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Double Bass Gary Karr Series - DC Music School

CaseyVancouver

CaseyVancouver

Nov 4, 2012
2,475
5,995
#1
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#4
What happens if you guys go out of business?

A: Well, I hope that doesn’t happen! But if for some reason, the site has to go down, we will try our best to find a way for customers to download the videos.
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That's not very reassuring. I know they are trying to protect their IP, but I'd really like to have the video on my device if I'm shelling out the $$ for it.
 
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#5
Hi Carl, we don’t plan on going out of business anytime soon haha, that’s only worse case scenario. But let me ask you another question: things that you bought 20-30 years ago (like books,CDs , cassettes), have u never lost maybe one or two things? At any rate, we’ve been in business for 8 years now and still growing. In the worst case scenario, people wil be able to download. Audio versions of all the lessons are already downloadable!

Anyway, the Gary Karr series is the first in what is hopefully many series to come. I love the double bass and while Gary is certainly a legend, he is also a man with very specific views on the insturment that other high level players may not necessarily share, and I just hope to have various portraits of respected musicians to share their personal thoughts on the instrument.

Cheers
 
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#6
Oh and a little PS. We’ve added the interactive notation for most of the performances already. They’re synced up with the video. We’ll resume work after the holidays! It takes about 3-6 hours per performances to write / edit / sync up the notation!
 
#7
DenisC1043 said:
things that you bought 20-30 years ago (like books,CDs , cassettes), have u never lost maybe one or two things?
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Yes, and I considered the money I invested in the lost book, CD, or cassette as also lost...which I didn't like. But no worries, your business model has a chance to flourish because those of us who value the "ownership" of the media we purchase are old and will eventually fade away.

I'm afraid the problem you are going to run into is the same problem that is killing off small artists who want to record their music, someone will find a way to jailbreak your proprietary streaming video and it'll eventually end up online free for the taking whether you ever make it available for download or not.

I do appreciate your attempt to disseminate the knowledge of masters like Mr. Karr. Good luck, sir.
 
#10
Carl, I think you’re conflating a few things. Streaming pays artists horribly, it’s true — but imagine a world where we had magically gone directly from “physical” music to an equitably compensated streaming model, with no MP3s in between. Millions of easily replicable, individually owned copies of a creative work pose a much greater piracy threat than a streaming system controlled by the rights-holders.
 
#11
marcox said:
Carl, I think you’re conflating a few things. Streaming pays artists horribly, it’s true — but imagine a world where we had magically gone directly from “physical” music to an equitably compensated streaming model, with no MP3s in between. Millions of easily replicable, individually owned copies of a creative work pose a much greater piracy threat than a streaming system controlled by the rights-holders.
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As I said in an earlier post, I understand Denis trying to protect his intellectual property, but the combination of the internet and the ability to copy digital files is the genie that is out of the bottle. Anything that can be streamed to a computer can be captured and copied by that computer (with differing degrees of difficulty). I just think his customers would be better served if there was a legal download option. It's not like he will not have to police unauthorized postings if he stays stream-only.

But, his company, his decision.
 
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#15
3AFD9491-52CE-421C-9F49-A71A446CCBA2.jpeg
Ok, I picked up the first lesson!

All looks good and I think what and how Gary teaches will help everybody from a student to a seasoned pro. He has a very informal friendly teaching style. The man is almost 80 and very sharp. He uses Herman Reinshagen’s old bass that Gary bought in 1955. Reinshagen was his teacher and the bass is named ‘Athena’ as it has a ladies head in place of a scroll.

The lesson has an introductory price of $25. It will go up to $35 as transcriptions are added. It is 139 minutes. I do not know what Gary charges for a private lesson, if he even gives them. I have already received $25 worth of info in just a few minutes of the first lesson :)

Online lessons are not intended to replace face to face lessons with a teacher. I take lessons from a symphony pro, and the streamed lessons from Gary Karr will supplement this. This series is not general ‘how to play bass’ lessons, it is a more in-depth explanation on what Gary does, by Gary.

I believe a player of any achievement level will benefit from lessons, private and online such as this. I learned the value of a teacher 45 years ago when I met my first teacher’s boss, the symphony bass principle. The senior bassist still took lessons from Eugene Cruft.

There are 3 more video lessons available. I’ll probably purchase one each month.
 
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#17
LouisF said:
This clip came up for free:

Click to expand...

Keep in mind this clip is just a part of what Gary says about holding the bow.
Watching just the one video may leave you confused.

He also has a 12 minute video of the role of the bow fingers, and 7 minutes on feeling the bow. All the videos put the whole story into context on what he is trying to convey, just one video does not. He explains that in the right hand the most important finger is the second one, and the thumb does almost nothing.

Same with his explanation on the ‘vomit’ exercise. He explains that the vomit exercise is not about intonation or the left hand ...it is about bowing(!), the right arm, left arm shifting and involving your back. He has 3 videos on vomits, and they all have to be watched to get the context. Adds up to a lot on vomits. Gary is the one who named them vomits and explains why.

While teaching in Halifax, 15 bassists would be doing his (from George Bornoff) exercise in unison. People would walk by the room, look in the open door and make a vomit gesture. So he called the exercise ‘vomits’.

Watching one free video on a topic has the drawback of not getting his whole explanation, all the videos overlap with info.

You may not agree with how he does things. I like to get his, or any teacher’s, view point, try it, and end up with what works for me.
 
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