We are part of the string family when it suits our smaller instrumental cousins and excluded when it doesn’t. Not that anything has changed during my 41-year career as a professional bassist. Many Heads of Strings have been wonderful to work with, some less so, and my final one always thought I should know my…
Whether we like it or not, the double bass will be for ever linked with the large, lumbering and lugubrious elephant – much as the cello is with the elegant swan, or the tuba with Tubby! It wasn’t always the case however, and certainly in the 18th-century the double bass was an important and respected…
What did you want to be when you grow up? Amazingly, at the age of about 16 or 17 I wanted to be a publisher with a company specialising in music for the double bass, and do you know what? I achieved my dream and in two years time Recital Music will be 40 years…
So, this will probably seem a bit weird. Just to clarify things; we are an online company. Which means no shop, no premises, etc. However, here is the thing; I’ve worked since 1981 in various music shops. Yes, you’ve read that right, and it does make me quite old. In that time, if there is…
Look, I know you might find that title offensive, but it’s not all about you. In fact in this case it’s not even about you. But it is about me. OK….. it might be about you as well. It depends if you’re going through what I went through when I started learning music. learning to…
We know – what can possibly be more boring than cleaning? Watching paint dry maybe, but we don’t have to worry about that here! Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts; you have to keep cleaning in order to maintain your instrument in its’ optimum condition. Some instruments require less attention than others (pianos, for example, just…
Why are there so many different gauges to choose from? I mean choosing a brand is easy ‘cos there’s only a couple of hundred of them, but then there’s gauges and there’s coatings and every brand has a couple of dozen and none of them are the same gauge and none of them use the…
OK, why don’t you tell me why you think you are disorganised? Letters on a postcard please. The excuse I hear most often is “I’m disorganised because I’m artistic”. Really? Lets look at 5 artists, Beethoven, Turner, Piers Anthony, Damien Hirst and Elvis Costello. Starting with Mr Hirst, I don’t like his works, but then…
Sooner or later everyone in music is going to put on a performance. I’m not talking about playing for family and friends, but for those who don’t know you and are likely to be somewhat critical. But what constitutes a performance? Strutting your stuff in front of 20,000? Getting on stage in front of a…
