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Double Bass Tips on how best to play this?
- Thread starter Andy Mopley
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Just G myx scales... Brush up on your C major and G major scales. Invest in the Levinson book, and you should be able to find a way. It doesn't look difficult.
If you're asking about fingering, start on 2 and stay in 1st position. GABC-open 1 2 4, 1 on the F and repeat. If it's bowing that's the issue, break it down into a Fred Zimmerman exercise.
Schumann 2nd. Keep it simple. It's loud, use open strings. There are more difficult licks in this piece.
If bowing is the issue, keep it close to the frog with not a ton of bow. You're going to want to reserve bow, if you get too far out and by the tip you won't be able to get the sound or speed you're looking for.
If you don't have the Zimmerman book I highly recommend it. The basic idea is to figure out the string crossings independent of the left hand.
Oh, the infamous A and E exercises, salcott...I have that book, somewhere, prefer Levcick, but that's just an opinion...
If you eliminate the left hand and commit the bowing and string crossings to muscle memory, it will make the passage easier when you add the notes. It's what my teacher recommends.
IMO, YMMV, etc.
IMO, YMMV, etc.
Also practicing the passage slurred and with different bowing variations helps with getting the fingering down.
But I agree that the string crossings are the harder part about this section and would practice it on open strings/Fred Zimmerman style to solidify it.
Not too close to the frog. Better is further out, closer to the balance point where the hair can bend around the string more easily and grip the string. It is also easier to cross strings there because the bow is in neutral, not fighting you. Closer to the frog the bow works against you and string crossing becomes stiff and clumsy. In the upper half of the bow arm and hand movements become bigger and slower for the same change of angle between strings.
Starting with one note, say A on the G string, work out the length, weight and contact point that gives you a musical sound when minim = 170. The length might only be one or two inches at most, with arm weight resting on the string through the bow. Look down at the string to ensure that each note gets the same bow length and sounds evenly. Movements can be too short (= crushed) or too long (= scrubbed). Don't try and do off- or semi-off string bowing. Then work on simple exercises like (G A B A) 0 1 4 1, 0 41 4, 0 1 2 1, 0 2 1 2, 0 2 4 2, 0 4 2 4. Slower tempos and longer bows at first, to get articulation and timing clear between hands. Have your brain fully accept each task at each stage of increasing speed. Look for a sense of balance between the effort put into each hand but the right hand is the boss.. This helps guide my choice of length.
Remain relaxed and patient and speed will come. High speed is not a brick wall, mental or physical, that you have to smash through. My metaphor is a free-spinning bicycle wheel with no brakes that just gets faster without much extra effort or resistance. You just gradually spend less time on each note.
Does your conductor really want you to play this at 170?
Starting with one note, say A on the G string, work out the length, weight and contact point that gives you a musical sound when minim = 170. The length might only be one or two inches at most, with arm weight resting on the string through the bow. Look down at the string to ensure that each note gets the same bow length and sounds evenly. Movements can be too short (= crushed) or too long (= scrubbed). Don't try and do off- or semi-off string bowing. Then work on simple exercises like (G A B A) 0 1 4 1, 0 41 4, 0 1 2 1, 0 2 1 2, 0 2 4 2, 0 4 2 4. Slower tempos and longer bows at first, to get articulation and timing clear between hands. Have your brain fully accept each task at each stage of increasing speed. Look for a sense of balance between the effort put into each hand but the right hand is the boss.. This helps guide my choice of length.
Remain relaxed and patient and speed will come. High speed is not a brick wall, mental or physical, that you have to smash through. My metaphor is a free-spinning bicycle wheel with no brakes that just gets faster without much extra effort or resistance. You just gradually spend less time on each note.
Does your conductor really want you to play this at 170?
At the balance point would be best, keep your elbow and wrist relaxed, and the usual mantra - weight not pressure! The fingerings are easy, don't worry about the notes. Practice it in front of a mirror and watch your right shoulder rise....
