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11-04-2009, 05:50 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tyneside, UK | | | Classical music suitable for playing on bass...
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I've decided to try something of a new project by adapting a piece of classical music to bass.
Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces.
I don't want to do Bach if I can avoid it because too many people do the cello suites, and I want to avoid something which has been done over and over.
Any ideas?
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11-06-2009, 07:51 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht ...too many people do the cello suites... | Any idea why that's true?
You might want to adapt a movement or two from the violin suites or partitas. In many, many ways, nothing new happened after Bach. Once you can start hearing him in McCartney, Bruce, and Papillardi, you'll start to understand "modern" music a lot better. |
11-06-2009, 08:16 AM
|  | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht I've decided to try something of a new project by adapting a piece of classical music to bass.
Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces. | Well - a lot has happened after Bach - but this is especially true in the world of the Symphony orchestra - where the sound pallette has become ever more complex and the pieces longer and more involved!
Mahler's Symphonies for example require more than 100 people - maybe up to a thousand, to achieve the desired effect and last over an hour...?
How are you going to adapt that for BG and not lose the essence of the piece..? 
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11-06-2009, 08:19 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Belgium | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield How are you going to adapt that for BG and not lose the essence of the piece..? |
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11-06-2009, 08:26 AM
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11-06-2009, 10:58 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield
Mahler's Symphonies for example require more than 100 people - maybe up to a thousand, to achieve the desired effect and last over an hour...?
How are you going to adapt that for BG and not lose the essence of the piece..? | You wouldn't. But, for example, I've made an arrangement of the beginning theme to slow movement to his first symphony that works very well for bass guitar.
Through all of his 9.5 symphonies, Mahler rarely strays far from the big diatonic picture and all end on a IV to I or V to I, alla Bach.
Last edited by So Low Bass : 11-09-2009 at 03:33 PM.
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11-06-2009, 05:40 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Hey FA,
Check this out. This is my arrangement of Mozart’s “Turkish March”, performed on Friday at St. Paul Cathedral, Buffalo, NY. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NshLEGGM8j0
I strongly suggest using headphones.
Last edited by So Low Bass : 11-06-2009 at 05:50 PM.
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11-07-2009, 10:28 AM
|  | nyuk nyuk nyuk
Affiliated with Tune Guitar Maniac | | Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Los Angeles California | | | Dotzauer's cello etudes are great, especially for 5 string bass. |
11-07-2009, 10:32 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Eastern Wisconsin | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht Only problem- I don't know squat about classical music and I am hoping some lovely people here can suggest some pieces. | I mean this in no offenseive way, but,
if you don't know squat about the music, you have no business playing it! Or doing anything with it! The first step to arranging classical music for bass is NOT EVER arranging music for bass! It is of course learning about the music. What makes you think that you will be able to produce anything of any quailty if you're just fumbling in the dark?
Listen first. Play later.
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11-07-2009, 06:47 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Norfolk, VA | | | I made an attempt at "Clair de Lune" by Debussy. Turned out great! As long as the feel is right it sounds awesome. I know it's a weird song to play on the bass (cuz it's piano) but it was worth my time! taught me a lot about double stops and harmony! |
11-09-2009, 02:38 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by So Low Bass
Through all of his 9.5 symphonies, Mahler rarely strays far from the big diatonic picture and all end on a IV to I or V to I, alla Bach.
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Well this is so wrong, I don't know where to start - but I will just say "Progressive Tonality" and leave you to google it! 
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11-09-2009, 04:37 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield google it! | Google?
I only know from my adult life long experience studying the scores, hearing the recordings, and performing several of the symphonies (and song cycles) in professional orchestras in two countries.
Perhaps we’re really saying the same thing. Try starting with the serial compositions of Schoenberg and Berg… Mahler contemporaries… to see what I mean.
I defer to Bach… so did Mahler.
Last edited by So Low Bass : 11-09-2009 at 03:48 PM.
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11-09-2009, 04:55 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Schonberg studied with Mahler and said that his work owed a lot to Mahler's 9th Symphony!
The 1st movement of the 9th veers of into turmoil and dissonance - it doesn't follow the "apparent" sonata form and returns to themes in unusual and unpredictable keys.
By the time we get to the 10th symphony sketches, there are many episodes where key is suspended and tonality breaks down completely! 
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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11-09-2009, 05:07 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield there are many episodes where key is suspended and tonality breaks down completely! | You are right. This is true to some extent in all his symphonies, and the reason it's so stunning is because, as you say, Mahler breaks away from "I", which he firmly established... and ALWAYS returned to.
As for the serial composers... they were diatonic agnostics in a world where Bach led to AC/DC. |
11-09-2009, 05:19 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by So Low Bass You are right. This is true to some extent in all his symphonies, and the reason it's so stunning is because, as you say, Mahler breaks away from "I", which he firmly established... and ALWAYS returned to. | Well that's where you are wrong !
His Second Symphony 'progresses' from a C minor first movement to an E-flat major conclusion
His Third moves from a first movement which begins in D minor and ends in F major to a finale which ends in D major!
His Fourth in G major dies away in E major.
His fifth symphony moves from a C-sharp minor funeral march, through a conflict-ridden A minor movement, a vigorous dance movement in D major, and a lyrical F major 'Adagietto', to a finale in D major!
The Seventh is tonally highly 'progressive', with a first movement that moves from a (possible) B minor start to an E major conclusion, and a finale in C major.
The Ninth moves from a D major first movement to a D-flat major finale.
Do I need to go on...?
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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11-09-2009, 05:23 AM
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11-09-2009, 06:10 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | Quote:
Originally Posted by M0ses I mean this in no offenseive way, but,
if you don't know squat about the music, you have no business playing it! Or doing anything with it! The first step to arranging classical music for bass is NOT EVER arranging music for bass! It is of course learning about the music. What makes you think that you will be able to produce anything of any quailty if you're just fumbling in the dark?
Listen first. Play later. | This must be the most condescending post that I've ever seen on any forum.
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11-09-2009, 06:53 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | I think there is something in it though - so if you have no understanding of a type of music, then surely any attempt to arrange it for your instrument will be an empty, technical exercise with no meaning..?
It would be far better to develop an understanding and of course a love for the music first...?
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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11-09-2009, 07:57 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buffalo, NY. USA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield Well that's where you are wrong !
...C minor first movement to an E-flat major
...begins in D minor and ends in F major to a finale which ends in D major!
...G major dies away in E major.
...moves from a C-sharp to a finale in D major!
...B minor start to an E major conclusion, and a finale in C major.
...D major first movement to a D-flat major finale. | Beethoven’s #5 in c minor ends in C major, and Steppenwolf's Sookie Sookie starts in D modulates to E.
This is exactly what I am saying. You…WE are identifying tonality…keys.
Now, please tell me, AC/DC, and the rest of the musical world what key Webern’s Variations for Orchestra ends in. |
11-09-2009, 08:06 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by So Low Bass Mahler breaks away from "I", which he firmly established... and ALWAYS returned to. | Well what you are talking about now, is another debate - but that doesn't change the fact that the sentence I quoted above, is just wrong!
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