ISB @ Penn State..

[Ken Smith]

Can you find me in this YouTube video? I can't but I can hear my Bass slightly, the Hart (yes, I do take her out on occasion). Most of it is one Bass only but due to the set-up, I am in the middle and blocked by the conductor. This is a reverse bass section set-up but I did it so I can be closer to the 'stick' and looking straight at him, not at his hip from behind 4 rows of Celli with Tymp's in my ears right behind me. We also did Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet that night the second half. There is a split bass part, a famous required excerpt and out of 5 basses of which I had us split 2 up and 3 down, the Conductor asked for only one Bass up high, ME. Bare ass naked up there. Calvin, you know the part. Scan it in so these readers can grow some whiskers..

[Joel Larsson]

Position-wise, the best bass sound I have ever heard was when the Gothenburg Symphony lined up their million dolalr babies back at the wall, behind the woodwinds, for one of those early Bruckner pieces. The bass notes hit you like a fist in your face. They sound great when they sit at the side as well, of course, but the difference in the audience was HUGE. I guess it makes sense, acoustically, and also, in rock'n'pop recordings, the instrument you just don't pan is the the bass. But I also guess that this is drifting off-topic.

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Joel Larsson

Position-wise, the best bass sound I have ever heard was when the Gothenburg Symphony lined up their million dolalr babies back at the wall, behind the woodwinds, for one of those early Bruckner pieces. The bass notes hit you like a fist in your face. They sound great when they sit at the side as well, of course, but the difference in the audience was HUGE. I guess it makes sense, acoustically, and also, in rock'n'pop recordings, the instrument you just don't pan is the the bass. But I also guess that this is drifting off-topic.

I really like where this topic is going, perhaps we could start a new thread on trends of where different bass sections sit.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

I really like where this topic is going, perhaps we could start a new thread on trends of where different bass sections sit.

Look at the Brun book which has been discussed and see where some once sat 100-200 years ago. It was pictures from that book that I showed to the conductor that helped me to convince him my idea was valid. There is a small back wall just behind us about 3 feet high. I prefer that to just air and the side of the hall which just lets the sound travel to who knows where rather than bouncing off the wall from the backs of at least 3 basses of the section as the last 2 basses wrap around somewhat. Next season howere the programs only require 3 or 4 basses per concert so we will have less dead air travel. Ofcourse if I play the Big Gamba it will feel more like 6 basses in the section.

[Ken McKay]

Hey just wondering about the sitting versus standing effect on bass sound. The bass I just finished sounds quite a bit fuller when the knee is not touching the back. How many orchestras encourage one or the other, all or a mix...?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Hey just wondering about the sitting versus standing effect on bass sound. The bass I just finished sounds quite a bit fuller when the knee is not touching the back. How many orchestras encourage one or the other, all or a mix...?

Try telling that to the violin players or the cello players. An Iron-Bryon like machine as used in Golf Club testing made for playing the Bass might produce the best sound due to the lack or a human dampening the wood.

Ok, short of that most players sit now a days. Why? Why not? Everyone else does!

I feel the bass in my gut just as good or better when sitting and I hear it a lot better as well. For solo playing is depends on the player as many stand today but in Orchestra sections, just about every section bass player I have seen in picture and in video lately are all standing.

I don't care if my bass sounds 5% better standing. If the bass is not good enough without standing, then get a better bass. That's my advice. My feet and back come first.I use a stool. If I feel like standing, I do. If not, I sit. It's not negotiable nor open for discussion on a gig as far as I am concerned.

Now we can argue bridges (try 100 different ones on ever bass till it's 2% better.. lol), endpins, strings, bows, rosin.. Where will it stop?????????

We need to just play the bass and not nit pic the tiny details. Set the bass up and play it. After all, the music comes first, right? Lets all go practice this weekend, NO Internet.. Deal?

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I don't care if my bass sounds 5% better standing. If the bass is not good enough without standing, then get a better bass.

I've played some really fine basses that sound very muted when your knee/leg touches the back of the bass. That being said, they sounded terrific and vibrated properly when I played standing.

From my experience (albeit rather limited), flat-back instruments are more prone to muting.



Ken, the Brun book is all tertiary information. The author took so many of the things ridiculously out of context and failed to document some of the sources properly. That being said, there is some validity in what's being presented, but his opinions of it are often taken as fact versus conjecture.

[Ken McKay]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Try telling that to the violin players or the cello players. An Iron-Bryon like machine as used in Golf Club testing made for playing the Bass might produce the best sound due to the lack or a human dampening the wood.

Ok, short of that most players sit now a days. Why? Why not? Everyone else does!

I feel the bass in my gut just as good or better when sitting and I hear it a lot better as well. For solo playing is depends on the player as many stand today but in Orchestra sections, just about every section bass player I have seen in picture and in video lately are all standing.

I don't care if my bass sounds 5% better standing. If the bass is not good enough without standing, then get a better bass. That's my advice. My feet and back come first.I use a stool. If I feel like standing, I do. If not, I sit. It's not negotiable nor open for discussion on a gig as far as I am concerned.

Now we can argue bridges (try 100 different ones on ever bass till it's 2% better.. lol), endpins, strings, bows, rosin.. Where will it stop?????????

We need to just play the bass and not nit pic the tiny details. Set the bass up and play it. After all, the music comes first, right? Lets all go practice this weekend, NO Internet.. Deal?

Hah hah hah you got me chuckling with this post Ken. Imagine being a gamba violist in the mid 16th C. Holding that thing between your knees for hours. Some body parts might go to sleep permanently.

When does the weekend start... did I violate the rule? If so, I will say an act of contrition.

Happy 4th of July...I always like to listen to some Mozzart on the 4th, don't know why, I guess Amadeus and the Declaration of Independence were contemporaries.