Week 29 of year 2007 on the double bass

15 Jul 2007, Sun: In the morning, I practised a few harmonic minor scales and a short study. Afterwhich, time was spent practising Berkeley's Introduction and Allegro religiously against the clicking metronome.

In the afternoon, I have had the pleasure to work with my friend, J.. She accompanied me on the piano, and we practised the first 41 bars of Berkeley's Introduction and Allegro and Marcello's Sonata in G major. The latter is taking shape, and now my job is to practise it at a slower speed. The faster movements sounded clearer when I play them at moderate tempo.

17 Jul 2007, Tue: I spent some 30 minutes working on Pachelbel's Canon arranged by David Heyes. I focused on getting the intonation as accurate as possible.

19 Jul 2007, Wed: It was the day for double bass sectional and orchestra rehearsal. We rehearsed Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1 and Gounod's Faust. In addition, we also sight-read music from Phantom of the Opera and The King and I arranged for the Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra will be staging a free performance on 15 Sep 2007, at the Central Lending Library, NLB Plaza. Details shall be released at a later date, and we will be playing some of these works.

20 Jul 2007, Thu: Double bass lesson was rescheduled to another date. As such, I practised on my own. I practised selected sections from Marcello's Sonata in G major to improve the clarity of my tone.



21 Jul 2007, Sat: An exciting day. In the morning, I met my friend, J, to practise together. She plays the piano and she will accompany me for the DipABRSM.

We rehearsed Marcello's Sonata in G major and Keyper's Romance and Rondo. J's husband gave me some useful feedback on my double bass sound.

My dear tutor, MJ, came at about 11 a.m. to offer me guidance on the kind of sound that would be more appropriate for the music. He helped to listen. give feedback and demonstration.

Playing music from the Baroque period and Classical period is an art, the sound matters, not just the technique. It was heartening to realise that my double bass sound sounded better after the end of the session. It is very helpful to have people to listen and give constructive feedback. I still need to work on keeping time.

In the evening, I spent time practising selected passages from Keyper's Romance and Rondo, so as to help my body remember how to achieve the sounds that I am striving for.

MJ said that when I play Romance, I can think about how it would feel to love a person and to communicate to the person. It makes me want to ask my readers here:
1) Could you please share how you would feel if you love a person?
2) How would you communicate to this person that you love him/ her?

Your comments would be appreciated as I shall consider them when I play this piece of music.