Great post over at Scienceblogs.com by Dave Munger titled “Musicians have better memory — not just for music, but words and pictures too”

As musicians, we are constantly training ourselves to memorize. We spend hours upon hours memorizing music, and using mnemonic cues such as melodies, song form, harmony, music notation, and so on to help us memorize. Many of us start at a very early age.

Not only that, but practicing music is really doing repetitive calisthenic exercise on the parts of your brain that process technical thinking. We count over and over again (one and a two and a…), those beats are subdivided into fractions and complex mathematical iterations begin to permutate in both rhythm and harmonic elements of music performance.

It gets better: Music composition is really just another flavor of writing code. Musicians who read music are trained to read code from an early age. Musicians make excellent programmers.

So it is clear to me that music instruction is a critical component of education, and should begin consistently and from an early age. This is the best way to develop inherent technical thinking skills, improve memory, and help kids survive in an age where the people who know how to write code, or at least can think in code-like patterns, have a far greater chance of success professionally.

I’ve often thought much about efficiency when practicing music. I used to park myself in a practice room from dawn until midnight back at NEC and even before then. I would break my practice routines down into 15 minute increments, and have it all laid out on a schedule. Practice would occur for anywhere from 4 to 12 hours per day, including breaks of course. I was nuts, and obsessed. What can I say?

Nowadays time is limited. I have a day job. I have a family. I have classes that I take at night. But I remain obsessed. After the homework is done and the kids are in bed, I might have anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours to practice on any given weekday. What do you practice when time is limited?

Some things I try to cover are maintenance. With the double bass, shifting positions and pushing the strings down to the fingerboard is always kind of an athletic event. So one must maintain a level of strength, dexterity, and muscle memory with exercises. I use Petracchi’s Simplified Higher Technique book, sometimes hit up Ludwig Streicher’s methods, and have a few exercises I’ve worked up myself to stay in shape.

Another technical maintenance issue I encounter is bowing issues. Unlike my left hand technique where I’m fairly comfortable with everything and don’t feel like I have any major challenges, my bowing arm often feels foreign, even detached from my body at times. Only after regular practice with the Zimmerman book do I feel like I have this thing working properly. It is funny – there’s only four strings and two directions your bow can go, but an infinite number of possible patterns and subtleties that occur in these four planes of existence. OK seven planes if you count double stops…

So I am wondering for all you bassists out there: What do you practice when you don’t have much time? What is the first thing you practice? What does a typical practice session look like to you?

I am sure that a moment like this:

was part of the inspiration that led to this:

Luciano Pavarotti, one of the greatest tenors of all time, is dead at 71.

I never had much of an appreciation for Pavarotti until one day back at NEC when a friend of mine played three recordings of the same section from a Puccini opera. The difference in tone, control, phrasing, and musicianship that came out of Pavarotti’s voice was striking when compared to the other versions, and you could tell that this was a different “instrument” we were dealing with here. The man’s voice was like a cannon ��� projecting over an orchestra with ease and command. In my recording of the Verdi Requiem, his initial entrance completely energizes the mood of the piece and lifts you out of your seat when you hear it.

When I bow the double bass, I often think of an operatic voice and try to emulate that effect somehow. Pavarotti certainly comes to mind often (although my favorite sound is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s…) Pavarotti was a model of the tenor voice to many, and a powerful musical inspiration to millions. Certainly a great legacy has been left by this master Tenor, and I am very grateful to have experienced his musicianship.

Bill Harrison posted this tidbit over at Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog about frustration playing with shitty musicians, and I could not agree more with this. It really sucks to be stuck in an orchestra gig with the one guy that insists on playing too loud and too fast. It’s a testosterone thing I assume – he’s too macho to play with the rest of these fools, so he’s determined to show everyone exactly how it is done by himself.

These assholes are part of the reason I left the music business. (That, and of course the massive injuries I sustained back in Boston in an accident, coupled with the lack of good benefits and decent pay – long story, another time…) I like music too much, and as a freelancer and prospective auditioning bassist I encountered just a few too many of these to really feel like this was going to be a good career idea.

This discussion reminds me of a particular incident which I love to talk about because it was just so amazing when it happened. There are certain conductors you don’t want to piss off, lest they shove the baton straight down your gizzard. In one rehearsal with Simon Rattle whilst working on the effing difficult but amazing to hear last movement of Shostakovitch 4, he let the last stand of my bass section have it. The instigator was doing his usual finishing the sections about 2 or 3 measures earlier than the rest of the orchestra, and getting the other player (who is otherwise an incredible bassist) all stirred up with a weird air of machismo and tandem crotch-grabbing more fitting for a football huddle than for an orchestra performance with the illustrious maestro:

Rattle (To me as principal):

Sir, would you please yell at them?

Me (Scared shitless):

Uh-huh….. Guys, could you please?

Me (After a second try – same problems – to the last stand – politely, maybe even timidly):

Guys – could you keep it together?

Rattle (To last stand):

If you can’t follow me, follow the concertmistress. If you can’t follow her, follow him (pointing to me). If you can’t follow him, at least listen! Because if you can’t do any of those things, you’ll never get a job! You’ll starve!

Rattle (After the third attempt with no improvement on the part of the problematic stand):

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!

Obviously I was being too nice, but lesson learned. As for the performance, they still finished early – jock-cupping and all at the end of said passage. Mind-boggling.

So to this day, Shostakovitch 4 is my favorite symphony, even though our performance didn’t even come close to doing it justice. It sucks that we have to put up with these situations in our professional lives, but it is how we handle it and pick ourselves up in case we fall that defines our level of professionalism.

In Basses, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Part 2 – Trains, Jason writes:

People think that they are very funny — One of the most annoying things about carrying a bass around town is having grown people gape at you, slack-jawed like drugged cattle, as you struggle to get from point A to point B. You know how cattle all slowly turn their heads and stare at you as you walk past them on a country road? That’s just what your fellow commuters do.

After staring for a while, a light bulb goes off in the back of their commuter minds.

“Hey,” they think. ” should make a humorous remark directed toward that person carrying that strange thing! What a great idea!”

They close their gaping mouths, wet their lips, and blurt,

“Did’ja ever think of playing the piccolo? Haw haw haw haw haw haw haw haw!”

this so reminds me of riding the T to gigs back in Boston. My favorite moment was when a fellow bassist and I were riding back on the Green Line from a rehearsal with our basses on one of those tiny little cars, and we received this exact same comment about how we should have picked the flute. Because the face on my friend after that one was priceless – looked like he just took a sip of 2 day old Pabst Blue Ribbon where someone dropped their coals in. I laughed out loud and our stand-up comic erroneously thought she was hilarious.

Some others I’ve heard whilst dragging my bass through the snow:

• Is that a body in there?
• Is that your canoe?
• That’s a big cello/guitar/whatever!
• How do you get that in your car/a taxi/on the train?

Every single time. Like clockwork. Try it. Walk down a busy street with a double bass in a case and see what you get. You will be running home frantically searching for the Absolut in no-time.

I get the same sorts of inane chatter from having a homophonically similar famous boxing legend.

I’ll be playing the double bass in a benefit concert on 9/9 and 9/10 for the program shown below. This all-volunteer performance is to honor the five year anniversary of the September 11th disaster, and proceeds will go to benefit the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. (See this shameless cute puppy photo for more detail on what our concert proceeds go to.) If you would like to get out of the house for a change and hear some beautiful music, you might consider coming to one of these performances:

The Pacific Collegium Presents:
DURUFLÉ: REQUIEM
A memorial benefit performance
In support of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

• Christopher Kula, conductor
• Tonia d’Amelio, soprano
• Joseph Wright, baritone
• Susan Matthews, organist
• Pacific Collegium
• Pacific Boychoir

— Program —

Finzi, Lo, the full, final sacrifice
Festival anthem for chorus and orchestra

Finzi, Dies natalis
For soprano solo and strings

Duruflé, Requiem
For soloists, chorus and orchestra

Dates:

• Saturday, September 9, 7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland
• Sunday, September 10, 5 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Church, 1668 Bush St., San Francisco

Duruflé’s orchestrated setting of the Requiem Mass is a marvel of the liturgical repertoire, as well as being a seminal work of the 20th century Gregorian chant revival.

Lo, the full, final sacrifice is viewed by many as Finzi’s masterwork, though it is little widely known and virtually unheard in its lush orchestral version. A series of musical vignettes around the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas: Adoro Te devote and Lauda Sion Salvatorem, set in English by the 17th-century poet, Richard Crashaw, it is particularly celebrated for its final Amen in eight-part divisi.

Dies natalis, also by Finzi, sets texts of another 17th-century English metaphysical poet, Thomas Traherne. Accompanied by string ensemble, this work explores in solo voice the innocent ecstasy of a newborn child discovering the world and its wonders anew.

Visit http://www.pacificcollegium.org/ for more information and to purchase tickets for this event.

Bay Area Musicians: September is light anyway, so how about considering doing this benefit to raise funds for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation:

This September, to mark the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center disaster, the Pacific Collegium will present Duruflé’s Requiem and two major works of Gerald Finzi in a benefit concert on behalf of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (searchdogfoundation.org). NDSDF, a primary organization for the training and support of search and rescue dog teams, was prominent in the rescue efforts at the World Trade Center five years ago and in many before and since, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their expert search teams are provided at no cost to fire departments and other emergency service agencies throughout the country. As a tax-exempt charity with no government funding, NDSDF relies on support from private individuals, foundations and corporations to provide this crucial service.

Our goal is to enable 100% of ticket proceeds for this event to directly benefit NDSDF by arranging for fixed expenses to be waived, other expenses such as music rental to be underwritten, and by soliciting an ensemble of top-notch musicians as volunteers for this memorial fundraising concert.

Would you consider a donation of your time and talent as an instrumentalist to help make this event possible? Your time and your skills are extremely valuable (or we wouldn’t ask you to be involved in this project!). We hope you will consider joining us on this significant memorial occasion both for the sake of an important charitable cause, and in order to bring these beautiful works to performance in two very flattering acoustic spaces, but most importantly as a fitting tribute on the five-year anniversary of 9-11.

In fact, we could not be more thrilled about the program of music, featuring Duruflé’s Requiem in full orchestration alongside Lo, the full, final sacrifice and Dies Natalis, two engaging and eloquent works of Finzi a three-part meditation on tragedy and innocence, desolation, redemption and the simple wonder of being. A full orchestra and vocal forces of the Pacific Collegium will also be joined by trebles of the Pacific Boychoir Academy. I believe you will find it a suitable reflection on the events of 9-11-01 as well as a worthwhile observance of its five-year anniversary, in which you will be glad to be involved.

Rehearsal are planned for the evenings of Sept. 7 and 8, with performances on Saturday evening, Sept. 9 and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 10. As an additional thank-you for your participation, we will also offer each participant a complimentary subscription to our 2006-07 season, featuring Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers.

Furthermore, if you know of other talented instrumentalists that might also be interested in participating in this event, I would be happy to know of them, or to have them contact me directly. Please feel free to forward this announcement as you deem appropriate, or drop me a note with any suggestions!

In case you are still undecided about whether to sign on, I have shamelessly attached a photo of a NDSDF puppy. (Take a peek!) : )

Thanks for considering being a part of this charitable event. I look forward to hearing from you!

Warmest regards,
Christopher Kula
Artistic Director, Pacific Collegium

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Pacific Collegium Presents

DURUFLÉ: REQUIEM
A memorial benefit performance

In support of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Christopher Kula, conductor
Tonia d’Amelio, soprano
Pacific Collegium
Pacific Boychoir

Program

Finzi, Lo, the full, final sacrifice
Festival anthem for chorus and orchestra

Finzi, Dies natalis
For soprano solo and strings

Duruflé, Requiem
For soloists, chorus and orchestra

September 9, 7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal, Oakland
September 10, 5 p.m., Trinity Episcopal, San Francisco

Duruflé’s orchestration of the Requiem is a marvel of the liturgical repertoire, as well as being a (the?) seminal work of the 20th century Gregorian chant revival. Lo, the full, final sacrifice is viewed by many as Finzi’s masterwork, though it is little widely known and virtually unheard in its lush orchestral version. A series of musical vignettes around the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas: Adoro Te devote and Lauda Sion Salvatorem, set in English by the 17th century poet, Richard Crashaw, it is particularly celebrated for its final Amen in eight-part divisi. Dies natalis, also by Finzi, sets texts of another 17th century English poet, Thomas Traherne. Accompanied by string ensemble, this work explores in solo voice the innocent ecstasy of a newborn child discovering the world and its wonders anew.

I’m playing bass. The program sounds challenging, so if you’re feeling up to it then get in touch.