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Double Bass Help settle a bet!

#41
PaulCannon said:
Weird example. When would you need to sightread a piece like that? Also, it's not that hard if you take the printed tempo or a little under that. Lots of ink on the page doesn't necessarily mean it's fast and difficult. Although the rhythmic errors (added or missing beats and bad notation) in bars 6, 22, 24, and 30 would be pretty confusing.

I was once asked by Pierre Boulez to sight read Elliot Carter at a live audition. In that case, I was in over my head. There are probably people out there who would have dominated that reading, but I'm not one of them. Yet.
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It is weird. I don't know when anyone would be called to read it. But it does fit in the category of "any" piece of music, which it is. I also am willing to bet that if I put it in front of Lee Rocker he would not be able to play it correctly, despite him being a professional for many years.

Therefore the answer is: No, it is not realistic to put any piece of music in front of a professional double bassist and expect them to read it.

I won the interwebz, I take my prize now plox.
 
#44
JeffKissell said:
It sounds like Bobby don't give a sh!t 'bout his audience or his band... very unprofessional and arrogant if you ask me.


-Jeff
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Quite the opposite - the audience loved it and he is a great favourite amongst other musicians - especially for his sense of humour.

He was one of the most popular tutors on the Jazz Summer School I attend regularly and very much in demand. I was at Brighton Jazz club one night and he had people laughing just at his efforts to untangle a borrowed music stand! :p
 
#45
Nathan Parker said:
Show them this.
Also, are jazz musicians the only "professional" double bass players?
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Of course not - but the OP had been talking about Jazz DB playing and I was just talking about the original question asked.

Obviously there are going to be exceptions, but my experience from talking to a lot of people over the last 10 -15 years is that the best Jazz players get more work by being able to sight read very well and it is just silly to deny that it's a worthwhile skill to master. :atoz:
 
#46
Bruce Lindfield said:
Of course not - but the OP had been talking about Jazz DB playing and I was just talking about the original question asked.
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He was? It seemed like he wasn't very specific about what kind of professionals he was referring to. He even asked about classical concertos.

The hardest thing I was ever asked to sight read on the job was the Ligeti Piano Concerto. We were workshopping with a group of student composers and somebody thought it would be nice to play them a good example of modern ensemble writing to stimulate discussion. Most of the group had played the piece many times, but this was my first go at it. Here's a sample:

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#47
Maybe I was mixing up threads! But it applies even more so for classical - I can't imagine anybody making a living as a classical player without sight reading! :eek:

I agree on Ligeti - I remember seeing Tasmin Little play the violin concerto with the Berlin Phil at the Proms and she said it was the most difficult to play!
 
#48
PaulCannon said:
He was? It seemed like he wasn't very specific about what kind of professionals he was referring to. He even asked about classical concertos.

The hardest thing I was ever asked to sight read on the job was the Ligeti Piano Concerto. We were workshopping with a group of student composers and somebody thought it would be nice to play them a good example of modern ensemble writing to stimulate discussion. Most of the group had played the piece many times, but this was my first go at it. Here's a sample:

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Wow Paul...you read that? As the French would say 'Chapeu!"..
 
#50
in exceptionally difficult examples, like the one above, nobody really expects all the notes and rhythms to be perfect at sight.

judging from the musicians i know, and the ones i've studied with, i'd agree that pro players can usually read anything reasonable, and fake pretty well the really hard stuff.

what boggles my mind is when i see piano players sight read difficult material well.. 2 clefs, 10 notes at a time, it's humbling..
 

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