It's still decent enough

Yesterday, I wrote about the S$40K eye-candy, which is a Italian-made, master-crafted double bass.

Tonight, I practised on my husband. It has been a while since I last practised on him. My boyfriend, the double bass that I usually play at the orchestra, seemed to have gotten more of my time than my husband for this month.

Work has been piling quite a bit and there were many times when I would returned home pretty late. It did not seem considerate of me to play the double bass after 11 p.m. especially when I am living in high-rise flats. Anyway, I was feeling too tired to concentrate on practising. Admittedly, I could have used a practising mute. However, while I have a practising mute, I prefer not to use one. I love my husband's real voice, not his muted voice. Maybe I just have to learn to get used to his muted voice.

Tonight, I practised a simple F-sharp major scale. I also went through the first and second movement of the Marcello's Sonata in G minor (transcribed for the double bass). Playing the double bass can be quite a physical work-out. Imagine that it stands at about 2 metres in height. Furthermore, if I were to stop the notes on the fingerboard, the distance between each semitone would be about 1.5 inches apart. If you were to play a keyboard instrument, imagine your fingers having to stretch that much in order to just play a semitone. Won't playing a double bass be a physical work-out?

Actually, my husband sounded quite well today. I surprised myself when I found that I had managed a greater ease of doing vibrato on my husband. I don't really need the $40K eye-candy actually. Even though it obviously should sound, and does sound, better than my husband. I think at my level, I could well settle for a double bass within $10K. That would have met much of my current needs?

Sometime ago, I played on a $7.5 K double bass. It sounded good enough. The harmonics were clear and the tone was sweet. If I were to pick on its faults, that would be that it has yet to be seasoned. As such, it lacks the voice of a seasoned double bass. I think a realistic upgrade would be to a $7.5 K double bass and not the $40K master-crafted one.

Nevertheless, I shall dream that one day I would have enough disposable income and have gained mastery in playing the double bass, such that owning a master-crafted double bass would not be a luxury, but simply a natural thing to invest in.

Meantime, my husband is decent enough and I shall learn to be contented with him, at least for a while.