 4 & 5th in the key of E or A but. But Jazz is the most complex and built around an bass (upright or electric).

[Tom Mobley]

Wow, you guys are great. Thanks to everyone who go in a lick or two. I've alread copied the recommendations off to a text file I can work with to run some of this stuff down.

I think I'm going to have some friends at Amazon. What I don't find there my buddy Google will help out with.