In September 2018, I discovered Modacity as new way for preparing and organizing my practice routine for the Assistant Principal Double Bass audition for the Oakland Symphony.
Modacity’s main benefits for me:
How long I’ve spent time on each audition excerpt
Rate each excerpt – estimating my comfort level
It can keep a recording of the excerpt to analyze daily improvements
Create time limits to a piece or group of pieces / excerpts
Almost any smartphone today has an app that can replace any physical electronic devices needed for a student or professional musician. We don’t have to keep changing our 9V batteries or find an outlet to plug in our Dr. Beat or Petersons’ Strobe Tuner.
Pro Metronome : Tempo, Beat, Subdivision, & Polyrhythm
insTuner Free – Chromatic Tuner / Drone
iStroboSoft: Pro Chromatic Tuning
click the logo for more details
One of the best and precise tuning apps is the iStroboSoft by Peterson. I highly recommend this to anyone playing at a professional level. It’s $9.99 to own the app.
Curved knuckles allow your fingertips to strongly hold down the strings. There is more clarity in pitch and sound production when we use our fingertips to hold down the string. Sliding up and down the string is easier with fingertips that are formed by curved knuckles.
STEP 2 – Space and Clump
We need to have a “half step” between 1st and 2nd finger that is equal to the distance from our 2nd and 4th finger. There needs to be an extra finger width of space between 1st and 2nd finger and fingers 2 thru 4 are clumped together for any position within the “1st Octave” of the bass.
Practice holding a wine cork in between your 1st and 2nd finger and a rubber band or hair tie around your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger to physically feel the “space” and “clump” while playing the bass.