musical maturity
In life we tend to move from the energy of youth to the wisdom of age. Which is
why most orchestral jobs are won by players younger than 30 - its tough to have
the energy for the rigours of orchestral auditions.
Age and youth do not always fit together like a hand in a glove. I can think of
two bass players in Melbourne, either side of 30. The older one has been in a
position for a long time, is focussed on orchestral playing and cannot stand
solo bass playing, at all! The other is younger than 30 and fill of enthusiasm
and the joys of playing the bass - its hard to get the instrument off this
player, who is a wonderful soloist, often ripping thro bass music in the breaks.
Luckily these two players are not in the same orchestra!
Both have plenty to offer - energy, youth, flexibility, as well as wisdom,
experience and musical maturity. We have different priorities at differing
stages of our life:-
1 sound - young kids by an large are into playing the
instrument, getting the notes, having a ball. I remember that it was later on
that I took an appreciation in other aspects of playing the bass, such as
instruments and the different sounds that were available. Things change - older
player are more likely to get a kick from playing an open E on a beautiful old
English bass then ripping thro a page of semi quavers
2 enjoying the music - remember the thrill of playing Swan Lake
for the first time, wonderful stuff. Now fast forward to your 30th year in an
orchestra, and Swan Lake come up again, and again...
3 all the other stuff (check out the rest of the mind map), two
of which are:-
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Understand the music |
We learn from many sources but the more we perform with different conductors,
soloists and colleagues, the more we learn about the music, assuming our mind is
open to learning! Players and orchestras develop thier own taste and style. Some
use vibrato in Mozart, other dont. Some string sections play off the string a
lot, other not much. In my opinion opera bands play with voices much better than
symphony orchestras, and vice versa with the symphonic repertoire.
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Understand how the bass part fits in |
Good musicians understand thier part and how it fits in with the group as a
whole. I have leant a lot from Davin Holt, principal bass with Orchestra
Victoria. I am not a fan of french music, but Davin has played this music for
decades and he understands how the bass part fits, when to drive the tempo a
little, when to push a pizz a bit louder so the accompaniment can kick off it,
what sound is needed (often extreme flautando) etc. I dont think there is a book
to read about this stuff, it comes with experience. We learn from those around
us, conductors, soloists and our colleagues. |