Combining the best qualities of Brescia, Milan, Venice and England, the bass has a sound that blends well with other instruments. For this reason, it is very suitable as an orchestral instrument. At the same time there is a lot of power in this instrument, which is why it can be used especially well in jazz ensembles as well as a solo instrument.
The GUI is streamlined and efficient, with a minimal number of patches making it quick and easy to learn. The layout is functionally the same as for Cinematic Studio Strings, so you can double the solo instrument patches with their section counterparts (eg Solo Violin I with 1st Violins), and play them at the same time on one MIDI channel. This first-chair functionality serves to reinforce the sound of each section, with the lush sound of the section bolstered by a 1st-chair solo patch. This blending together of the two libraries creates an even smoother, richer sound.
London Solo Double Bass KONTAKT
My fine handmade solo model English double basses are suitable for all musical styles. I have principally aimed them at jazz players, soloists, players of a shorter statue and people simply requirying an instrument a little easier to transport. The model is influenced by the great London double bass makers,Thomas Kennedy, J.F. Lott, John Hart and Benard Simon Fendt Jnr. The basic dimensions are:-
Materials and fittings are of the same high quality that are used throughout my 'Standard English' double basses and the same customising options are available for commissioned instruments, please contact me for details, prices and availability.
We have a large stock of the finest tonewood specially selected for the double bass. When making an instrument we choose a combination of wood to achieve both aesthetic beauty and sound quality. We aim to provide exemplary service to each client from initial enquiry through to the completion of the instrument. Every detail and requirement is taken into consideration and we offer regular photographic updates during the making process.
Outside of his duties as principal bass of the Met Orchestra, double bassist Timothy Cobb maintains a busy schedule of chamber collaborations and solo appearances. Recent collaborations include the Guarneri, Emerson and Belcea Quartets, as well as singer Ian Bostridge, pianist Leon Fleischer and actors Leonard Nimoy, Richard Thomas and Alan Alda.
Cobb serves as the double bass department chair for the Juilliard School, as well as serving on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Conservatory of Music, Purchase College. His students hold positions, both principal and tutti, in orchestras on five continents, from the United States and Europe to New Zealand and South Africa.
Cobb has been a guest instructor at numerous institutions, including most recently the Royal Guildhall School of Music in London, England The Toho School in Tokyo, Japan and the Longy School in Boston. In July of 2006, Cobb spent two weeks in Brussels, Belgium coaching the double bass section of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas in preparation for their international tour and in January 2007, he joined the FEMUSC Festival in Brazil teaching and performing with double bass students from several South American countries.
Cobb began his studies on the double bass at age seven, was playing professionally at thirteen, and graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Roger Scott. While at Curtis, Cobb was a substitute bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and at age 21 joined the Chicago Symphony, becoming one of that orchestra's youngest new appointments. Cobb joined the Met Orchestra in 1986.
Given the enthusiastic, dedicated student who is accepting of the hard work and sacrifice required to become a professional musician, my philosophy begins with a comprehensive technical study of the double bass. All technical work is done in the presence of the study of music
The double bass (/ˈdʌbəl beɪs/), also known simply as the bass (/beɪs/) or by other names, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument[1] in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass).[2] Similar in structure to the cello, it has four, although occasionally five, strings.
The bass is a standard member of the orchestra's string section, along with violins, viola, and cello, [3] as well as the concert band, and is featured in concertos, solo, and chamber music in Western classical music.[4] The bass is used in a range of other genres, such as jazz, blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, country music, bluegrass, tango and folk music.
The bass is a transposing instrument and is typically notated one octave higher than tuned to avoid excessive ledger lines below the staff. The double bass is the only modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths[5] (like a bass guitar or viol), rather than fifths, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2.
The double bass is played with a bow (arco), or by plucking the strings (pizzicato), or via a variety of extended techniques. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm. Classical music and jazz use the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, as does traditional bluegrass. In funk, blues, reggae, and related genres, the double bass is often amplified.
A person who plays this instrument is called a "bassist", "double bassist", "double bass player", "contrabassist", "contrabass player" or "bass player". The names contrabass and double bass refer to the instrument's range and use one octave lower than the cello (i.e. doubling on cello).[6][7] The terms for the instrument among classical performers are contrabass (which comes from the instrument's Italian name, contrabbasso), string bass (to distinguish it from brass bass instruments in a concert band, such as tubas), or simply bass.
The double bass is sometimes confusingly called the violone, bass violin or bass viol. Other colourful names or nicknames are found in other languages. In Hungarian, the double bass is called nagybőgő, which roughly translates as "big crier", referring to its large voice.
The notes of the open strings are E1, A1, D2, and G2, the same as an acoustic or electric bass guitar. However, the resonance of the wood, combined with the violin-like construction and long scale length gives the double bass a much richer tone than the bass guitar, in addition to the ability to use a bow, while the fretless fingerboard accommodates smooth glissandos and legatos.
Like other violin and viol-family string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). When employing a bow, the player can either use it traditionally or strike the wood of the bow against the string. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, except for some solos and occasional written parts in modern jazz that call for bowing.
In jazz, rockabilly and other related genres, much or all of the focus is on playing pizzicato. In jazz and jump blues, bassists are required to play rapid pizzicato walking basslines for extended periods. Jazz and rockabilly bassists develop virtuoso pizzicato techniques that enable them to play rapid solos that incorporate fast-moving triplet and sixteenth note figures. Pizzicato basslines performed by leading jazz professionals are much more difficult than the pizzicato basslines that classical bassists encounter in the standard orchestral literature, which are typically whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and occasional eighth note passages. In jazz and related styles, bassists often add semi-percussive "ghost notes" into basslines, to add to the rhythmic feel and to add fills to a bassline.
The double bass is generally regarded as a modern descendant of the string family of instruments that originated in Europe in the 15th century, and as such has been described as a bass Violin.[11] Before the 20th century many double basses had only three strings, in contrast to the five to six strings typical of instruments in the viol family or the four strings of instruments in the violin family. The double bass's proportions are dissimilar to those of the violin and cello; for example, it is deeper (the distance from front to back is proportionally much greater than the violin). In addition, while the violin has bulging shoulders, most double basses have shoulders carved with a more acute slope, like members of the viol family. Many very old double basses have had their shoulders cut or sloped to aid playing with modern techniques.[12] Before these modifications, the design of their shoulders was closer to instruments of the violin family.
The double bass is the only modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths (like a viol), rather than fifths (see Tuning below). The instrument's exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, and the supposition that the double bass is a direct descendant of the viol family is one that has not been entirely resolved.
In his A New History of the Double Bass, Paul Brun asserts that the double bass has origins as the true bass of the violin family. He states that, while the exterior of the double bass may resemble the viola da gamba, the internal construction of the double bass is nearly identical to instruments in the violin family, and very different from the internal structure of viols.[13]
Double bass professor Larry Hurst argues that the "modern double bass is not a true member of either the violin or viol families". He says that "most likely its first general shape was that of a violone, the largest member of the viol family. Some of the earliest basses extant are violones, (including C-shaped sound holes) that have been fitted with modern trappings."[14] Some existing instruments, such as those by Gasparo da Salò, were converted from 16th-century six-string contrabass violoni.[4] 2ff7e9595c
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