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Double Bass Intermediate solo pieces needed

hensonbass

hensonbass

Supporting Member
Feb 25, 2004
1,298
435
Atlanta, GA
www.thebash.com
#1
I'm teaching a student right now who wants to try out for some music camps this summer and needs to make an audition tape. He's a natural musician -jazzer on the DB, but doesn't have a lot of bow chops yet.

I was thinking about trying the Bach cello suites that are transposed for DB. Anything else that you guys would suggest for high school level audtions? It needs to sound good solo - no piano accomp. should be nessesary.

Also- suggestions on music camps in the southeast US. We're trying for Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC. Is Bervard still around?

I don't think he's ready for the Interlochen or Tanglewood crowd.
 
#2
If the bow arm is weak, I would think the Bach suites might be too challenging; to me.

There are the old warhorse baroque sonatas by Marcello, Vivaldi and even Eccles (if you don't strive to take it at Edgar Meyer tempo) that I think might be a bit more accessible.
 
#5
Hensonbass,

There are several camps in this area. Eastern is the best, IMHO. Brevard is still around, but another option for him would be Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

I would think Vivaldi in a minor would be nice, Capuzzi is ok, Bach may be a little rough to a listner if he doesn't have much bow technique.

Hope that helps,
BG
 
#6
Capuzzi and the Cello Suites are too hard for beginning bow work. The first mvt of capuzzi alone has a couple of passages where you need fine bow control; when I learned it, I had to spend a LOT of time getting the articulation how I wanted it. At the risk of starting a flame war, have you considered The Elephant? I'd argue that that played well would work much better than eccles played badly. Just me, though.
 
#9
I think ELEPHANT would be too easy for an audition.
And Capuzzi would be quite a good choice as the only difficult part to the right arm is the running passage in measure 68.
And i would also suggest the Vivaldi Sonata No.3 in A, the 2 nd mvt. For me, i think that piece is nice to hear and that is not as difficult as people think.
 
#10
frank_chan1219 said:
I think ELEPHANT would be too easy for an audition.
And Capuzzi would be quite a good choice as the only difficult part to the right arm is the running passage in measure 68.
And i would also suggest the Vivaldi Sonata No.3 in A, the 2 nd mvt. For me, i think that piece is nice to hear and that is not as difficult as people think.
Click to expand...

I completely disgaree with you to be honest. You'll be surprised how quickly someones technique will shrink once they use a bow for the first time. I know many excellent Jazz players who can stroll through the Elephant pizzicato, but when you add a bow to an inexperienced arco player, the dynamics, tone, sound, and articulation go right out the window. I would say do the Marcello in E Minor. For an authentic boroque tone the Vivaldi requires bowing almost exlusively in the upper half for the fast movements, and that's something that requires a lot of practice especially for non arco players.
 
#13
BassZen said:
Vivaldi's A minor is a good choice (especially the first movement). I would also go for the Corelli or possibly "Apres un Reve" by Faure (though this one kind of needs good bowing, but is good anyway because it forces the student to learn in order to sound good).
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Apres un Reve? no no no. That is a very very melodic piece, for a beginner I would not go for a piece that requires him to actually "make music."
 
#15
Snakewood said:
Apres un Reve? no no no. That is a very very melodic piece, for a beginner I would not go for a piece that requires him to actually "make music."
Click to expand...

ok snakewood. making music is what it's all about. easy or hard, that's what a panel will hear. hopefully you're not going to be on this guys panel.
buzz
 
#16
I just did an audition today with Bourree from the Bach 3rd Cello Suite. I did this unaccompanied, and I chose this over Marcello because, even though I practice a lot with bowing, some of those fast runs don't sound that great at a slow pace and are difficult to play well still for me, and this piece sounds okay unaccompanied. I played it too fast for me at the audition and botched some things, but could have done well at a slow pace and it sounds good at a slower pace too. Its a nice, solid, recognizable piece. But, Bach does involve tenor clef.

My teacher had me get a book entitled Solos for the Double Bass Player, Selected and Edited by Oscar ZImmerman. It has 16 tunes. Bourree is in there. They're all one pagers, covers different musical periods, from Vivaldi to Bottesini to Russel.
 
#17
Actually. I just found an old French edition, from 1923, of the Bourree from the third suite, that doesn't venture into a different clef.

It is in G, but does not use the cello clef. Instead it shows all the notes up to the high C in bass clef. It takes a little time to get used to reading four ledger lines and five spaces, but it is faster than learning a new clef. (I know that I must eventually put in the time to learn cello clef if I ever want to progress further.)

The only problem with the Bourree (besides the new clef) is that you have to have developed your thumb position. It is not hard to play, but you must have your intonation together.
 
#20
bassbuz said:
ok snakewood. making music is what it's all about. easy or hard, that's what a panel will hear. hopefully you're not going to be on this guys panel.
buzz
Click to expand...

I would hardly consider him intermediate if he has never used a bow before. A piece like Apres un Reve utilize thumb position almsot exclusively, it's quite a leap from playing "the elephant." All these pieces, including the Vivaldi require extreme bow control and finesse. I just think they're a bit too difficult for someone who has no bow experience at all.
 

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