Add to Calendar
Four Workshops in June and August, 2020

At Home With
Scott Pingel

BASS-ics

A fundamental overview of string playing on the double-bass.

This is an archive of a single-session workshop in June, 2o20, and a subsequent series in August.

?

About the Event

The purpose of this course was to provide a fundamental overview of string playing on the double-bass.  Whether these concepts are new or review, each brief discussion seeks to spur further exploration and refinement of one’s technique.  The class format included lecture, demonstration, and discussion.

Scott gave a stand-alone workshop in June, 2020, that created strong demand for a follow-up. We added a three-session workshop in August that delved deeper into the concepts touched upon in the June session.

About the Mentor

Scott Pingel has been serving as the principal bass of the San Francisco Symphony since 2004, after having worked with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada. He has also served as principal bassist of the Mainly Mozart, Arizona MusicFest, and Bellingham festival orchestras. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with luminaries including Yo-Yo Ma, Wu Han, members of the Emerson, Miro, Pacifica, St. Lawrence, Danish, and Takacs Quartets, toured throughout the US with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and regularly performs in the Music at Menlo and Music in the Vineyards festivals. His solo performances and recitals frequently featuring his own arrangements and compositions have received high critical acclaim. Versatile in a variety of styles of music, Pingel has performed in jazz clubs from New York to Stockholm, and his solo performances with the legendary heavy metal rock band, Metallica, were hailed as “show stopping” and “jaw dropping” by Rolling Stone and Variety magazines. Passionate about teaching, he has taught master classes throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, served as a tenured Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, and is currently a faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He lives with his wife, Iris, and their two daughters, Hannah and Sophia in Mill Valley, CA.

Workshop Materials

SERIES OUTLINE and ARCHIVE VIDEOS

Session One: BASS-ics I

 

Set-up:
Instrument Sizing
Instrument Set-up
Healthy Posture and Instrument Positioning
Right Arm Basics:
Rosin and Hair Tension
Bow Hold (French and German)
Fundamentals of Tone Production
Basic Bowing Motions:  Curves and Planes
Left Arm Basics:
Hand Shapes (Neck and Thumb Positions)
Left Arm Weight
The Thumb
Left Hand Articulation
Shifting

Session Two: BASS-ics II

Essential Bow Strokes:
Détaché
Legato
Martelé
Slurred Staccato
Spiccato
Left Arm Basics, pt. 2:
Pivoting
Thumb Position Exercises
Vibrato

Excerpt Class: Beethoven V

Participants were encouraged to play for all and get a mini-coaching

Please find your favorite recording. Mine is Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic — total rock and roll.

Download the Beethoven part

Please find your favorite recording. Mine is Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic — total rock and roll.

WORKSHOP ASSETS AND REFERENCE MATERIALS

    Workshop Notes

    Technical Fundamentals for the Left Hand

    Bowing Skills

    Bowing Curves Study

    STAND-ALONE WORKSHOP VIDEO

    June 6: At Home with Scott Pingel: Stand-alone workshop