Double-Bass Notebook: Ideas, Tips, and Pointers for the Complete Professional - by Orin O'Brien

I'm so happy to reintroduce this book to our offerings. I used to get it directly from Orin when she was self-publishing it (back when its subtitle was "A Guide for Young Professionals"), but when she transferred production and distribution to Carl Fischer, it kind of fell off of my radar for a bit.

Now, with the release of the wonderful documentary, "The Only Girl in the Orchestra," which features Orin's story of being hired by Leonard Bernstein to the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, it seemed like a great time to bring this wonderful book back into the fold.

This useful collection of materials is designed to aid players who are studying either privately or in a conservatory. Players often have questions and developmental needs that fall outside the normal boundaries of an instructor's regular lesson time and content. Recognizing this, Ms. O'Brien has assembled all of the bits and pieces of "bass wisdom" she's collected over her many illustrious years of playing -- and teaching -- bass professionally. This so-called "notebook" is the result.

O'Brien herself says:

When I began to teach, my students needed to have various lists of repertoire, technical exercises, some often-played solos with standard bowings, articles relevant to musical/professional life, and the like. These separate pages I handed out, one by one, at the beginning of each student's first year of study. After one or two years, the pages would be creased and folded, placed into other folders/books of music—or lost. I decided to make a notebook, spiral bound, easy to put on a music stand, and more difficult to misplace.

The result was a compendium of material I found to be helpful. When my students showed it to their friends and other teachers, I began to receive requests for copies. Each year I found that 30 to 40 copies were needed to supply the growing interest.

Thank you to all my colleagues and my students for all your suggestions, encouragement, and help (including putting hand-copied music into printed format) and heartfelt thanks to many wonderful musicians/bassists.

This handy guide addresses left hand strength, for shifting, etudes which address the problems of hand position and shifting, articles on recommended reading and listening for educated musicians, and photographs of correct left hand position and bow grips. It also covers time-tested exercises, bowing, warm-ups, repertoire and audition advice, and a chapter titled “Basic Principles of Orchestral Playing.”

And you know this is good, solid information -- Orin's career includes 30+ years of teaching: at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes College of Music.

The Double Bass Notebook is an excellent companion for the serious student, and a great compendium of advice and development tools for most any bassist.

About Orin O'Brien

Bassist Orin O’Brien has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 1966, when she became the first woman to join the orchestra, then under Music Director Leonard Bernstein’s leadership. She currently teaches at the Juilliard School, where she was co-chair of the double bass department from 1992 to 2002; Manhattan School of Music, where she is also on the faculty of the Precollege Division; and Mannes College the New School for Music. Among her awards and honors are the Presidential Medal from Manhattan School of Music (2010), and the International Society of Bassists 2011 Special Recognition Award for Teaching.

At the University of California she studied with Milton Kestenbaum, former principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner, and Herman Reinshagen, former assistant principal bass of the New York Philharmonic under Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini. She continued her studies in New York with Frederick Zimmermann, graduating from the Juilliard School. Before joining the New York Philharmonic, she was a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra from 1956 to 1966 and performed with, among many others, Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Musica Aeterna in New York. She has played with the world’s leading conductors and performed in numerous chamber music festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival, where in the 1960s she made recordings with Pablo Casals and gave the premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Quartet for Four Double Basses. Her chamber music performances have included the quintets of Schubert and Dvorák with the Guarneri String Quartet. Ms. O’Brien has given master classes at the Peabody Institute, the Tanglewood Festival, New England Conservatory, and Yale University.

Publisher's description:

Highly-esteemed pedagogue and virtuoso Orin O'Brien offers a lifetime of insight in her acclaimed Double-Bass Notebook: Ideas, Tips and Pointers for the Complete Professional. This volume draws together musical examples and intuitive texts which O'Brien has integrated as an essential part of her teaching studio. Works spanning from Zimmermann and Simandl, to articles from contemporary colleagues, form a strong and definitive compendium. Practical and professional advice is given on topics such as practicing, auditioning, and repertoire.

Author: Orin O'Brien
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Size: 9" x 12" - 95 pages