Recs for College Bass Profs

[lcmom]

My daughter is a senior in high school and wants to be a bass performance major in college. We've heard how important it is to match teacher to student, but how to get information on profs? Is there a BassProfMatch.com site anywhere?
Her profile: Classical, orchestra, French bow, Vance/Rabbath/Bille technique (& endpin).
Her Holy Grail teachers are probably Paul Ellison and Edgar Meyer, but those are reaches and we haven't heard of many teachers.
Recommendations?:
Or any comments on bass teachers at any of the following schools:

Blair
Thornton
Frost
U of Pacific
U of Puget Sound
U of Washington
Oberlin
Temple
Northwestern
American U.

How much does it matter to have a prof who plays same bow?

[Jake]

Here are some recs for bass teachers/players that sound like they'd be good for your daughter:
Paul Ellison at Rice
Hal Robinson at The Curtis Institute
Jeremy Kurtz at San Diego State
David Moore at USC
Hans Sturm at Ball State
These are all people that have intergrated Rabbath's ideas/bent endpin in their playing and teaching.

Here are some recs for bass teachers/players aren't as heavy on the Rabbath stuff but may be a good choice for your daughter:
Jeff Bradetich at the University of North Texas
Daxun Zhang at U of Texas
Max Dimoff at The Cleveland Institute
Larry Hurst at Indiana
Ed Barker at Boston and New England Concervatory
Craig Butterfield at the U of South Carolina
Ben Levy at Boston Concervatory

And there are many others not mentioned here that I hope other TBers will fill in.

[MDEbass]

Out of the schools you mention, Oberlin and Northwestern have great music programs and bass professors. Definately check those out. One major thing to narrow in on is: what type of career does your daughter want? Orchestral? Solo? Chamber? Some teachers are heavy orchestral players and teachers, while others are soloists and don't do much orchestral, etc. For this reason, you definately want to match with a teacher who plays how you want to learn. For example, Edgar Meyer is a soloist. If i want to become a soloist, I would want to study with him. If I wanted to be an orchestral bassist, I would want to study with Hal Robinson, or Ed Barker.

As for which bow you use, this thread deals with exactly that: Bow Bias

[boylebass]

I'll put in a plug for my alma mater, The College-Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati. Albert Laszlo is the teacher there, Barry Green was there for a long time.

You might want to fill in your profile. If geographics are a concern (and by the list you have on your OP, I'm guessing they are not) you can save running all over the country for visits by narrowing down your geographic area. Flying with a bass aint a picnic, but driving from Seattle (a guess) to Philly isn't either.

[mjt0229]

Originally Posted by boylebass

I'll put in a plug for my alma mater, The College-Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati. Albert Laszlo is the teacher there, Barry Green was there for a long time.

You might want to fill in your profile. If geographics are a concern (and by the list you have on your OP, I'm guessing they are not) you can save running all over the country for visits by narrowing down your geographic area. Flying with a bass aint a picnic, but driving from Seattle (a guess) to Philly isn't either.

I was going to suggest Al Laszlo as well. I've only met him once, but was extremely impressed. He's probably the one guy who I'd love to sit down with for half a day for a 'total rebuild' of my technique.

[mjt0229]

Originally Posted by mjt0229

I was going to suggest Al Laszlo as well. I've only met him once, but was extremely impressed. He's probably the one guy who I'd love to sit down with for half a day for a 'total rebuild' of my technique.

Of course, it would take more that half a day.

[lcmom]

Thank you for the suggestions. We live in the Los Angeles area, but she's obviously willing to leave the area to study (of course, winter is a foreign concept to her). I've heard about the difficulties of traveling with a bass to auditions, but I figure we'll cross that bridge when she gets there.
At this moment, she is mostly enthralled with orchestra. Her happiest hours are in rehearsal. She plays in a bass ensemble, which she loves, and will try to find a chamber situation...string quartet plus bass this year, so chamber may be a possibility...which is one reason why UW is on the list. She'd like to be in a strong orchestra with a challenging, active performance schedule.
I'll definitely have her expand her research into the schools everyone has mentioned.
Please keep the recs coming. I personally had difficulty adjusting to a complete change in posture/fingerings (piano) in college by my prof and wanted to minimize this kind of change (not that change isn't good) for her.

[lcmom]

thanks for the link to the bow/teacher discussion. exactly what I needed.

[robobass]

Just one more note. If your daughter loves orchestral playing and aspires to be in an orchestra, then she should study with someone who plays in one, or even better, a teacher with a track record of placing students in professional orchestras. Soloing is great work if you can get it, but a great soloist can't necessarily teach you what you need to know to get into an orchestra. It's really two different worlds. Also, she should choose a teacher who also plays French grip unless she's prepared to switch. IMO, having a good bow grip is essential to developing good articulation, so you certainly want a teacher who plays the same grip as you.

[lcmom]

OK. Feeling better. Her teacher, David Young, is principal bassist with the L.A. Opera. She plays French bow as does he. She's had a chance to perform "side-by-side" with a professional orchestra and has loved her interaction with every professional bassist she's ever met. It's been a kind, sharing world that she's joined. She left the violin world at 12 to take up the bass...best decision of her life. Not sure where this journey will lead, but it's fascinating to watch a young person's interest take off.

[Jesse Rosenburg]

My last bass teacher was Georges Andre, who was the Principal at the Metropolitan Opera. This was many moons ago. He played french bow, but had no objection to my german bow. He was competent to help my bowing. He likened french bow to holding a butcher knife .

I wish I had all the operatic repertoire he had me play for him.

I also dug the stage elevators at the opera house

[MDEbass]

Originally Posted by robobass

a teacher with a track record of placing students in professional orchestras.

+1

In my opinion, this is the biggest thing to look out for. Some teachers may be some of the greatest players, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be the best teacher. A good way to gauge this is to investigate the success of the students that these teachers put out. There is definately a consistent pattern of players who consistently get jobs coming from Rice/Ellison, BU/Barker, and Curtis/Robinson.