Next Level Bassist Musicality Issue

Publisher’s Note
Asking a musician to sit down and write about musicality...
on paper it does not look like the epic task that it really is!
Looking at that instruction, it seems like a job that every
one of us, especially legendary players and teachers, should
be able to do effortlessly. Try to define what musicality is,
I challenge you! It is elusive and it changes every day. We
can talk about why we play, or what we do to make Mozart
sound different from Brahms, but we are only scratching the surface of what
musicality really means to us.
When I get up on stage with Time for Three, there is a sensation that washes
over me which seems like a mixture of excitement, nerves, energy, confidence,
fun, and many other things. I know that it is my job to find a way, through my
bass, to send those wonderful and strange sensations to the people out in the
audience. I am lucky to have a lot of opportunities to improvise in a Time for
Three show, but there are great musicians in the pages to come who have their
entire performance scripted and laid out in advance. Somehow, we are all carrying
out this magical task night after night, moving people to feel things they
were not aware of with vibrations and silence.
I could not be more excited about the information that you are about to take
in, the perspectives you will gain from reading about these titans of the bass.
John Patitucci’s approach to the groove is something that no bass player should
ever be without. Sarah Hogan provides a template for a life of musical growth
and evolution. I hope that sharing the fun and inspiration of the members of
the Pittsburgh Symphony bass section provides a motivation to any musician
hoping to make it big and work with talented colleagues.
At the end of the day, we are not aiming for careers as the best unaccompanied
double bass player, we are preparing for careers of collaboration! Musicality
should color every single moment of your bass playing, whether it’s the high
pressure of auditions or the backyard BBQ jam session. I encourage you to
look past the competitive world of auditions and gigging, and put yourself in
that moment when the lights go down and it is time to play. That is the world
we all hope to live in, and I hope that the articles here make it that much more
rewarding for you.
- RANAAN MEYER
johnson
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NOV/DEC 2013 NEXT LEVEL BASSIST
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