Conceptual Bassics Journal

New Left Wrist

06kahao — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:46:16 +0000

I’m pretty sure that I’m going to stick with the straight endpin. Lee pointed out that I need to make sure that my left wrist doesn’t collapse like how it did with the Rabbath setup. This feels very weird at this moment, but I’ll keep on fixing it. It should also watch my shifting so that my hand moves more than my entire arm does; it’s faster–more efficient.

Continuing Coverage on “That’s it.”

06kahao — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:26:29 +0000

As of this moment, I am really liking the straight endpin. My tone has already improved. Lee’s point is starting to make more sense now. He said that I play very forcibly, and Rabbath plays very gently. That means I’ve been playing the slanted bass as if it were a straight bass for the past some odd years. I’m not sure about stabilizing the bass yet. Mr. Hurst said that my bass wiggles around when I shift which means that I don’t have complete control of the bass. I’ll worry about that more after this two week straight endpin trial period.

That’s It: Practice Nov. 6, 2006

06kahao — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:50:33 +0000

I noticed today that I was playing with bass virtually vertical at one point even though I’m using a Rabbath endpin. Tomorrow I’m going to find a straight endpin and use it. I’ll try this for two weeks and finally decide what’s the best endpin for me.

How tight should my bow hair be?

06kahao — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:50:17 +0000

I’ve heard lots of ideas, and I’ve tried most of them. I noticed that I like to play with a lighter string tension in practice and solo, but I use a tight one when I rip in Orchestra. I’m talking to Lee about it.

Practice Nov. 6, 2006

06kahao — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:43:21 +0000

Time: 120 min.

I have tried out my bright idea of raising my shoulder, but my shoulder ached for the passed week. Thus, I should try to find a medium in between. Raising my shoulder allows my hand to move up and down the fingerboard without wasting time adjusting my elbow when I go over the break point between thumb and normal position. Today, I also noticed that there’s some joy’s to playing with the bow hair loser. I don’t know what to do about it. When I had my lesson with Mr. Hurst, he adjusted my bow such that it was loser than I’ve kept it for the past few months. On the other hand, Mr. Angell likes the hair tight. I guess it’s up to me. In the orchestra, I feel better with a tighter bow because I can press more, which is bad.–but it feels so good. I should talk to Lee and Hurst about this.

Practice Oct. 31, 2006

06kahao — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:03:28 +0000

Time: 120 min.

Today was pretty neat. I finally got through the entire first etude of Findeisen.

Most importantly, I figured out that playing with my elbow sticking out to the left helps my shifting from normal position to thumb position. I used to put my elbow more or less behind the neck, but that created an extra movement of bringing my elbow up when I switched to/from thumb position. Having the arm behind the neck seems to be an inherent problem of the Laborie Endpin setup, but I think this gets around the problem. I just have to get used to it–it’s so awkward.

Practice Oct. 24, 2006

06kahao — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:47:50 +0000

Time: 45 min.

Today was short practice, because I spent lots of my two-hour slot re-stringing my bass and adjusting its bridge. It was worth it though. So I managed to get a little more done with Findeisen, but I’m going just continue my plans from yesterday tomorrow.

Practice Oct. 23, 2006

06kahao — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:48:06 +0000

Time: 110 min.

Today was an okay practice, but I still had lots on my mind. I need to find a way to focus better while I practice.

I moved onto A major warm-ups, today, and I find that focusing on one key rather than every key is much more productive. I then practiced the Bottesini no. 2 I. I’ve gotten through the first page, but I have to fix up my openning vibrato. The problem is that I open with a thumb vibrato, and that doesn’t nearly as good as my pointer finger vibrato. I remember Mr. Hurst saying that I need to place the weight of the hand over the vibrato finger so that the finger becomes a folcrum. I’ll try that tomorrow.

Findeisen is okay, but I haven’t gotten very far in it. I’ll start with Findeisen instead of Bottesini tomorrow, and, hopefully, I’ll get farther.

Practice Oct. 22, 2006

06kahao — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 02:39:43 +0000

Time: 113 min.

I started off with D major scalar exercises which I’m still having problems with at the top of the third octave. I still think this is because my fingerboard runs out at that point, but I still have to work on that. Too bad. Tomorrow, I will move onto A major.

Today was the first day I worked on the Findeisen book. It’s actually really hard and I only got through the first half of the first page. But most of the time, I worked on the first movement of Bottesini #2.

I didn’t notice much today, but I was just really trying to have fun.

Practice Oct. 19, 2006

06kahao — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:22:14 +0000

Time: 120 min.

I’m not going to even try to recollect the other days that I’ve missed on blogging. But up until now, I’ve changed my routine. I start up with scalar warm-ups that mostly follow Mr. Hurst’s daily routine. I then do etudes and rep in any order. Changing the order spices it up a little from day to day. But I like the new routine, and I think I’m going to stick with it for a while.

My new Findeisen etude book just got in. In the mean time, I’ve managed to learn Nanny/Kreutzer no. 16. This etude also helped me prepare for the Bottesini Concerto no. 2 that I’m starting to work on.

Mainly, I have to keep a sharp eye on my point of contact while playing. I’ve been focusing on being parallel to the bridge too much. After to speaking to Mr. Hurst, it’s appearant that being parallel to the bridge doesn’t mean I’m being perpendicular to the string.