Instruments and styles I play
Double Bass - Baroque Bass - Violone - Viola da Gamba - Vielle - Electric Bass - Rebec
They're all versions of the bass, and it's expected for early-music professionals to play multiple versions of their instrument. It's not quite the same as being a multi-instrumentalist, although each does require individual practicing!
Double Bass
2026 makes fifty as in five-o years with my big thing!
Double Bass
Double bass is my main instrument. I started at the age of 11, having previously studied violin and piano. I have a downbeat Magazine recording award for concerto with orchestra, and have played with numerous symphony orchestras and festivals in addition to chamber music and solo recitals. I am currently working toward a Performer and a Teaching Diploma with the legendary soloist/recording artist François Rabbath in Paris. Classical music is my focus, though I also enjoy playing standards and musicals, which offer specific musical and technique dimensions that I like to keep current.
I have taught long-term technique classes in double bass, as well as workshops and clinics. I'm on the faculty of the annual New Mexico Double Bass Workshop.
Playing position of a kid who'd never had a bass lesson
This was my very first day with the double bass
I was at a Suzuki workshop in Louisville KY and found a 1/2 size bass backstage. This is me trying to figure out the fingerboard map so I could play the bass lines of the piano accompaniment for the younger students' recitals.
Baroque Bass
Baroque Bass
A variation on the double bass (and a reason to buy an additional bass!) is one that is specialized for Baroque music (ca. 1650-1750), requiring, among (but not limited to!) other defining features, gut strings and a different style bow. Sometimes one puts frets on the bass. However, gut strings and a pointy bow don't make a Baroque player! The correct equipment is inseparable from informed Baroque performance practice, a keen ear for the style, an understanding of Baroque compositional theory, a passion for the repertoire, and adaptation of playing technique. Baroque music has been my main interest since I started playing. I have both an original, 18th-century Baroque-era double bass and a modern-made, "Baroque-ified" bass that I retrofitted. I have commissioned a number of my historical bass bows.
Baroque-ified Bass 2.0
I'm outfitting an additional "Baroque-ified" bass that will stand up to my frequent outdoor performances. I commissioned the figurehead from the notable viol maker Suzanne Küster of Germany. It's an effigy of Queen Elizabeth I, drawn from her tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey. Watch this space for the reveal!
Violone
Viola da Gamba
Vielle
Rebec
