Back to basics

This evening, I had double bass lesson with my tutor, MJ. That was the first lesson after the Grade 8 exams. Without the pressure to prepare for exams, today's lesson focused on the basics. Simply basics.

I could only remember that a large part of the lesson was spent playing the C major scale so that MJ could correct my posture, and help me find a more natural posture to play double bass.

It was fun. Fun to learn. Fun to find better ways of playing the double bass. It was actually difficult at the beginning because my muscles did not seem to get used to the new posture. After some playing, the new posture worked better. My goals for my upcoming practices (practising on my own) will be to play C major scale with a natural posture.

MJ for some reasons wound rubber bands onto the frog and stick of my bow. He said it was to help guide my fingers to hold the bow more appropriately. Hey, it works. The tone of my playing became more verstaile and better once I became more aware where exactly the fingers of my right-hand were placed on the bow. This method was good in that it freed me to work on improving my left-hand posture.

Rubber bands: cheap and effective methods. Is it meant to be trade secret where the rubber bands should be placed? Anyway, don't ask me to share the trade secret. I haven't learnt and mastered it well enough to share it. Furthermore, I don't have the copyright to the trade secret, do I?

It was enjoyable learning the basics. I think that's an area where I am lacking strong foundation in.