Contrabass Conversations

Bobby Scharmann is Associate Principal Bass with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and has been documenting his audition journey and what he has learned through the 24 professional orchestra auditions he …

Lorraine Chai is the author of Stringstastic, a set of music theory books for double bass and the other string instruments. We talk about these cool books, both of which are available through Amazon.…

Susan Hagen is a Boston native and is extremely active in that city’s musical scene.  She serves as principal double bassist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, teaches bass at the Berklee Colleg…

Pete Lampe is the owner of Pete's Upright Bass Shop in Portland, Oregon, and he has been an active bassist in Portland since 1986.  He won a Silver Medal for Tone at the 2023 International Society o…

It was a pleasure to visit Ear Trumpet Labs founder Philip Graham and go behind the scenes with the Nadine microphone for double bass. I did a review of this mic back in 2020 and have been loving it …

Abe Gumroyan is a Grammy-award winning bassist who plays a wide range of gigs, ranging from major motion picture soundtracks to professional orchestras like the San Francisco Symphony. 

We dig int…

Lauren Pierce has written a new book title Scales, Scales, Scales: A Progressive Technical Journey for the Double Bass.  We dig into the inspiration for this book and catch up with Lauren and her cur…

Jacob Warren is a multi-style bassist whose background and interests lie in a wide ranging variety of acoustic styles, including, but not limited to classical, jazz, bluegrass, Swedish fiddle, and ma…

Hosted by Joseph Conyers and Yumi Kendall, Tacet No More is “a new podcast where we are asking the questions that need to be asked and saying the things that need to be said about classical music”.

Double bassist Krista Kopper recently released a solo, improvised double bass album titled  "Blessed Are Those Who Mourn" that was inspired by eight women who have been killed while running.

We dig…

Gael McKeon interviews Jason about the origins of the podcast, the experience of putting out 1000 episodes, and plans for the podcast’s future.  Enjoy!

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We celebrate the 1000th episode of Contrabass Conversations live at the 2023 Golden Gate Bass Camp!

Learn more about today’s guests:

• Chuck Israels
• Charles Chandler
• Amos Yang
• 2LOW album (their duo)
…

Today we feature double bass performer and educator Louis Levitt on how to bring up your energy level for a performance.  Enjoy, and be sure to check out Louis’ website, Rutgers University teaching p…

Today we feature double bass performer and educator Louis Levitt on how to warm up when you don’t have much time.  Enjoy, and be sure to check out Louis’ website, Rutgers University teaching profile,…

Renowned double bass luthier Arnold Schnitzer recently released a book titled The Handy Double Bassist; Maintenance, Adjustments and Repairs for the Non-Luthier.  This book is available in print edit…

Today we feature double bass performer and educator Louis Levitt on how to change a string much more quickly than normal.  Enjoy, and be sure to check out Louis’ website, Rutgers University teaching …

Today we feature John Kennedy, who has been one of the leading double bass educators for decades.  I’ve had the good pleasure to serve on the International Society of Bassists Board of Directors with…

Today we chat with double bass maker Nick Lloyd about the story behind his bench copy of Edgar Meyer’s Giovanni Battista Gabrielli from 1769.  Nick copied Edgar’s bass (#55) for Paul Kowert, and th…

Today, we talk with former podcast guest Bill Harrison about his new memoir Making the Low Notes: A Life in Music.  This is a great read about what it was like diving into Chicago’s lively jobbing w…

Sean O'Hara recently won an audition for a double bass section position in the Fort Worth Symphony.  In this episode, we talk about Sean’s journey from the San Francisco Bay area to UCLA to study wit…