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On The Double |
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The more I play the upright bass, the more I realise I need to play it more; for it is the most powerful instrument in the universe and for one to control it and realise it’s power, one has to develop strength, control, tone, technique and stamina. The only way to do that is to play the instrument every day or alternatively 6 days a week, 3 or 4 sets a night which for me is the ideal as one is using it in a “musical” environment. The upright bass can fill a huge space (pardon the pun!) in contemporary music. It blends into any situation and holds all the other instruments together while providing a huge bed or foundation on which all the other instruments rest. The electric bass cannot compete when it comes to width, complexity, depth and fatness of tone. The more that young players adapt to this instrument, the more sophisticated music will be plus as a ‘doubler’ the more work you’ll open yourself up to. The upright bass also looks so good and it can be such a sensual and provocative instrument in the arms of an intimate player. Introduce the upright bass into your music and open up people’s eyes, ears, hearts and minds. TRUTH Truth can be defined as the quality or state of being in accordance with experience, facts, reality, trustworthiness, existence, loyalty, sincerity, genuineness, accuracy and honesty, either as an idealised abstraction or in actual application to statements, ideas and acts. True emotions can make people laugh, cry, sing, dance, think and pray. These emotions are universal. As human beings, we all have similar upbringing and we experience all these emotions which connect us. Introspection helps us to become more sensitive and empathic and develop an understanding of values, beliefs, and ideals, ethics and morals, which shape our own truth. Through experience we gain definition of feelings. What makes one unique is that no one shares your personal insights, experiences and feelings. Feeling is how you interpret emotional events you have experienced throughout your life. Through feeling, the more intuition you develop. Intuition is an immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all mankind are connected and we are able to know everything, because it is all written there. You can learn mathematically all you can about music but no one can give you sensitivity, insight, empathy and understanding for how you feel anymore than anyone can make you shorter or taller, fatter or thinner. Music is about having a good time, feeding passion and experiencing humiliation. It’s about your mother dying, your woman walking out, even getting lost in a bottle of wine. It’s something of pain, something of bliss, something of love, something of hate, revenge or laughter. Whatever the emotion, all great music is based on things you can actually experience through living. Through living, the closer you get to realising your destiny and consequently, that destiny becomes your true reason for being. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting and that interest makes the pursuit of truth become reality. |
