OUNO POST
International Institute
for the String Bass
CONTENTS
YOUR NEW B.S.P. EDITOR IN CHIEF
Bert Hanson
po 3
2ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
By the Editor
po 4
THE MADISON STRING BASS CONFERENCE
By Theron McClure
p. 6
THE POSTIS POST
From: Sydney Orpwood
pe 10
BASS REPAIR
By Ted Dazler
po 12
THE DOUBLE BASS
By Leland To1a
po 17
LOGICAL FINGERING
By Kenneth J~ Carnegie
pe 20
THE DOUBLE BASS
By Irving Godt
pe 22
MORE ON THE BOW
By Gary Ka rr
po 26
SOMETHING NEW
By X~ Tra Gadget
p~
2 VIGNETTES
By Bert Hanson
pe 31
29
THE BASS SOUND POST
Gary Karr, Editor of THE BASS SOUND POST
Director of the International Institute for the
String Bass
Bert Hanson, Editor in Chief of THE BASS SOUND POST
Office:
Extension Music Department
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Telephone (608) 262-2027
Administration, University of Wisconsin
Fred Harvey Harrington, President
Robert L& Clodius, Vice-President of the University
Donald
R~
McNeil, Chancellor, University Extension
George Strother, Assistant Chancellor
Harold Montross, Dean, Division of Professional and Liberal
Education
Emmett R& Sarig, Director of Music, Extension
University of Wisconsin
Members of the International Institute for the String Bass will
receive copies of the BASS SOUND POST~
The annual subscription and membership fee is $2&00&
BOA RD 0 FAD VISO RS
International Institute for the String Bass
Murray Grodner - Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
Roger Scott - Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music,
Philadelphia, Pa
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Stuart Sankey - Juilliard School of Music, New York
lion Green - Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam, Holland
Ray Brown - Jazz Bass Soloist, los Angeles, California
Eugene Wright - Dave Brubeck Quartet, New York
Bertram Turetsky - Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford,
Hartford, Conn&
Georges Andre - Principal Bass, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
New York
Kenneth Winsted - University of Southern Cal ifornia, Los Angeles
Edwa rd Kro lick - Un i ve rs i ty of 111 i no is, Champa i gn, 111 i no is
Warren Benfield - Chicago Symphony, Northwestern University, Chicago
James Clute - Minneapolis Symphony, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Theron McClure - Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Lucas Drew - University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
Henry Portnoi - Boston Symphony, Boston University, Boston,
Mass~
YOUR NEW BASS SOUND POST EDITOR-iN-CHIEF
The Bass Sound Post is probably one of the
most unique publications in the world~ Its
readers are ali members of a select group of
musicians who have never had a private publication
of their own$ The subject matter deals with our
beloved instrument, and the people who play it$
Due to the many styles of playing and thinking
about the instrument, The Sound Post contains
the accumulated views and concepts of performers
and teachers throughout the world -- on a multitude of topics~
It is a pleasure to introduce myself, and
tell you that i plan to fulfill your requests
for information on any subject pertinent to
our interests~ If you submit an article to me,
I will take the perogative to rewrite it in
whole or in part if it seems necessary, and
return it to you for your approval prior to its
printing~
The material you submit will be
edited by our entire Board of Advisors besides
myself if there are questionable facts, such as:
dimensions, chemical compounds, authentic dates
of birth, death, etc0 or technical data requiring verification~
Because of the urgency to get this edition
into print, i have not had the time to prepare
an introductory statement to you that would
give you a profile of my editorial attitudes
and musical background, therefore, I am proud
to serve you and, "may my views voice your
innermost thoughts with honest eloquence;))'
Bert Hanson
3
2ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE SCHEDULED
The 2nd Conference of the
International
Institute for the DOUBLE BASS (STRING BASS)
will be held at the University of Wisconsin
Campus, Madison, Wisconsin, U~S~A$' for five
days, June 17th through 21st, 19680
Six specialists will give master classes,
lectures~ demonstrations and recitals as follows:
LUCAS DREW, University of Miami --Pedagogy and Repairs
STEWART SANKEY, Juil1ard School of Music -Simandl Methodology
FRED BATCHELDER, Philadelphia Orchestra -The Orchestral Bass
GARY KARR, University of Wisconsin -The Solo Bass
WILLIAM FRY, Physicist, University of Wisconsin
Acoustic Principles Applied to Bass Repair
and Adjustment
RICHARD DAVIS, Well known jazz bassist
BE SURE TO
ATTEND~
SEE NEXT PAGE
4
IISB CONFERENCE INFORMATION
A tuition fee of $50$00, plus $55000 for room
and board for five (5) days, June 17th through
21st, 1968 (a total of $105~00) covers the cost
of your participation in the 2nd annual conference
of the International Institute of The String BaSS0
You may pay the entire $105 00 in advance to
insure an early listing on the conference roster,
however, a deposit of $15 00, if sent immediately
will help insure your being included in the 100
bassists the roster is limited t04P
Prepare your money order or check payable to:
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The University of Wisconsin
c/o Extension Office
606 State Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
DUES
Your 1968 dues are now overdue$ The $2 00 you
send covers the printing of liThe Sound Post", and
keeps your name and address in our membership
files o The remittances have been LARGO, and we
need your $2 00 PRESTO! Mail to above address
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MOlTO
VIVACE!~!
5
THE MADISON STRING BASS CONFERENCE
By Theron McClure
Bassists make happy groups& So when sixty
bassists gathered at Madison, Wisconsin in June for
a week of bass-talk and bass learning and 1 istening,
there was much happiness$ Organized and led by
Gary Karr, the first annual meeting of the
International Institute for the String Bass was
a booming success~
Never has there been such an open and
enthusiastic exchange of information about bassics,
the fine staff of experts assembled by Mr@ Karr
gave freely of their knowledge, so an immense
accumulation of bass lore was dispensede
Small twice-daily group gatherings with the
participants progressing to a different expert!s
session each time, assured that each player
received personal attention for his own playing
problems@ James Clute of the Minneapol is Symphony
presented the subject of teaching beginners, with
special insight given in the teaching of vibratoo
Warren Benfield of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
explained problems of orchestral playing, meeting
the demands of conductors and making demands on
managers at contract timee At his group sessions
Murray Grodner of Indiana University presented a
most systematic and orderly plan for organizing
fingering, a progressive introduction of bowing
techniques, and an especially valuable demonstration of how to introduce spiccato playing@
Mre Grodner discussed the immense and rewarding
field of Baroque trio-sonata playing which is
open to the bassist~
Eugene Wright, bassist with the Dave Brubeck
Quartet, showed himself to be a virtuoso-teacher
by evoking a clear effective and well phrased
pizzicato scale playing from his ·students· in
the five minutes given to eachG Mr. Wright
astonished all of us with his abil ity to play
the bass alone in a most beautifully expressive
manner without use of the bow o
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Lawrence LaMay and Harry Gill ingham, viol in
makers, gave freely of their knowledge of bass
repair and adjustment in question and answer
sessions on their subject<9 The bassists in
attendance had the opportunity to take part in a
"blindfold test" to compare the best of old with
the best of ne~ basseso A very fine Amati bass
and a one-week old LaMay bass were each played
behind the assembled group of about forty bassists~
One third of this group guessed wrong in deciding
which instrument was being played0
Ga ry Ka r r p resented liThe bass as a so 10
instrument~'1
In group sessions he taught a modified
type of extensive fingering, using four fingers in
the upper positions without stretching the hand any
further than it is extended in the normal first-half
position~
Karr presented an eighteen year old
virtuoso student of James Clute, Susan Matthew of
St~ Paul, who played a recital made up of the
Dragonetti and the Koussevitzky Concertos$ Two
other evening concerts were given, one by Mr0 Karr
who was accompanied by guitar in place of piano, and
the final Friday night program, a most happy end of
a most happy week, a gay program by the AmBASSadors,
Gary Karr, Bass, Kenneth Biel, Guitar, and Eugene
Wright, Bass~
One of the most valuable sessions of all was
a morning given over to the assembl ing of a list of
effective solo works available to bass playerse
The many experienced teachers present, with Murray
Grodner, as Chairman, spent three hours compil ing a
list of recommended solos for bass$ The Grodner
IIComprehensive Catalogue" of all bass music in
print was surveyed and the outstanding works for
bass were checked@ Also included were recommendations of material particularly suitable for bass
from the literature for other instruments~ Excluded
were pieces characterized by Mr$ Karr as lI ear l y ick,"
and l'waah-oooho ll
7
The extremely valuable 1 ist of recommended
pieces compiled that morning will be made available
tot hem emb e r s hip 0 f the I n t ern a t ion a 1 Ins t i t ute
for the String Bass, through its publication,
liThe Bass Sound Post'llil
An interesting evening was spent in playing
solos en masse with a string orchestra accompaniment provided by the string teachers workshop led
by George Sarnoff, meeting on the Wisconsin campus
at the same time0
All of the experts leading the Conference and
teachers and the students enrolled were determined
to increase their knowledge of bass playing and
teaching, so the interchange of information went
on day after day in a furious but happy intercourse of ideas~ The writer was surprised at
the general consensus of opinion about the following topics: l~
Importance of scale study at all
levels of competency* 2~
Importance of Solfeggio
study -- IInever go to the bass without first
having the sound in mind,!· implemented by use of
musicians! solfegge, fixed Ildo" with seven syllable
sounds
3~
Importance of anchoring the fingers
in the fingerboard of the bass as if one was
always playing triple stops, though only bowing
one string at a tjme~ 4~ The value of extension
fingerings when playing alone, reverting to a
standard hand position in orchestra when one
cannot easily hear the sound of his own instrument~
5~
The vital importance of correct adjustment of
the strings over the fingerboard of the bass~
The first annual Institute for the String
Bass was a happy success
In the final gathering
Chairman Karr announced that the Institute now
has a membership of four hundred and is still growing fast~ Headquarters of the organization is at
the University of Wisconsin Extension Division,
Madison* Mr Karr should be as happy as the
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assembled bassists over the success of the event,
and deserves the accolade of all bassists for
having formed the International InstituteG
Reprinted (with permission of the author) from
the American String Teacher, official publ ication
of the American String Teachers Association
(Volume XVII--N~ 4).
9
Coquitla, Be C@
Canada
June 24, 1967
Dear Colleagues:
Before the thrill of that wonderful week
starts to fade, I must tell you how much I enjoyed
the string bass conference in Madison$
Although) expected to get a lot out of it
when I read the program in the brochure, I couldn i t
anticipate the enthusiasm which everyone put into
it, a fact which made it more worthwhile than I
1 1 m afraid that time will drag
had ever dreamed
while we wait the year for the next onee
As a maker and repairer of basses rather than
a player, I seemed to be a minority of one among
the participants in the conference0 But I was
heartened at the final session when Karr said,
'IGive us the instruments as the first step toward
better music{$ll
One thing common to every bass player, is
the wish to have a better instrument, and I was
sorry that when ideas were asked for on the
availability of good basses there was only one
suggestion -- to make available a 1 ist of qualified
repairmen0 A thought which was cooking in my mind
at that time has now more or less jel1ed~ In my
short and 1 imited experience in trying to obtain
a better sound out of basses, live learned that
the selection and the adjustment of the fittings
is almost as important as the correct design and
proportion of the body of the instrument in
producing tone~ The sound of a good instrument
can be hampered if the equipment and adjustment
is not right for it -- but an inferior bass can
produce a better tone than one would expect if
all the accessory parts are right for ite
e
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All repairmen seem to have their own unique
opinions as to how things should be put together.
Some may be right, but some have to be wrong.
There is a university research being done on the
right 'design for the body of the instrument -- I
understand Carleen Hutchings is producing some
answers which may lead to better new instruments
in the future. But the half mil,lion players and
students in the United States can't all exchange
their basses for better new ones
They would be
satisfied in having their present ones improved~
If a university could establ ish a research
program concerning the adjustment of the bass,
information undoubtedly could be produced which
would lead to a better sound from almost every
existing bass.
Important variables, such as the
pressure on the table through the feet of the
bridge, the shape, size and position of the tailpiece, should not be left to guesswork~
Many repair techniques are selected for
expediency -- not for the good of the instrument
and eventually become standard practice for better
or worse$
I hope the International Institute for
the String Bass will change this sad situation0
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Sincerely
Sydney Orpwood
11
BASS REPAIRS
BY Ted Daz1er
As a participant in the June Conference of the
International Institute for the String Bass, I
fou~d the five sessions on bass repair to be of
significant interest to bass players, and I should
1 ike to take the opportunity to briefly make known
to the subscribers of the BASS SOUND POST my
findings~
The points discussed in this article
is an accumulation of various facts presented by
Mr6 Lawrence LaMay and Mr Harry Gill ingham -- the
two special ists on bass repair -- and contributions
made by the experienced bassists attending the
conferencee The sessions were designed to promote
the bassists into new areas of thought on this
subject0 Therefore, the following information
should not be regarded as the I'last word ll in bass
As you read it, I hope you will react as I did
I now have new insights into bass repair and feel
more qual ified to raise future questions, and
perhaps even recommend future solutions to prepare
the bassists l equipmente
To begin with, the player should assure good
care of his instrument, The ideal humidity in
which to keep a bass is 50 per cent with a 10 per
cent variation~ The ideal temperature is 72 to
75 degrees o Using a cover is good because it
will help decrease and slow temperature changes@
Nylon covers, however, have been found to be
harmful because nylon isn1t porous enough to permit
the bass to breathe~
The top of the bass is one of the major considerations regarding the sound producing aspects
of the instrument. Cracks on the top may be
repaired in one of the two following ways:
1)
If cracks occur with -k of the center of the
top, staples can be used; otherwise, 2) glue is
used to fill the cracks. New instruments tend to
crack more than old ones because when the wood
dries, it contracts, thus causing damage.
It is
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dangerous to put new instruments into dry areas~
The least amount of varnish used on the
outside, the better~ When varnishing,' use a water
color and a clear varnisho Bass necks must not
be varnished
To remove the bass top, start at both ends of
the grain, using a paring knife and a hammero
Contrary to popular opinion, this operation takes
about an average of a half hour if the top is
glued on correctly with a fiddle-maker1s glue@
The tops of the factory-made German Basses are
almost impossible to remove because of the strong
type of glue used~
The bridge1s primary function is to establ ish
contact with the bass top so that the top is set
into motion (vibration) by the 5trings~ For best
results, the bridge generally should have a thickness of 20 mm*at the foot narrowing to a thickness
of 4 mm*at the point of the string contacte On a
standard fingerboard of 58 cm~ the bridge should
stand equidistant from the top end of the tailpiece and the bottom end of the fingerboard e If a
more gutteral and thicker sound is desired, heavier
and more dense maple wood should be used for the
bridgeo The notches cut into the bridge for the
strings are generally 26 mm*apart$ On a 3/4 size
bass, however, there is a movement to decrease the
distance~
Use a round file for the notchese The
notch should be ~ to ± the circumference of the
string4 The heighth of the bridge should be cut
so that the 9 string is 16 mm*above the fingerboard
and the E string is 19 mm*above the fingerboarde
However, metal strings can be brought closer to
the fingerboard without buzzing. When these two
points are establ ished a sloping curve can be
determined for the inner two strings~ The D and
A strings can be equidistant from the fingerboard
depending on its shape~ Because the contour of
0
",. 20mm=O.787
26mm=1.024
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11
4mm=O.158
16mm=O.6299
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81
58cm=22.834
19mm=O.748
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81
the bridge depends on the slope of the fingerboard,
the bridge cannot function efficiently unless:
(1) the fingerboard is slightly bowed, (2) the
neck i~ set into the bass so that the fingerboard
is at a correct distance from the bass stop@
For straightening warped bridges, it was
suggested that one should try wetting it with hot
water on both sides, and placing it in a clamp to
dry
Regarding the construction of the bridge, a
new approach, created by Janos Starker, is the
use of megaphone or conical shaped holes drilled
underneath the feet of the bridgeo Murray Grodner
uses this new bridge design on his bass and feels
that it projects a larger sound&
The inside of the bass houses the bass bar
and the sound posto The bass bar supports the
bridge foot of the lower two stringso Because it
eventually looses its curved shape which is designed to apply pressure against the top, it must
be replaced every ten to twenty years0 After
twenty years the bass will lose at least 40 per
cent of its potential volume& One can often
recognize when the bass bar is not functioning by
the fact that the bass top may fall around the
areas of the f holee
The sound post supports the foot of the bridge
of the upper two strings, acts in correspondence
with the bass bar$ The sound post should be set
in quite tight if the bass bar is functioning
efficiently~
The optimum diameter of the sound
post is 22 mm~ The grain of the sound post is
placed perpendicularly to the grain of the bass
top~
The top end of the sound post should be
placed below the bridge foot (towards the tail
piece, not under the foot) in the correspond ing
position-Qf the bass bar~ The sound post top can
therefore be moved away from or toward the bridge
in verticle direction, but must not be moved horizontally toward the f holes, Much more can be
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14
taken with the back end of the sound post in
obtaining a good sound post adjustment&
Excessive motion of the so-called IIwolfs ll
in a bass are often an impedance of an unsympathetic'vibration~
Excessive motion of the bridge
against the top may cause more than one string
to ring at once, thus producing a I'WolflJ& The
sound post may be too short or too long or perhaps
the bass bar might be weak~ Sometimes a long
end-pin inside the bass vibrates unsympathetical1YG
I tis imp 0 s sib 1e tot 0 tally rid the bas s 0 f I IW 0 1f s I I &
The cost of repairs was also discussed~ A new
fingerboard should cost about $60000 plus labor&
Removing varnish could cost anywhere from $100 00
Removing a top may cost about $100000 and a bass
bar about $50-$75&OOG
The bow is another important item to consider~
Good qual ty horsehair is very important as it
minimizes the need for excessive rosin0 The bow
functions best with only one layer of hair& Too
much hair decreases the sound& Black hair seems to
work well with steel strings, as black hair tends
to be coarser and seems to grab the string better@
Bleached hair tends to be quite brittle
Concerning
the bow stick, the grain in the wood should be
quite small t
(pernambuco wood is best)
The weight
of the wood should be as 1 ight as possible and
still be strong enough to maintain tension on the
bow hair~
Regarding the strings, gut strings tend to be
less projecting than metal stringsG Gut strings
have a softer and warmer sounds Steel strings are
more responsive for harmonics and have a metall ic
focused sound~ Pirastro and Ray Brown metal strings
are good
It was suggested in order to obtain better
tension on the E string to switch the A string with
the E string so that the E string occupies the
further tuning pege Gut strings may be cleaned and
reconditioned with mineral oil, alcohol, xylene,
bra z i 1 nut, 0 r cor k g rea s e (mu t ton tallow)
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Every time you lower the tuning of the strings the
tone of the bass changes to some extent.
Again, I repeat, that the above material is
not a solution to the bassists repair problems,
but is a representation of the exciting areas
discussed during the First Conference of the
International Institute for the String Bass$
16
THE DOUBLE BASS vs& THE STRING BASS
by Leland Tolo
.One of the very first questions raised by
"The Bass Sound Post'l was, "What should our
instrument be called?'1 Both Mr6 Copl in and Mr@
Duffney have contributed interesting thoughts
on this topic and, not to my surprise, have
reached different conclusionse Since my decision
concerning this question should be based on certain
criteria, allow me to 1 ist some which I think are
among the most important to consider.
1$ An attempt should be made at international
uniformity in identification0
(This is
especially important if liThe Bass Sound
Post" is to establ ish itself on an
international level~)
2
Genetic background (origins and evolution)
3~
Historical development (What it has been
called throughout history~)
Since the term string bass is often mentioned
a sapos 5 i b i 1 i ty, 1e t us exam i ne its qua 1 i fica t i on s
in 1 ight of the above criteria~ Although string
bass may be literally translated into other
languages, I am aware of no instance in professional circles where it supercedes the historical
names of the Ital ian IIContra-Basso,1l the German
"Kontra Bass," the French IlContre-Basse,'1 or
their equivalents&
Secondly, the popularization of the term string
bass is relatively recent for our instrument and
holds no significant genetic or historical place
in the origins and development of our instrument0
String Bass has the additional disadvantages
of being redundant on one hand and a misnomer on
the other~ Using the word string in combination
with bass (or any other word or words) to identify
our instrument is comparable to saying IIBrass tuba",
"wood bass clarinet,l' or the like. The superfluous
words are completely unnecessary. Also, a misnomer
arises when we recognize that throughout history,
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17
the violoncello (or its equivalent) has been
specified as the primary bass instrument of the
stringed instrument family instead of our beloved
instrument@ For these reasons I feel that string
bass 'leaves something to be desired .
The term bass viol in (bass fiddle) does have
its equivalents n some other languages (i6e~
"Bass Geige ll in German) but associates itself
closely with the development of the viol in family,
something that the evolution of our instrument
does not do~ Historically (but not practically).
speaking, bass viol in adequately describes the
violoncello s nce this instrument is intimately
connected with the development of the viol in, as
well as being the bass member of the viol in
family~
A parallel can be appl ied to the term
bass viol, but in relation to the viol familY0
The name which seems to suit our instrument
best is double bass,> Since double bass is the
Engl ish translat on to its three European predecessors (Ital ian, German and French), it is
commonly accepted by most Europeans as the
Engl ish name for the instrument0
Even as early
as 1909 Friedrich Warnecke, the German Kontrabassist and Musicologist, noted that the name
double bass was used in the Engl ish language,
to the exc usian of the other termS0
Both Mr0 Coplin and Mr& Duffney, in their
comments to liThe Bass Sound Post," recognize
the value of the term double bass in its
genetic background since it was primarily
used (until the 18th century) to double the
bass 1 ine in a reinforcement capacity~ Historically the term double bass has been used in
profess ional ranks throughout the Engl ish
speaking world to a much larger extent than
any of the other available terminologieso
I have become convinced that most contemporary
musicologists and musical instrument experts
prefer double bass to identify our instrumente
18
Concerning the use of a hyphen to connect
the two words of the term double bass to make it
analogous to its one word European equivalencs,
the problem becomes a question of 1 inguistics
instead of aesthetics or historical precedence~
Most people hyphenate terms such as this one to
achieve a verbatim or a "look-alike'l translation!>
To do this with languages is structurally
incorrect since the various languages are not
based on the same grammatical principles~ For
example, the German people use the word 'IHerrenbekleidungsgerschaft ll ; the translation of this
one word is IImenU s clothing storell;g
In English
~would be a grammatical faux pas to hyphenate
these words, (i0e(> men l s-clothing-store)j since
this procedure is not congruous with the structure
of the English language~ To illustrate the same
point, the French have the word !lrosl if" which
means roast beef~ Again we use more than one word
to translate one foreign word$ The structure of
these foreign words are not exceptions but rather
are very common in their respective languages~
This same phenomenon can be cited in the English
language: to·translate the word IIblack board H ,
the French need two words I'tableau noir l1
These
illustrations all point to the fatt that a hyphen
is not needed in the term 'Idouble bassI! but
instead it should stand as two individual words
even though its three European equivalents use only
a one word term~
In 1 ight of these criteria my personal preference can be no other than that of referring to our
magnificant instrument as the double bass
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Leland Tolo
Munich, Germany
19
LOGICAL FINGERING
Here in Aberdeen, one is a bit cut off from
the great musical activities in London so that
apart from Mr& Cruft, no one from London (which
I think of as the hub of brill iant bass players)
has influenced my playing style~
I played the piano before I began to study
the double bass and as a result my fingers prefer
to move around independently than stay in block
positions on the fingerboard
I think if you
know your instrument really well, knowing the
exact place of each note, the need for having an
anchoring finger in any position is lessened
considerab1y~
I think that now I have subconsciously forgotten about actual positions and
think of the nearness of other notes to wherever
I am on the fingerboard (e$g~ an F, 4th finger
on the A string is not a move away from a C, 1st
finger on the G string, only a 51 ight stretch of
the hand backwards being necessary, the 4th
finger releasing its F)~
I think the rigid
moving about of the hand in fixed positional
shape is unnecessary and that the double bass
player J s left hand action can be very 1 ike that
of a pianistis left hand$
I am also keen on the use of the thumb all
over the instrument, not just thumb position
only~
It is very useful for extensions and
simplifies all difficulties of fingering0
I see
no reason why the thumb cannot be used as far
back as B on the G string!
My own left hand technique is, of course,
suited to my way of holding the bass$
I prefer
11
to sit on a very low stool about 23 high, the
bass being at qui-:;:e-an angle, dare I say "like
a Icellola\11 I find this helps my bowing action,
as at a greater angle the strings give more
support to the bow
(French bow, I don1t know
much about the German bOW0)
I also find in this
sitting position, there is greater contact with
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the positions at the end of the neck and a 1st
finger or thumb on a D on the G string seems to
me much more comfortable than when standing up
or when sitting on a high stool* Also working
across the strings seems easiere The peg length
of my bass is 4 11 , I have no extending end-pin,
so that the angle of the bass must obviously be
great enough to avoid the back of my bass, as
being more comfortable in this position. By the
way, my string length is 42"&
Kenneth Je Carnegie
Aberdeen, Scotland
21
THE DOUBLE BASS
By Irving Godt
. THE DOUBLE BASS is the largest instrument in
the orchestra. Too big to hide, it skulks around
in the bottom registers of the symphonic literature
under a large assortment of a1 iases: bass, contrabass, string bass, bass viol, bass fiddle, bull
fiddle, and even violone.
In appearance it seems
to be a monster viol in played with a hopelessly
tiny bow. Because of its great size (it stands
six feet tall), it is played in the vertical
position 1 ike the cello, the senior member of the
viol in family, but the player must sit on a high
stool or stand beside his instrumentG
Although the double bass is considered the
lowest member of the string section, it doesnBt
really belong to the violin familYl3
Like some
dinosaur left over from another era, it has closer
ties to the violin 1 s ancestors, the viols, than
to the modern strings.
Its sloping shoulders,
flat back, and deep ribs would make it a wallflower at a viol in family reunion, but then the
big sad fiddle would be just as uncomfortable at
a gathering of refined, aristocratic viols@ It
is not really a bass viol, though it sometimes
pretends to be; it is in fact IIsub-bass," and not
quite a viol
A viol has six strings; the bass
does note A viol has a fretted fingerboard
(something 1 ike the ridged neck of a guitar); the
bass does noto Moreover, its coarser construction
and rougher tone make it embarrassingly obvious
that it is really not a viol
Modern jazz musicians give the bass a terrific
slapping around: they toss away the bow and use
the helpless giant as a rhythm instrument either
by plucking the strings (pizzicato) or slapping
them. This indignity may suggest that the contrabass has definitely gone downhill
But if it has
seen better days, it has also seen worse. Starting
&
s
o
22
1 ife with five strings, it began losing them one
at a time&
It had only three left by the time
young Haydn was down and out in Vienna~ These
three strings were tuned, from bottom to top, A,
0, and G (in fourths)~ By Beethovenis day this
had progressed (if you can call it progress) to
G, D, A (in fifths)~ But then it began to seem
unfair that the bass should have only three
strings while the other fiddles all had four*
Besides, Beethoven and others began to ask for
lower and lower notes, notes the basses didn1t
have~
Consequently, it became the custom to
restore the old tuning and to add a fourth string
an equal distance below, making the tuning E, A,
D, G0
The primary job of the contrabass is to
double the cello (that is, to play the same
notes as the cello an octave lower) and that, by
the way, is how it got the name double bass~ But
the bass could not always match the cello part
note for note because it lacked the two lowest
notes in its octave (C and D) which are available
to the cello above~ To resolve this awkwardness,
a fifth string was finally added (in the unequal
tuning C, E, A, D, G)~ Some bassists prefer the
four string design supplemented by an extension
gadget (attached to the lowest string) that makes
the extra notes available when needed&
The double bass is not the lowest instrument
in the orchestra, but it comes very close. With
C as its lowest note, it finds the harp a semitone (that is, a half step) lower, and the contrabassoon a whole tone lower~ However, its seniority
in the orchestra wins for the double bass the
honor of the lowest 1 ine on the score~
If a viol in maker named Vuil1aume had had his
way, the double bass would not now be the largest
23
instrument in the orchestra e
In 1849 he built a
colossal 12 foot fiddle he called the octobasseo
It was so big that the player had to stand on a
small platform, and his bow required the support
of oarlockse
In order to "finger" the strings -they were completely out of his reach -- the
player operated a set of levers which Vuillaume
had thoughtfully provided~ Except, however, for a
brief f1 ing in the monster orchestras organized
and conducted by the mad Louis Antoine Jul lien
during the 1850 1 s, the machine never caught one
The bulky double bass can do anything a
cello can do -- only worse e
Its longer, heavier
strings do not permit the flexible fingering
techniques used on the higher fiddles
But the
bass is not just a work horse;
its best players
pride themselves on coming as close as they can
to the skill of their neighbors an actave higher,
and there have been a few composers -- Beethoven
was among the first -- who dared throw the bass a
few scraps of music different from the cello part~
PEOPLE who are surprised that a fat lady can
have a lover may be equally surprised to learn
that the contrabass has known a few virtuosos
who have been able to lug their instrument out to
the front of the orchestra and play some of the
rare solo music written for it& Domenico
Dragonetti (1763-1846) Giovanni Bottesini (18211889) have become legendary; they habitually
played cello parts in chamber music on their
bassi to the amazement of all who heard them$
The first reputation of Bostonls Serge Koussevitzky was made, not as a conductor, but as a solo
bassi s t whose rna s t e ry 0 f the ins t r ume ntee 1 ips ed
all predecessorse Besides playing concertos of
his own composition, he played Saint-Saen1s
First Cello Concerto -- on the bass! There is
even a small but distinguished repertory of
chamber music employing the bass: Schubert1s
IITrout l' Qu i ntet and his Octet, Beethoven I sSept
o
24
Septet, Dvorak1s String Quintet in G, and Spohrls
del ightful Nonet (yes, it·s on d isc) ~
Basses open Tchaikovsk y l s "pathetique"
Symphony, accompanying most of the bassoon solo
without the assistance of the other strings0
One of the longest passages for basses alone
occurs in Verdi IS Otel10 (Act IV), when gloomy,
muted basses mark Otello ' s stealthy entrance just
before the murder of Desdemona@
In general practice, though, the bass is
important not for its solo capacities, but for its
range~
Its deep tone is vague and dark, but when
allied to the cellos an actave higher, its part
comes firmly into focus and the combination fills
the orchestra with a warm yet powerful, wel1anchored tone
The bassist is therefore most
consplcuous by his absence
When he sits out for
a few bars and lets the cello carry the bass part
alone, the sound of the string section becomes
quite transparent -- as in the first eighteen
bars of Wagneris Siegfried idyll, for example@
But when the bass enters, however softly, the walls
and the floor seem to become a part of the score~
You may not always hear the bass but you can feel
0
e
it
e
"Copyright 1966 by HiFi/Stereo
Reprinted by permission~1I
25
Review~
MORE ON THE BOW
by Gary Karr
MUSIC, TO ME, exis·ts to stimulate our audio
senses, it1s a language of sound9*~a language
organized and written by the composer, interpreted and spoken by the performer* But whether
notated or read aloud, the language is produced
by the mind of the artist~ With both composer
and performer, the artist1s mind enjoys the unique
sensation of actually hearing the sound before it
appears on paper or before it is real ized on the
instrument@ With both artists, the primary
objective as a musician is to reproduce, accurately
through technical means, sounds as they were
originally heard in the mind~
In developing the
performeris technical proficiency, I strongly
believe that maximum attention should be given to
sound, as it is silently heard and audibly produced~
Therefore, I have chosen to continue
writing about the bow~
Correct Bowin
Essential to Sound
Why the bow? The obvious answer is that
sound is produced by the activity of the bow on
the string0 The subject of the bow should be of
major concern to bass players, for I bel ieve that
in order to raise the standards of the string bass
sound, we must first re-examine the technical uses
oft h e b ow ~ A5 1st ate din the May iss ue 0 f
'IOrchestra News!1 the bass bow must not move at
the same speed as that of the cello bow 0 In order
to reap the full benefits of the bass sound, I
feel that the bassist must concentrate on drawing
his bow more slowly and confine his use of bow
a rea
In using less bow, we must accordingly use
less finger movement, less wrist action, and less
arm and shoulder motion@ We must learn to conserve all physical effort involved in the
manipulation of the bow in order to minimize the
mobil activity of the bow~
In doing so, v~e can
>1\
26
bring the technical problems into focus, rather
than hiding them in the falsely impressive
rapidly horizontal motion of the right hand
How will a more confined bow help the
standards of the string bass sound? I bel ieve
that this approach to the bow will enable the
player to relax more, thereby greatly extending
his technical capabilitiesG
In maintaining a
slow bow, he will want to move the bow-string
contact toward the bridge, where a more focused
and r~cher tone will be achieved~ With a slow
and relaxed bow, he will enjoy the feel ing of
having extra time to work with; for without rapid
movements of the bow, it wi 11 be poss ible to devote
more attention to the technical demands of every
manipulation& Without the speedy action of the
right hand, the 1eft hand wi 11 res pond with more
accuracy and relaxation; with an improved vibrato;
better into~ation; and clearer and smoother shifts0
With a slow bow, the player will become more
sensitive to the spacing of the strings, which
will help him to make clearer string crossings,
and allow him to extend his choice of fingering
to include more than one string~
0
Amount of Pressure on Bow Vital
Watch out for too much exerted pressure! The
pressure of the bow on the string can always be
lessened by drawing the bow less rapidlyo To turn
the student1s attention away from pressure, I often
suggest that on IIdown bows" one should have the
fee 1 i ng 0 f I I Pu 11 i ng the bow I I rat her t han I I pus h i n9
it " (almost as though they were scooping the
string upward)
With both schools of bowing
(especially French) I have found it helpful to
practice with the stick turned toward the bridge,
beneath the hair, thus the hair gets the full
support of the stick
On up bows, one should have the feel ing that
the bow-tip is being directed back toward the bass
rather than away from it~ With the German bow,
this can be accomplished by devoting extra
e
e
27
attention to directing the tip with the second
finger3 With the French bow, this can be done
with the index finger~ DonJt strain your wrist
~ GUS' e the wei ght 0 f you r e nt ire bod Y for
pressure~ With an upright (not slouching)
posture, the direction of the bow can be changed
with ease from the shoulder (especially at the
tip)~
I feel that the wrist should move after
the arm and shoulder moves" A loss of the entire
weight of the arm will result from too much wrist
and too eager a wriste With a concentration in
using the upper arm and shoulder to move the bow,
it will be easier to use less bow~
e
I
IIStaccatissimo" Bowing Good Practice
Without preparatory wrist motion, one can
start the bow with a clear and focused sound if
he starts the bow at a slow speed0 Using the
weight of the arm and shoulder, the slowly
drawn bow can be easily stopped without removing
the bow from the string0 For exercising the use
of the upper arm in clearer attacks and stops,
and for practicing a minimal use of the wrist,
fin 9e r s, bow - hair, and s pee d, I a dvis e p 1a yin 9
studies and scales with a "Staccatissimo ll bowing,
never using more than one-half inch of bow hair,
and always producing a clear, full bodied sound$
Any extra effort in directing your attention
to the bow will help you to come in closer contact with your own bass sound
We cannot do
enough to insure that much thought is devoted to
improving our sound
More concentration on bow
technique will help us to 1 isten to our own
playing, and will therefore help us to be more
critical of our own musicianshipe
e
e
Reprinted from "Orchestra News", December
issueq
28
SOMETHING NEW
A new humidifying device, called the Dampit,
has been invented to prevent the cracking and
splitting of musical instruments during dry spells,
Available to musicians for less than a year, the
DAMPIT has already been hailed by such world-famous
artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Mstislav
Rostropovic, and Leopold Stokowski, as well as by
America1s foremost viol in maker and restorer,
Simone F~ Sacconi, as the first really suc·cessful
means of solving the dryness problem@
The DAMPIT was developed after a year of
experimentation by Ralph Hollander, a viol inist and
composer whose own Guadagnini had cracked the preceding winter when central heating chased all of
New YorkBs normal sogginess out of his apartment
like all players of instruments containing wood,
Mr~ Hollander had previously resorted to many
expedients; placing a pan of water on top of each
radiator, hanging his viol in in the bathroom over a
tubful of water, keeping plants in the living room
and half-drowning them~
But none of these methods got to the heart of
the matter -- the inside of the instrument, unprotected by the varnish that coats the outs idee
It
is the raw inner surfaces which are particularly
susceptib·le to absorbing and losing moisture.$
The DAMPIT was thus designed to fit inside the
instrument~
It is flexible perforated tube containing a highly absorbent material
The musician
soaks the tube in water for a short time, wipes it
off slightly, and then inserts it into the instrument
-- in the case of the viol in, through the F hole$ A
flange prevents the DAMPIT from fall ing in~ Within
the instrument it slowly releases its humidity and
keeps an atmosphere of humidity just high enough
to maintain the optimum conditions for the instrument$
The instrument can be played with the DAMPIT in it
without loss of tone qualitY0
e
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Word-of-mouth reports of the DAMPIT have led
to its use in many instruments of the New York
Phil·harmonic Orchestra, The Boston Symphony
Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra
Many members of the London Symphony encountered
them during their last New York visit and have
carried them back to England~ Their feel ing is
perhaps best expressed in the words of the eminent
viol in teacher Ivan Galamian:
liThe DAMPIT humid ifier should become as much a necessity to the
v i 0 1 ina 5 res i n i s tot he bow ~
I hear til Y r e com ..mend this ingenious invention to all string
instrument players"I'
0
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VIGNETTE
Instant Replay
Is a new method used by the TeV~ networks to
let us see the touchdown play, winning ski jumps,
or knockout punch in slow motion0 The narrator
usually says, IILook at that form, balance, timing
and skil1~11 As we see the athlete repeat his
triumph at a pace keyed to a slower rate for our
leisurely analysis, many facets of the original
action that were lost are immediately apparent@
Did you ever practice your spiccato bowing
in slow motion? Have you ever made the shift
from the lower positions to thumb position so
slowly that every movement is temporarily l'frozen H
for your analysis? The instant replay practice
of your connecting portomentos and position
changes is a valuable approach to self analysis0
You can do it with mirrors or a bassist friend
who can be the acting " co ach ll
e
Tune in to your own channel and enjoy the
entertainment&
31
VIGNETTE
Always Follow Through
Is the advice of the golf pro. The ball will
never fly true if you 1 ift your head, turn your
wrists or violate any of the rules of the gamee
How about your bass bow?
Do you slice the
notes, or take too short a back swing? What are
your best strokes, marcato or legato?
Are you a below par or above par player,
and what is your handicap?
On a par four phrase do you end up with too
many strokes?
Maybe your practicing techniques are not
good enough to perfect your game. you1d better
improve that slice or you J l1 end up in the roughe
Be your own pro and always take time to bat
out a bucket of balls as a warm up. A couple of
hours of scales and your favorite exercises should
correct that back swing, and improve your follow
through at the tip of the bow.
Keep in top shape for the next classic
tournament, it may be a phone call awaYe
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