zbd1960

This is a technique issue. There are all sorts of muscles that can kick in and lock up and make singing harder than it needs to be. This also affects range.

I'm primarily a cellist. A cello is not a small double bass. A double bass bow is much shorter than a cello one, is much heavier, and has a much deeper frog. Even with an overhand bow hold which is superficially the same as for cello (i.e. rather than German / viol hold) the technique is different. I'm not sure how cello strings would respond to being tuned in 4ths rather than 5ths. The tension on the strings is going to be 'off' since the C will be E, G will be A, D is unchanged, and A is G. I suppose it is a form of scordatura tuning... What will be peculiar is the normal 'positions' on the cello are not going to do what you would expect. In standard tuning, sliding to 4th position with the thumb at the shoulder means your 1st finger is playing a 5th up, i.e. the next string. It's a bit like a bass viol I suppose, that's tuned DGCFAD

I hadn't sung a note until my mid-30s and I hadn't picked up a cello or sax until my 50s and bass until my 60s... Do your best to find a vocal coach / singing teacher. Almost everyone is capable of singing, but there's more technique to it than most people realise. Just be aware that not all teachers will teach all styles/genres, so you if you have a very specific requirement, you'll need to ask to make sure that it's something they can get to to in due course

Thank you. That resolved it.

Previously when entering a thread, it would take me to last one I'd read, whereas sometimes it is now taking me to the first post in the thread. I'm selecting 'unread content'.

Bass is my most recent instrument... it started with a Yamaha upright piano...Now there are alto, tenor and bass recorders; tenor and bass viols (viola da gamba); 2 cellos; soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxes; 4, 5, and 6 string basses....

Standard joke in any choir is: how to silence the sopranos? Ask them to sing the harmony line....

Fortunately, it's mostly only the top A string on cello that has to be changed with any regularity - they're about £45. Last one lasted 3 years. Glad the C string doesn't need changing too often as they're about £120 each

I had a serious orchestral concert gig a few years ago which included a gospel choir for backing vocals - it wasn't religious music though. They were very good. I also did a vocal training workshop which featured gospel singers as part of the day. The day would have been better in my view without the additon of the gospel singing. When I was younger I was involved with the church quite a lot, but I never liked the worship band type of music - I really dislike it. I know a few people who are involved with that though and they quite obviously enjoy it, but it's not for me. I have had issues with some extremely arrogant church band groups when I've been involved with music workshops and they come in towards the end to set up for their rehearsal whilst we're finishing our workshop. Rude would be an understatement. They quite evidently held in utter contempt the music that we were trying to perform and did nothing but bang and clatter whilst we were finishing off (we were within the time we'd booked and paid for). I have no involvement with church now, I'm an atheist and I really have no time for religion. I'm not going to stop people following their religion if they so wish provided that they don't start telling me what I may or may not do.

Allianz is more expensive than New Moon I think

I have several policies with Allianz. Glad I did as when my cello fell over a few years ago, there were no issues getting it fixed by the luthier (fingerboard had come off, the bridge snapped, seams sprung open and badly marked).

A friend of mine sometimes does sound for big arena gigs etc. He used to be a session bass player. He’s always saying that bass is tricky to do well, rooms can make or break it, and the audience makes a big difference

I've only ever had to hire concert grand pianos from Forsyth's and found them very helpful (and in case you're wondering, the cost of moving a grand piano is more than the hiring cost). Nevertheless, that's poor service.

I don’t play double bass, but I do play the Viol (viola da gamba) both tenor and bass. The bass is cello sized. They use gut strings. You can get wire wound gut for lower strings. Yes they can be bowed. I obviously have no experience of using them on DB but gut is a natural material that ‘breathes’ and tuning moves until the material reaches equilibrium with its environment.

In my musical world 'heavy metal' refers to composers with a penchant for the use of the heavy brass department... cue Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Shostakovich et al...

Welcome to Salopia.... I'm at the north end of the county.

I'm not an expert in this space, but the issues may be due to very low frequency rubbish being pushed out? Filtering might help?

For some weird reason there does seem to be an impulse to categorise everything and assign it to a group and tag it with a label. I've encountered it elsewhere in a non-musical context and I do find it frustrating as in that case it's about assigning 'labels' to groups of people.

I've posted elsewhere about the violone which is the ancestor of the double bass. This gives a brief overview. He mostly talks about the violone in D, which plays an octave below the bass viol - which is the one that I play. In my limited experience, most violones I have encountered are in G, which is probably because they are a bit smaller. https://youtu.be/MgM7Y4xLLB4

hmmm a sorry tale... I worked in financial services for over 40 years, most of it on the IT side. The anti money laundering and corruption legislation, data protection, GDPR, etc. that has come in - especially over the last 20 years - is draconian. An auction house is going to be covered by them. My employer got fined millions for a technical breach of paperwork that affected a very small number of cases and that was only through inadvertence, not a deliberate or malicious act. There are definitely questions to be asked

It's a problem no matter what the genre - pub band or amateur choir / orchestra... what puts bums on sits is not necessarily what you would most enjoy performing... but you have to do that stuff to enable the organisation to continue to exist...

I sometimes go to Steampunk events suitably attired: frock coat, cravat, waistcoat, top hat... There are Steampunk bands around

Glad thread got revived as it was a useful read. People shouldn't be too scared of key signatures - I agree that for a novice it's a bit of a fright having to deal with A#s and things.In the British choral and orchestral tradition, you get stuff thrown at you in almost any key and you 'get on with it'. It may seem a bit fierce, but helps remove the fear factor. I played cello in (for me) very odd gig a few years ago in Birmingham's Symphony Hall. It was a programme of 1990s/00s dance music - a very alien genre for me (and my colleagues in the orchestra). It was scored as two continuous 1 hour sets - keys constantly changing, but nearly everything was in Db, Gb, B, or F#, with only the odd section in more manageable keys. That was hard going.

Yeah you tune the strings... then you tune the frets. If you're playing with other viols you tune to A=415Hz rather than A=440Hz. The first fret in particular is difficult as it tends to move. Gut strings are an absolute pain to tune. Being organic in origin, they 'breathe' - they absorb or release water vapour according to the temperature and humidity. This means that if you take the viol out of its case and the environment is different, it can take a couple of hours for the strings to reach equilibrium. As the mass of the string is constantly changing, so is the tuning. This is why you see players of gut stringed instruments constantly tuning.

I see this is an old thread... a friend of mine's son plays in a resort in France, but he moved there... I've skied a lot and I've missed not being able to ski the last 2 years and I'm hoping net winter will be viable. I'm of an age where after a solid day's skiing, it's dinner, some wine, and then bed... Bars with live music tend to be popular with youngsters and can be busy. Often the base station has a big bar and terrace at eh foot of the home run and they tend to be much bigger places. From talking to seasonaires in chalets etc it's an experience as I doubt you're going to be making money. You'd want it to include a season lift pass, which in France are usually around €700. If you drive over, winter/snow tyres or chains are mandatory.