Art of the Left Hand with Rabbath out now

[Hans Sturm]

Dearest Bass Friends,
Please forgive the general announcement - but many of you have been writing me regularly over the past few years and I thought that perhaps I should post something here. I offer a mea culpa if this offends.

After 5 years of labor the Art of the Left Hand with François Rabbath DVD is finally available - a 2 DVD set - the first featuring over two hours of live unaccompanied performances, lectures, interviews, and the second about an hour and a half total featuring 3 user-selectable video streams with a total of 12 camera angles (9 animations and 3 live) of each technique.

The downside is that the price is steep (sigh). This is a university owned project and as the producer I have no say in what happens with the money. All I ask is that as you consider the relative value, please keep in mind that this is still cheaper than a single lesson with François (100 euros - excluding the plane ticket) - an experience lasting far less time and offering you less detail.

In the final analysis, Rabbath's left hand innovations are simply another set of tools for any creative bassist to use. It is your choice how and where you incorporate his concepts. For some, they will be happy with what they already know - but for those seeking increased freedom, flexibility, and the richness of choice - this gift to us is amazing stuff!

Wishing you all the very best with your creative endeavors and hoping to see you in San Francisco next June for ISB 2011!
Hans

[JtheJazzMan]

I think its a good investment.

I absorbed a huge quantity of ideas from the Art of the Bow DVD, and you have the ability to rewind and rewatch to really study the ideas.

I hope this DVD is as good.

[PaulCannon]

That's fantastic! I'm moving to Paris this fall to study with Rabbath, and this will be a great primer.

Any chance there's a "value pack" with this and Art of the Bow?

[Hans Sturm]

I am working with the university to see if they will allow an offer for the two together at a reduced price. I get back from the Kansas City Bass Workshop early next week and should know more soon.

[JAKBOUND]

Got this at the Vance Memorial Workshop. Wonderful stuff. Drifted off to sleep on the sofa last night with the performances and a glass of Red wine. Woke up this morning and my bad back from the drive home was gone too!!
Seriously good eductional value beyond theraputic use. Only issue is having seen the great man live so recently, the DVD has shown the issues on my TV speakers, so it will cost me a new surround set up too.
Thanks to all concerned in the effort.

[Marcus Johnson]

Thanks Hans!

[jdepriest]

A package deal would be a big help to our string department’s budget. Thanks!
How well do the techniques transfer to other string instruments? I’ve played upright for 20 years but never seriously played the others except for string methods class in college.

[bass_snake]

Cool! I' m a buy that and "The Art Of Bowing".

Fred

[damonsmith]

I am on board with Rabbath (& Garcia-Fons!), pivots, endpin and all. I stil can't abide the collapsed left hand fingers and presenting that as legit technique.
I think it is an idiosyncratic thing he does and he sounds amazing no matter what. Still, there are tons of great players with wierd/bad habits. I'd like to hear that addressed more before plunking down that kind of bread for this!

[Hans Sturm]

Dearest Bassos,
For those who are curious, I've posted a few clips from the Art of the Left Hand on my facebook page and on the project website: http://artofthebow.com.

____________
Regarding collapsed fingers - this is not a part of Rabbath's technique per se. He does not address this in the DVD. What he does address are the concepts that he codified such as the Pivot and Crab techniques - allowing a player to shift less and play more than a whole step in a single position when they choose. And again, these techniques are not meant to "take the place" of traditional technique, but to enhance. The more choices you have, the more options you have for using a fingering best suited to make music -- and yes, it will also make you a faster and more efficient player as well. But these techniques took years to fully develop and take years to master.

The question of why Rabbath allows his left hand fingers to collapse is a fair one. First, let's pose this question - do François' collapsed fingers keep him from playing in tune, quickly, efficiently or at the very highest level? Clearly no. Furthermore, he will be 80 this year and has been playing this way his entire life and never had an injury to his fingers, so I think it is safe to say that without abusive playing, collapsing is generally not hazardous to your health (just as cracking your knuckles is not - no matter how obnoxious it is). The main reason Rabbath's fingers collapse is that he is using the entire weight of his arm focused over each finger to depress the string. As he was a body builder in his youth, he has fairly massive arms. It is this focused weight that helps to give him clarity of tone. The analogy I use with my students is one of the football players. You will be hard pressed to find any player on the field without a taped ankle - full flexibility of that joint is not required to run quickly or turn suddenly etc. Likewise, the first joint of the finger is not required to be bent in any particular way for the entire finger to move quickly or cleanly. It is the other 2 larger joints that control the accuracy of the motion (intonation), along with the centeredness of the hand and arm. Perhaps this point needs a video demonstration...

[Hans Sturm]

Sorry to miss this -- To JdePriest and others interested in a discount for AOB and AOLH together - I learned only last Friday that my "DVD Boss" was let go by the university. Since he was the policy maker, I'm afraid that for the moment we are stuck with current policy (wholesale discounts only to 5 or more ordered at the same time and delivered to the same address). I am hopeful that a new perspective will aid our situation.

And yes, the DVDs work very well for all string players. I have given presentations on the projects at two ASTA National Conferences and the DVDs have been very well received (and purchased) by violinists and cellists interested in learning how the 7 families of strokes from AOB and pivot concept from AOLH might apply to their instruments.

[emilio g]

This is great, at any price! Rabbath is a living legend!!

[chicagodoubler]

Hans,

Thank you for the wonderful contribution to our pedagogy.

Regarding the flattening of fingers... People tend to focus on single aspects of this methodology far too much IMO. This system is FAR bigger than any single element thereof. Additionally, many other improvising musicians use the flattened finger, including Dave Holland. Nobody seems to take issue with Mr. Holland's playing eh? The proof is in the pudding as they say.

Had Ray Brown lived to see these products I'm sure he would have advocated their use in jazz education as much as he did that ancient VHS tape that first introduced many of us to that gentle giant of the bass, Mr. Rabbath.

Also regarding price, this is far cheaper than flying to Paris.

[shwashwa]

i bought it. its worth it. get it.

[rsixel]

I need to comment. Great work, changed all my conception about the double bass and the music. I found Rabbath searching in Youtube for tips in how to use french style bow, because I "was" a german style bow player and never liked that, always I found that there's something missing. When I found Rabbath's technique imediatelly changed my mind, my bow,my endpin (use a bent one) and everything works amazingly well together. He "by harzard", as he likes to say, mixed Cello and eletric bass techniques in double bass in a time where eletric bass was just been created. The "crab" gives the possibility to use block scales and I may say "inter-position" fingering wich are not "traditional" without missing the reference of the pitch and said for most conservative as weird or bad addictions of fongering.

Greate lesson of all from Rabbath :there's no limit, if you put a limit before you do what you want you are reduced to this limit. He trully used the latin saying: veni, vidi, vici. Nobody told him he couldn't and he did !


Hans, congratulations to produce this work, it worths every penny I trully recomend from beginners to high level concert player wich uses "old school" position system, and even other bowed instruments. He gives a great tip for a violinist using his power of observation and problem solution ("problem, what problem ?") and after while he found that Paganini, due some nails marks in his instrument found at a museum, use the same technique he has empirically adapted from his system to violin teaching.

I have just a question : where do I find the DVD box announced in the AOB "Carte Blanche à François Rabbath". Googling but not finding.

Thanks and congratulations again and again!

[Hans Sturm]

The Rabbath DVD Carte is still not yet officially available. The project is a 2-DVD set that features François performing live with a chamber orchestra in Lille with Frank Proto conducting. I was able to purchase some of the footage back in 2005 for the Art of the Bow (the Paganini Variants Cadenza, for instance) and I listed all the musicians, tech crew etc in the credits of AOB. The main issue for the delay was financial, the orchestra musicians had not been paid by the producer. I saw François in Paris earlier this month and he indicated that the musicians had finally reached an agreement however there are now further production questions causing delay.
I actually believe that Rabbath's Bach Suite CD/DVD set (all 6 suites) will likely be available before Carte. It was recorded about 2 years ago.
You may also wish to keep your eyes on the Alphonse Leduc web site - the first part of Rabbath's 4th volume is due to come out in November and the second part early in the new year - when François turns 80! The 4th volume has many of his unpublished compositions, new techniques with etudes, and a section on how to begin a student.
By the way, I just received a preview of the AOLH DVD review that will appear in the next ISB journal Bass World. Written by the wonderful bassist Mark Urness, Professor of Double Bass at the Lawrence Conservatory, the one comment I just had to share was "Rabbath's radiant love for music made by the bass permeates every moment. Watching it makes you want to play! What more could you ask for?" Ahhh, bass love...

[Violen]

Thank you Hans. The work you do for our craft and community is immeasurable. We are blessed to have you as a peer and a pedagogue.

[Pat Harris]

I have the Carte Blanche 2 DVD set. I can't remember for the life of me where I purchased it, though. I think for some time it was available through Slava Publishing. There are definitely copies that are out there.

[Hans Sturm]

Ball State has just agreed to offer a 20% discount on the new Art of the Left Hand with François Rabbath 2-DVD set until early January - partially in response to the glowing review Mark Urness wrote in the most recent Bass World Magazine:

"In this remarkable follow-up DVD to Art of the Bow, François Rabbath and Hans Sturm have produced another must-have addition to every bassist’s library. This two-disc set features interviews, performances, short lectures, demonstrations, and state of the art motion-capture computer animation with multi-angle video. Rabbath’s radiant love for music made by the bass permeates every moment. Watching it makes you want to play! What more could you ask for?"

You can find it here:
http://filmbaby.com/films/5005

Happy bassing!
Hans

[DavidBassPlayer]

I'm convinced. I got good reviews here and on several other bass groups. I "bit the bullet" -- I bought both AOB and AOLH. Thanks for all the discussion of these products. I'll check back in when I have used them for a while.