| Please suggest consolidation repertoire - 2nd to 5th Positions
Hi everybody,
I try to be a very good first teacher of Orchestral bass.
Can you suggest exercise material to develop a student's confidence in moving through the common "neck" positions, developing and consolidating note finding,alternate fingerings, shifting technique and sight reading.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Simandl Tutor! Loved because it can help teach the left hand well and hated because it is so boring!! His 30 Etudes are also rather arid and uninspiring.
After teaching First, Half then Second Positions I spend more time developing bowing technique while consolidating the Left Hand using Wohlfahrt "Studies for the Progressing String Bass Player" arranged by Barbara Shattuck Tellier ( the boston music co.).
I then teach Third and Fifth Positions, covering the range of notes and common keys found in much school ensemble repertoire. By then the student usually has a good clear grasp of how the fingerboard works and how to construct good fingerings. They can the easily go back through Two and a Half, Three and a Half and Fourth Positions and their difficult keys without being bored witless!!
Probably the best exercises I have found for consolidating up to Fifth Position are by Kment. Beyond Fifth Position I like to progress to Slama "66 Studies in All Keys" (IMC) and Sturm "110 Studies, Op. 20" (IMC)
There is no shortage of more difficult material, just this perceived gap between early positions and Fifth Position. The exercises do not have to be difficult but just move around the positions freely with lots of fingering possibilities.
Any ideas would be most welcome.
David
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