Week 39 of year 2007 on the double bass

23 Sep 2007, Sun: In the afternoon, I practised the first movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor. Somehow, its melody appealed to me. I love it. In the night, there was an urge to practise the second movement, so I took out my double bass and managed to practise part of the second movement. To end the evening, I tried to play part of Faure's Sicilienne from memory.

I was using L'Opera: Jade (Double bass solo) rosin and I quite like the slightly more mellow and softer feel it gave when my bow was bowed across the double bass strings, as compared to the usual POPS rosin that I use.

26 Sep 2007, Wed: During the sectionals, our tutor, GM, gave me pointers on exercises that I could do to work on achieving a nice vibrato, especially when I play notes on the higher position. I love the pointers. What I need to follow-up with is to practise.

At the orchestra rehearsal, we rehearsed "Infernal dance of King Kashchei" from Stravinsky's Firebird. I felt that I was beginning to know how to better relate to this piece of music, and I could better make sense of the rhythms.

During the break and after the rehearsal, I played the first movement from Eccles' Sonata in g minor. Somehow, this movement sounded better when I play on my orchestra's double bass (affectionately referred to as "my boyfriend") than when I play on own double bass ("my husband")

27 Sep 2007, Thu: For double bass lesson, I worked on Eccles' Sonata in g minor. My tutor, MJ, said that it is important to achieve a good tone on the double bass, and a good legato. I could just barely manage the first movement with lots of glitches. He showed me how I could practise on my own to work towards achieving a legato, and nice tone.

During the lesson, MJ demonstrated to me the second and the fourth movement, and I am inspired by him having played these two movements almost from memory. I shall work towards playing from memory.

In addition, he gave me a demonstration of passages from several of the LRSM's exams syllabus for music performance in double bass. I can say for sure that music played by the double bass can touch one's soul. I wonder how long it would take me to master playing those music?

29 Sep 2007, Sat: In the morning, I practised a couple of studies from Bottesini Method for Double Bass Part One. Afterwhich, time was spent practising the first movement and part of the second movement from Eccles' Sonata in g minor.

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I have managed to practise four days per week, but this target is merely a bare minimum to work with.

It bothers me that it has been close to two months, and my little finger has yet to fully recover. I can only be grateful that it is now not in pain, and that I could at least play on the double bass for a moderate period of time. I can also be grateful that I can bend the injured joint to a greater extent than when the finger was first found to be injured.