Strong Double Bass Teachers/Programs in Europe

[Danimal23]

Hey everyone,
I've been on a tour for the last several years with a Cirque du Soleil production. We are about to end as our show is about 21 years old and reached the end of it's life span. As I consider what to do with my life, new found freedom from debt, and solid bank account I'm giving serious weight to the possibility of going to school to study bass classically. It's something which I never really took the time to do very seriously (just got to it a bit late but now am considering seriously taking a bite into it). Of course I've spent at least a fair amount of time working on arco technique and have been fortunate to receive lessons from some great teachers (Bruce Bransby, Kurt Muroki) or I wouldn't even be dreaming about this. And since we spent a lot of time on tour in Europe I really began to fall in love with this life style...at least for now.

SO....my question to you guys is this...

Where are the strong teachers/programs located in Europe???

Thanks for your time and considerate thought

Take care
Dan Immel

[ekspain]

depends on you. Its difficult to answer that question. The thing to do would be to find out who inspires you, find out where they teach and contact them.... Paris could be good, the CNSM, or perhaps Germany, the Karajan academy. no one can really answer that question for you. Maybe the first step is to explore teachers in Europe through youtube, or recordings or whatever, and then figure things out....London is a good option too...
Royal College or Academy....

[MartinBorgen]

Most small countries have one national/royal college. These are usually fairly competent. Then of course the big one, in the big cities.

OT: I think I've seen Cirque du Soleil in the Globe arena in stockholm many years ago. Cool show!

[David Potts]

German or French Bow? This may narrow down your search and elicit more responses.

Cheers...... DP

[Danimal23]

Thanks for the good points and questions raised so far.
1. David...I'm a french bow player
2. EkS...I'm usually less traditional in approach so the guys like Rabbath, Meyer, and Garcia-Fons tend to really inspire me....But I also have a traditional side which needs fostering and so that's the type of thing I'm looking for now...just to spend the time to develop the core repertoire, which I've never done. Seems like this would be a good way to develop a strong fundamental technique then make my own push forward for an individual voice the way those guys did...rather than learning to sound like them (which would be a remarkable feat anyhow....but not the artist's way)
3. Martin...yes that would have been us I think...if it was around the week of September 24th, 2009. That was our first European city...so beautiful that town!