Double Bass Concentration..

[Andy Mopley]

do you ever find it hard to shut off extraneous elements (people in the audience, the hall, a talkative orchestra member, even a slight difference in bowing within the section) when concentrating on playing or even worse, during long pauses? What strategies to you employ against this?

Regards to all

 

[BarfanyShart]

Don't you just find one cute girl in the audience to look at all night?

 

[David Potts]

Life in an orchestra is a job of a thousand pin pricks. As a rank-and-file (Tutti) bass player there is a lot that you have little control over. Just being there is a privilege and mostly (believe-it-or-not) deeply satisfying. I suggest learning a simple form of (off-stage) meditation which should help reduce the impact of these external distractions and steady up the flow of incoming information as you play. It helped me a lot as I was developing.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2020, and keep those questions coming!

 

[Andy Mopley]

Don't you just find one cute girl in the audience to look at all night?

Nah...bass might get jealous!! ;-)

 

[neilG]

Don't you just find one cute girl in the audience to look at all night?

I have the advantage of sitting near the edge of the stage, so this happens, but not often enough. But seriously, unless a tympani explodes or someone in the audience screams, it's difficult to be thrown off. It's just years of practice. Learning to maintain focus is an acquired skill.

 

[AGCurry]

Never. But then if there is an opposite to attention-deficit disorder, I might have it.

When I'm playing, there is nothing more important than playing.

 

[ScatCat]

I have trouble with this too. I'm great during the dress rehearsal, but then when the concert hits I have a horrible time focusing on the music. It's helped this year that the audience is only allowed in the balcony of our venue.

 

[Jim Dedrick]

I suppose we are referencing different styles of music and I feed on the interaction of the audience. I think of them as part of the music. Really I want to take in the entire environment, audience, patrons, friends, even the guy that thinks I’m playing a violin.

 

[pdbass]

Don't you just find one cute girl in the audience to look at all night?

Much wisdom in this comment! Finding one thing to focus on, even my breathing, will often really help me to tune out the noise.

 

[David Potts]

Please remember that every person in the audience has probably paid good money to hear and see you. You are obliged to do your best for your own self-esteem, for your art and for your audience so they come back for more. I know that these are high aims and I often fail but they are there all the same. Can you still buy blinkers (for those who can still remember what a horse looks like after Covid!)?