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Hey, guys.
It's Lauren with Discover Double Bass.
Today, I wanted to teach you one of my favorite
solos in orchestral repertoire, the bass solo
from Mahler Symphony one.
Now, this is a really common solo.
You hear this all the time in orchestral auditions,
and any kind of audition really, but I love
it, and never get tired of it.
It's one of my favorites.
And so, in this lesson, I'm gonna teach it
to you.
Now, one of the things I love about this solo
is how dark it is, and not only that, it's
very haunting.
It's basically Frère Jacques, right?
But, in Minor.
And so, that, combined with Mahler's careful
choice to put this on the lowest stringed
instrument makes this just very creepy, and
very haunting, and emotional as well.
And so, when you're first learning this, the
first choice you're gonna have is where am
I gonna play this opening line?
Am I gonna play it on the G string?
Am I gonna play it in thumb position on the
D string?
Am I gonna play it in extended thumb position?
You have a lot of different choices, and a
lot of people do many different things.
Now, the reason that I choose to play this
on the G string is because I like the tone
quality that I get on the G string.
I feel like even though this is dark and haunting,
I still want it to be emotional, and I want
to hear that forward, kind of nasally tone
quality.
And then, I feel like I have a lot more control
over the contrast that I'm gonna make when
the statement is then said again or the echo
comes back.
So, that's why I choose to play this starting
on the G string, and also, I am thinking a
little bit about how much I'm projecting.
That's actually a big thing.
You wanna make sure that the person on the
very end of the row or the very back of the
hall at the last row can hear you just as
well as the person in the front.
So, that's something that I think about.
I project best when I'm on the G string, so
that's definitely a thing.
But now, with the call and the answer type
aspect I was talking about, that's how I see
this whole solo.
You basically have these small statements
of themes, and then there's an echo right
after them.
So, when I play these, I make sure to play
the first one very forward, not necessarily
loud, but a lot more confident, and a lot
more present.
And then, when the echo comes back, I think
about what it would sound like as an echo.
You come down intensity, and it's a little
bit more desolate, that kind of thing.
And so, then, the second theme that's restated...
I mean, these are all such tiny themes, but
you know what I'm saying.
That second three-note pattern.
It's the same thing, but I like to build on
this a little bit.
So, we've got that first three-note pattern
that sort of goes up and then back down.
And then, when we get to the second statement,
this is leading somewhere.
So, I'll add a little bit extra to the first
statement of this second theme.
And then, the echo again.
Now, with this note, with the echo of the
second statement, I really build through this.
I crescendo a little bit because I feel like
it's really leading to that next statement,
which is very different than the first two
we've heard.
This has a lot more motion than the first
two.
The first two were sort of these calls of
are you here?
I'm here, that kind of thing.
It's like they are almost moving.
You can kind of feel that lead into the third
note of each one, but they're still pretty
stagnant.
But, this one moves more than the first two.
So, I wanna make a big difference.
And then, when the echo comes back, it's still
a little bit more forward than the others,
but still an echo.
So, I like to go across here for the D string
for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I think it helps to make that
echo a little bit more present, and this,
I feel like is the most dramatic moment of
that of the entire solo.
And so, I'll go across here to the D, but
then also, I like to play the last six notes,
I guess, the last two bars on these harmonics.
So, that sets me up really well.
Now, these last two statements, the statement
in the echo are a little bit tricky, and they're
always tricky for me on how to lead into them.
Do I start bigger than the previous echo?
And, in order to decide that, I think about
what's going on in my head in the storyline,
essentially of this music.
And ultimately, I believe that this is where,
you know, we've got the peak on that third
statement, and then the echo is coming away
again.
And so, with these last two bars, I hear them
as bells, and I hear them as sort of bells
walking away from whatever is happening.
And so, ultimately, I've decided to stay at
same...relatively the same dynamic level as
that echo.
And then, come away, and that will be the
softest part of the whole solo.
And so, I add a little bit of a ping as well
at the beginning of each one of these notes
because I do hear them as bells.
I have to be careful not to put space in between.
I don't want that.
I want them connected, but I want them to
have that, you know, hitting a bell kind of
sound.
And of course, I have a wolf on my A. And
so, it's not wanting to sound properly, but
you kind of get the idea.
So, it's a combination of thinking about what
the overall story arch is or storyline, and
also thinking about what the music calls for,
what your context is, which in this case would
be in an orchestra hall probably, and then
figuring out how to best say that most convincingly.
So, I hope that this helped.
I'm gonna play the whole solo all the way
through so you can hear all of this.
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So, I hope you enjoyed learning one of my
favorite solos in orchestral repertoire.
If you have any questions, please leave a
comment and rate the video, and I'll answer
you as soon as I possibly can.
If you enjoyed this lesson, and you like to
learn more from me, I have several full-length
courses available on discoverdoublebass.com,
and another one that will be coming out soon.
It's a little bit of a surprise, but it goes
along very well with the topics in this videos.
So, be looking out for that.
All of those are available exclusively on
discoverdoublebass.com.
Thanks for watching.
See you next time.
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