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Double Bass Best Professors

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NicholasF

Jan 17, 2012
627
9
#1
Hey guys,

Im looking to study abroad my Junior year of college, and Im trying to figure out who to study with and where to study.

Right now the countries I am looking into are (in no particular order)

-Canada
-Japan
-Russia
-China
-Israel
-Nepal
-Spain
-England
-Germany
-France
-USA(If I do I would go somewhere on the west coast)

The question is, whose out there, whose doing some great things, and who is worth going overseas for?:hyper:
 
#4
Nicholas, please let me state what many are thinking: "The best professor for one is the worst professor for another."

Have fun, good luck and enjoy this moment: All doors are open!
 
#7
Lee Moses said:
Hmmm . . . I just noticed the last part, that you are trying to avoid the U.S. I would recommend Jeff Bradetich at UNT, but that doesn't geographically fit what you want.
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Hey Lee, Jeff was who is had in mind when I wrote that, him or DaXun.

I would like to have more worldly experiences (like I had in Israel) I only wish François Rabbath was a professor. If he is I couldn't find him.
 
#8
NicholasF said:
I would like to have more worldly experiences (like I had in Israel) I only wish François Rabbath was a professor. If he is I couldn't find him.
Click to expand...
François teaches at the Institut International François Rabbath. He offers two degrees, the Diplôme and a Teaching Certificate, though I believe these are honorary degrees with no official accreditation. While not an accredited school per se, it is registered with the French government and a signed letter of acceptance is enough for a student visa.

I know junior year is the traditional time for study abroad, but I think it's a bad idea in music. You should make the most of your four years of undergraduate study and consider taking a "gap year" after graduation. There are many more scholarship opportunities available, like the Fulbright and Watson fellowships, and you won't have to worry about completing any school credits while you're away.
 
#10
Lee Moses said:
That would be as good as it gets. Hans Sturm at Ball State is a close protege of Rabbath.
Click to expand...
Other Rabbath-certified professors are Paul Ellison (Rice), Hal Robinson (Curtis), Sandor Ostlund (Baylor), Nicholas Walker (Ithaca), Ali Yazdanfar (McGill), David Moore (USC), and Caroline Emery (Royal College of Music and Menuhin School).

Actually, Caroline Emery might be a great choice if you want to go to England. She's the world's leading expert in young bassist pedagogy, teaches at a top conservatory, works in an English-speaking country, and would put you in commuting distance of Paris if you wanted some lessons with Rabbath.
 
#11
PaulCannon said:
Other Rabbath-certified professors are Paul Ellison (Rice), Hal Robinson (Curtis), Sandor Ostlund (Baylor), Nicholas Walker (Ithaca), Ali Yazdanfar (McGill), David Moore (USC), and Caroline Emery (Royal College of Music and Menuhin School).

Actually, Caroline Emery might be a great choice if you want to go to England. She's the world's leading expert in young bassist pedagogy, teaches at a top conservatory, works in an English-speaking country, and would put you in commuting distance of Paris if you wanted some lessons with Rabbath.
Click to expand...

Awesome! I would love that. Going to look into that soon!
 
#12
At the end of the day you have to ask yourself what kind of an experience are you looking for - something which takes you out of your comfort zone, or one which will be as musically fulfilling (and challenging) as possible? You have a very wide spread and you should probably ask yourself a couple of questions before going through with them:

a) Do I speak the language?

For myself, I moved to a French-speaking majority location with many German-speaking skills and no French skills to speak of (but most people understand English). Nonetheless, I found myself isolated and rather depressed for my first year, finding myself frightened at the prospect of going out in public and having people 'find out' that I don't understand French.

b) Will I be musically challenged?

Being the big fish in the small pond is something people enjoy from time to time, but I think most would agree to find it more fulfilling to be a small fish in a big pond when it comes to learning things. I found this to be the biggest indicator as an undergrad, and even if you're going into your upperclassman years, it's still important since those four years are important to your development as a musician.

c) Will I ultimately come out a better player because of this?

This will be the hardest to predict barring any of us being reliable fortune-tellers. I knew many people who took study abroad trips their junior year (IU was linked up with a program to study in Austria), and from my eyes, many of them got too caught up in the sight-seeing and tourist trends to make any real progress. Some may have regressed in certain aspects, but very few made visible strides. If you think you'll fall into the tourist category, it might be cheaper in the course of your studies to just take a vacation. Take this all with a grain of salt, of course.

Everyone is different and can profit or take a hit from any of their choices. For myself, I wouldn't trade moving to Montreal for the world for the amount of hard truths I've learned about myself, studying with a good teacher who is not hesitant to let me know about any of them. The cultural differences made me think hard about how I do things for myself. I miss certain aspects of things back home, but fully embrace others from the new.

Also, I think Hans Sturm teaches at the U of Nebraska now, not Ball State.
 
#14
mattgray said:
At the end of the day you have to ask yourself what kind of an experience are you looking for - something which takes you out of your comfort zone, or one which will be as musically fulfilling (and challenging) as possible? You have a very wide spread and you should probably ask yourself a couple of questions before going through with them:

a) Do I speak the language?

For myself, I moved to a French-speaking majority location with many German-speaking skills and no French skills to speak of (but most people understand English). Nonetheless, I found myself isolated and rather depressed for my first year, finding myself frightened at the prospect of going out in public and having people 'find out' that I don't understand French.

b) Will I be musically challenged?

Being the big fish in the small pond is something people enjoy from time to time, but I think most would agree to find it more fulfilling to be a small fish in a big pond when it comes to learning things. I found this to be the biggest indicator as an undergrad, and even if you're going into your upperclassman years, it's still important since those four years are important to your development as a musician.

c) Will I ultimately come out a better player because of this?

This will be the hardest to predict barring any of us being reliable fortune-tellers. I knew many people who took study abroad trips their junior year (IU was linked up with a program to study in Austria), and from my eyes, many of them got too caught up in the sight-seeing and tourist trends to make any real progress. Some may have regressed in certain aspects, but very few made visible strides. If you think you'll fall into the tourist category, it might be cheaper in the course of your studies to just take a vacation. Take this all with a grain of salt, of course.

Everyone is different and can profit or take a hit from any of their choices. For myself, I wouldn't trade moving to Montreal for the world for the amount of hard truths I've learned about myself, studying with a good teacher who is not hesitant to let me know about any of them. The cultural differences made me think hard about how I do things for myself. I miss certain aspects of things back home, but fully embrace others from the new.

Also, I think Hans Sturm teaches at the U of Nebraska now, not Ball State.
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt, if you dont mind Ill answer these questions one by one for you :D

a) I speak English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Spanish fluently however I am also in the middle of learning French

b) I think that being musically challenged is extremely important, looking into the best professors to be around is one of those things. A great professor who really puts nose to the grind stone is someone who is going to really be someone of value. I believe that going outside the country would also help with that.

c) I think having worldly experiences always makes better musicians through cultural diffusion, it also changes the way we think to an extent. Spanish folk is different from American folk is different from Russian folk is different from anything else. The music that we are around has a big influence on whatever style of playing. I can use Rabbath as the perfect example. His music is heavily French and Syrian influenced, but the cultural diffusion of jazz from the USA has made his way into his music as well, giving it its own feel. Im looking for that, to get away from the norm and break out into something new, to give my playing a new tone based on what a Koto sounds like or to learn a new style of bowing from
the way a traditional instrument is played.

Hope im not going crazy :hyper:
 
#15
NicholasF said:
Hey guys,

Im looking to study abroad my Junior year of college, and Im trying to figure out who to study with and where to study.

Right now the countries I am looking into are (in no particular order)

-Canada
-Japan
-Russia
-China
-Israel
-Nepal
-Spain
-England
-Germany
-France
-USA(If I do I would go somewhere on the west coast)

The question is, whose out there, whose doing some great things, and who is worth going overseas for?:hyper:
Click to expand...

From a pragmatic view:

Avoid Russia and China (Especially with the Ukrainian war on the doorstep). Spain's economy is tough at the moment. Israel is decent, but there's that middle-eastern tension thing. I've got no idea about Nepal (a reason to go there?). Japan, Germany, France, Canada, England and the USA are all safe bets (France/Japan might have a language problem, though). Pity that the Netherlands is not on the list. We're not all just ice-skaters here, you know.
 
#16
Salamenster said:
From a pragmatic view:

Avoid Russia and China (Especially with the Ukrainian war on the doorstep). Spain's economy is tough at the moment. Israel is decent, but there's that middle-eastern tension thing. I've got no idea about Nepal (a reason to go there?). Japan, Germany, France, Canada, England and the USA are all safe bets (France/Japan might have a language problem, though). Pity that the Netherlands is not on the list. We're not all just ice-skaters here, you know.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight

The reason Nepal is there, its more of a "I want to go there to experience it"

I realize that it isnt a realistic option


Israel on the other hand I have been to, and its 100% safe. Believe it or not the tension isnt as bad as you might thing :)

and wait, you arent all ice skaters? my mind is blown!:hiding:

France and Japan arent as bad as you might think, most people do speak English in these countries, not great, but enough to get by *Referencing Rabbaths Art of the Bow*

And I am in the midst of learning French. I am going to contact my study abroad office as soon as they open Monday to see whats available

Thanks guys!
 
#17
NicholasF said:
Thanks for the insight

The reason Nepal is there, its more of a "I want to go there to experience it"

I realize that it isnt a realistic option


Israel on the other hand I have been to, and its 100% safe. Believe it or not the tension isnt as bad as you might thing :)

and wait, you arent all ice skaters? my mind is blown!:hiding:

France and Japan arent as bad as you might think, most people do speak English in these countries, not great, but enough to get by *Referencing Rabbaths Art of the Bow*

And I am in the midst of learning French. I am going to contact my study abroad office as soon as they open Monday to see whats available

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

Great! Good luck and most important, have fun! :bassist:

EDIT: Now that I've mentioned it, not that I'm trying to hijack the thread or point it toward politics. Just out of curiousity: but how much do you in the States hear about the Ukraine/Russia tension (=Crimean war to be)?
 
#18
Salamenster said:
Great! Good luck and most important, have fun! :bassist:

EDIT: Now that I've mentioned it, not that I'm trying to hijack the thread or point it toward politics. Just out of curiousity: but how much do you in the States hear about the Ukraine/Russia tension (=Crimean war to be)?
Click to expand...

It's in the media but from what I've seen it isn't being shown in detail. To be honest it is a little bit of a mess of hear say
 
#20
NicholasF said:
Basically what we are hearing is that the Russian Govt. has refused to participate in the upcoming summit, and that Putin may or may not have made a defensive pact with the current PM. The US is trying to sway the country towards Western influence while Russia is trying to sway it towards the Russian influence, and then the possibility of it giving up its sovereignty.

Again its a giant media mess, and there are no real answers anywhere.
Click to expand...

Well, topping to the cake is that there's an ukrainian peninsula, given to Ukraine in the soviet days by the USSR's then Ukrainian PM called the Crimea where 70% is ethnically Russian and therefore not.accepting the change of guard the Euromaidan riots resulted in. Russia has already invadid it.slowly and is preparing his army to fully invade the Crimea to gain in it back to Russia. Russian congress already accepted a bill to do this.

At the same time Ukraine has given out a call to arms and has mobilized reservists to protect the Crimea from Russian invasion/occupization. Both the EU and NATO are in support of Ukrain's western course and an invasion will not be tolerated.

Just to keep you updated about WWIII waiting to happen. This is all sourced info, because for some reason europeans are better informed on this. But I therefore really want to discourage you from going to that region (even Poland and the baltic states may get involved)
 
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