Double Bass Screeching Notes & strings, rosin, technique

[CaseyVancouver]

Interesting thoughts on playing here by Matthew McDonald, principle of the Berlin Philharmonic.

He mentions taking lessons from a teacher while preparing for an orchestra audition where they spent a month twice a week on starting a note. He sometimes gets lost in a trance practicing open strings and can spend 5 minutes on one note.

Candid comments from a player at an incredibly high level of performance.

 

[David Potts]

I remember the young Matthew playing casually with us in the SSO, not for long as he then went to Melbourne for the National Academy of Music. At that time members of the Berlin Philharmonic, through Wolfram Christ (their Principal Viola), were coming out annually to mentor the young players. I believe that Matt was spotted by Klaus Stohl who suggested to him the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin. From there Matt's career took off. While with us Matt showed his obvious prodigious talent.

 

[CaseyVancouver]

As the Original Poster of this thread, it has been over 6 months since I first posted about 'screeching notes'. I'm happy to conclude I've solved the problems. No more unmusical sounds while bowing! It appears simple and logical now. Working to this end was anything but simple, due to my own long held beliefs. An open mind works wonders when problem solving. Here are my solutions, to sum up, for my bass and technique:

Arco Specific Strings
In my case I went with Bel Cantos. I put on a number of strings on in the last 6 months, stark spiros, dominants, and combinations of them. I understood Joseph Guastafeste, ex CSO Principle, used spiro starks on his Busan and Gasparo da Salo his whole career. Hey, if he did it, and my bass with starks will loosen your gold crowns...

Well, Ken Smith opened my mind up to arco strings for bowing, and helped to get me away from the jazz growl (that I love) on this bass if I want to bow. David Potts was correct, once again, about arco strings for bowing.

Carlsson Rosin
Carlsson rosin is great with the Bel Cantos. Nymans sure looks to be the same product. I use the German bow with black hair. Some sessions I do not add any rosin. Pops worked when I was using spiro starks, but is just too sticky now. Plus it leaves a hard candy mess to clean off, and somehow adds it's own 'rosin sound' to bowing. Yep, David is spot on again.

Practise Most Days
How simple. I found when I got too busy with gigs and missed a day or three of bowing, my bowing chops flew out the window. I mark on a calendar my bowing time. Works for me.

So thanks to the good folks at TB for advice, Ken Smith and a few others, I have worked past this bowing problem. I have a lot of sheet music I had been holding off playing, but now is very playable. I did not intend to end up with one bass for classical and another for jazz, but this is where the journey took me.

Thanks Guys

 

[Tom Lane]

As the Original Poster of this thread, it has been over 6 months since I first posted about 'screeching notes'. I'm happy to conclude I've solved the problems. No more unmusical sounds while bowing! To sum up, it appears simple and logical now. Working to this end was anything but simple, due to my own long held beliefs. An open mind works wonders when problem solving. Here are my solutions, for my bass and technique:

Arco Specific Strings
In my case I went with Bel Cantos. I put on a number of strings on in the last 6 months, stark spiros, dominants, and combinations of them. I understood Joseph Guastafeste, ex CSO Principle, used spiro starks on his Busan and Gasparo da Salo his whole career. Hey, if he did it, and my bass with starks will loosen your gold fillings...

Well, Ken Smith opened my mind up to arco strings for bowing, and helped to get me away from the jazz growl (that I love) on this bass if I want to bow. David Potts was correct, once again, about arco strings for bowing.

Carlsson Rosin
Carlsson rosin is great now with the Bel Cantos. Nymans sure looks like the same rosin. Pops worked when I was using spiro starks, but is just too sticky now. Plus it leaves a mess to clean off, and somehow adds it's own 'rosin sound' to bowing. Yep, David is spot on again.

Practise Most Days
How simple. I found when I got too busy with gigs and missed a day or three of bowing, my bowing chops flew out the window. I mark on a calendar my bowing time. Works for me.

So thanks to the good folks at TB for advice, Ken Smith and a few others, I have worked past this bowing problem. I have a lot of sheet music I had been holding off playing, but now is very playable. The bass I have the Bel Cantos on is used for bowing only now, I have a jazz bass with spiros for gigs.

Thanks Guys

If you want a challenge and improve your bowing ability, check out John Goldsby's book on bowing. Painful! In a GOOD way!