Hey Guys,
Here is my contribution to the Talk Bass community (kinda):

A couple weeks ago, I went to The Midwest Doublebass Symposium (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=241491&highlight=Youngstown+State) at Youngstown State University, where Max Dimoff (Principal Bassist for the Cleveland Orchestra) gave a wonderful master class. In the master class he was talking about his warm-up routine, and passed out some written warm-ups that he does daily.
I've been working with these warm-ups and I'm finding that they are very effective. Max told me that some of the warm-ups are his own creation, while others are warm-ups he got from Gary Karr.

I have scanned the sheets to PDF format and have put them on my website. I haven't had a chance to contact Max, but I'm assuming it's ok to post these sheets, as he handed them out at the masterclass.
You can download the PDF files here:
http://farinhoover.com/Max%20Dimoff%20-%20Warmups.pdf

Also, if someone would be as so kind as to mirror the file on their website as well, (or maybe even an admin from TB can upload it to the TB site, its just a little to big for an attachment). I would greatly appricate it as my webserver is limited in bandwidth.

Thanks to Max Dimoff, and Gary Karr for the great warmups!

thanks !

+1

Thanks

Very nice addition

A very thorough warm-up.

"Max's Magic" is a killer workout.

I'm not an orchestral player, so I may be missing something. Is the label on the first warmup something other than VOMIT? Does this have a meaning other than the obvious, or is it an editorial comment?
:confused::eek:

I believe the phrase "vomit" as it pertains to Gark Karr exercises means that you practice the exercise until you are so sick of it that you "vomit".

:eek:

My memory may be inaccurate but I seem to recall Gary Karr saying something about "throwing your hand up the fingerboard".

I've heard it as an adjective to desribe the sound when a room full of bassists are doing the excercise. It sounds like "vomit."

ps - Mr. Dimoff is a member of Talkbass.

My memory may be inaccurate but I seem to recall Gary Karr saying something about "throwing your hand up the fingerboard".

Maybe, but that exercise is about the RIGHT hand bow speed, not so much the left hand.

Maybe, but that exercise is about the RIGHT hand bow speed, not so much the left hand.

Hey KPO, could you explain this in some more detail??

Thnx

"This exercise is all about the BOW"

Hey KPO, could you explain this in some more detail??


Sure.
Think about the BOW controlling each shift; "bowshifting", if you will.

Each note has its own bow speed, so during shifts
THE BOW ALWAYS MOVES AT THE SPEED OF THE SLOWEST (LOWEST) NOTE.
The idea is to have the bow disguise the shift between notes by operating at the slowest relevant speed.

Look at measure 4 of Mr Dimoff's warmups. During the shift from A to E the bow should continue at the slower speed of the A.
When the left hand arrives at the E, the bow should pop up to the speed of the E.

During the shift from E down to A, as soon as the left hand leaves the E, the bow pops down to the slower speed of the A.

This becomes extremely obvious when you're shifting over a whole octave.
You can completely disguise the shift if the bow remains SLOW during the shift to the high note. You only move the bow fast when you actually want to hear the top note - at all other times (ie during shifts and when actually playing the low A) the bow should be as SLOW as the low A.

This takes a while to get used to, but is incredibly useful in lyrical passages.

Thanks a lot for such a thorough explanation.
It was very helpful...!!

several posts here over the years have examined the very useful but oddly named "vomit" exercises pretty thoroughly.

suggest you search around if interested

...the very useful but oddly named "vomit" exercises ....

Gary said he still called it that because it sounds like "vomit" when his summer bass class does the exercise together for the morning warm-up.

Please explain the "Finger Combination" section on the first page. I don't understand why it is numbered 1,2,3,4. At first I though Dimoff might use four fingers. Help?

in the warmup, he does.

Yes, GK, and presumably MD, use all four fingers to complete the exercise. I stick to 1-2-4 and find it just as useful.

Farin, thanks for posting this.

Farin, thanks for posting this.
Welcome. I've got some more warm ups which my teachers, Henry Peyrebrune made. I'll try and get them up sometime soon.

I used to take lessons from Sara Wood (a close friend of Gary Karr) and I got some of these about 16 years ago, absolutely brutal!!! Gary had a set of warm ups that if done in its entirety would cover all the left hand and bowing situations you would ever need. BRUTAL BRUTAL!!!!!!!!

Have I mentioned that they are brutal?

These exercises from Max Dimoff are extremely useful--I use them with my students all the time.

Is there any chance someone could email me the exercises from the original post please? (Pwassy(at)gmail.com) I'm currently in a transition between teachers, and hope to be working with Todd Seeber soon, but in the mean time, I'm looking for some thorough exercises and from the sound of it these seem right.

Thanks!
Patrick

I have scanned the sheets to PDF format and have put them on my website. I haven't had a chance to contact Max, but I'm assuming it's ok to post these sheets, as he handed them out at the masterclass.
You can download the PDF files here:
http://farinhoover.com/Max%20Dimoff%20-%20Warmups.pdf


hi I would love to check these out but the page seems to un-available..can anyone help??

He did say that he had limited bandwith on his file server, maybe they shut it up for the month because of too much use? Does anyone else have a place that they can host this?

Is there any chance someone could email me the exercises from the original post please? (Pwassy(at)gmail.com) I'm currently in a transition between teachers, and hope to be working with Todd Seeber soon, but in the mean time, I'm looking for some thorough exercises and from the sound of it these seem right.

Thanks!
Patrick

i just emailed them to you.

if there's anybody who can host this, i'd be happy to email them to you, too. just pm me.

Click here (http://www.box.net/public/static/1ukqpfuhg3.pdf) to download the Max Dimoff warm-ups. You can also visit my site below, which will have a permanent link.

thanks jason!

yeah, thanks Jason - I've been trying to track this down for a little bit.

Is there any chance to get these excercises ? The thread is a bit older but I would like to get my hands on these.

http://doublebassblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/max_dimoff___warmups.pdf Thanks to Jason!