hi it's Geoff Chalmers here from discoverdoublebass.com now that is the
home of online video double bass lessons and courses we've also interviews gear
reviews there's a whole load of stuff over this if you're a double bass player
please visit our website i'm sure that you'll love it
now I'm really excited because today I'm joined by a brand new tutor to the
website and he is a professor of music form within the University of Southern
Mississippi he's also a celebrated author of a series of books called the
Tao of Bass just to hand here and he is an amazing virtuoso double bassist he's
been over in the UK filming a series of lessons on left hand technique and we
thought that we'd have a bit of a discussion about it and the use of
playing with all four fingers so using the third finger in the lower position
so let's welcome Dr. Marcos Machado welcome great to have you here Marcos thank
you it's great to be here fantastic well first of all tell us about your book
that I'm holding here Volume one you you're obviously really excited about
left hand technique so yeah how did you get involved in this how did it come
about well this book is a result of many years I would say more than 20 years of
research experimentation and trying different approaches for the bow bass
left it's not Volume one deals with left hand but volume three will be only the
bow and I'm very happy if the book is is being very well received I saw the book
in more than 40 countries it's already in its fifth printing so I'm very proud
of this work and is a result of years and years of with research absolutely I
mean I bought a copy of this which is how wait yeah that's great thank you
it's really cool and there's a yeah there's a huge amount of material in
here and of course with Marcos being a real expert in left hand technique I
wanted to ask him a few questions about it and particularly this use of the
third finger in lower positions because this seems to be one of the really
contentious issues in double bass playing it seems to be French be German
bow, dots on the fingerboard and anything to do with the third finger
they blow people's minds so what are your thoughts I mean you
know how do you approach things you were you
know 1,2,4 Simandl guy or do you kind of do a bit more?
why don't you tell us about your approach? Well, I never liked the
national approach you know the following I played German school because I'm
German I play French in school because I'm French I have a tendency to see what
works better what's more natural third finger is very
popular in Italy they use a lot right the finger rather than the traditional
one okay so I'm very comfortable with too low low positions with three in low
positions and I'm true believer that each finger should be treated equally
they should be equally strong equally independent I always show a trill
exercise where I can demonstrate that that you should be able to true with any
finger equally with easy and relaxed such as
Wow so I'm an advocate of all fingers but in a relaxed manner so and this is
including the lower position because I think I tend to fall into the I guess a
lot of players are like me well we tend to be Simandl, you know 1 2 4 let's
say that in the lower positions and then perhaps include the third the third
finger somewhere around the neck heel potentially... and from then
onwards it's just you know thumb position I tend to be fairly standard
with my Petracchi based approach you know but for you you really using the
third finger when you're playing say excerpts and yeah have you repertoire in
the lower register - oh yes I used all the time for for example if I'm playing
let me show you this in my scale so it's very easy for people to see that if I'm
playing a C major scale I will use a 3rd finger for that leading tone hey but if
my playing dominant scale where I have the flat 7 I will use 2nd for sure
okay so I interchange a lot between second and finger whatever is more
comfortable what is near to my first finger or to the finger I'm going to if
I'm going to the fourth finger and I have a leading tone I have a tendency to
use three if I'm going to a first finger and I have a half-step I have a tendency
to use two so they are interchangeable I use them all the time equally did you
find other downsides of using the third finger because there are some things
that it works so well so for instance fourth so we were talking or you were
demonstrating playing the fork technique where you're playing yeah fourths that
way which is if it feels very natural but playing more chromatic passages or
perhaps scales in one position it feels more complex I mean it all for you is it
all just the same thing is the same I think with proper training it should
feel the same you should feel very comfortable playing let's say a
chromatic passage or traditionally
essentially everything should sound the same and then for musical reasons I'm I
opted for second finger third finger but usually is the music that they decide it
decides my fingerings is not Simandl or Bille or any of these this traditional
school I respect all I use it all I just kind of integrated everything together
in my own my own way of of playing the bass maybe you could play some excerpts
that demonstrate this or sudden we were playing the Mahler yeah the Mahler solo
is a classic example that I will use three because of this relation whole
step half step yeah and it's very natural if you I always tell my students
if you measure the double bass here is the same size as a cello and they are
gonna use fingers eight different fingers for each half step so something
like the mala I would play one three four perhaps
but I'm comfortable - which one - for
one two three
and so forth it's I'm basing my my choices on relaxation and how the line
sounds it's it's a really interesting approach because you do have such a
wider range of options and in terms of phrasing and developing your musicality
and original voice and avoiding awkward ships that maybe accent put the accent
in a strange place that's definitely something that seems really powerful
that's a that's a great point at groupings you know when you have all
fingers at your disposal you can phrase much more naturally respecting their
actual grouping of the passage you're not fingering with a school-based
fingering but fingering very musically following what the composer wrote this
is really something that you're using all the time in Orchestra as well as for
solar plane and this isn't you know you're able to respect the line that's
been written and the phrasing that's been written and it gives you some your
playing shows art earlier yeah I'm just hearing that with some interesting
that's a classic example where I that's a great example because on that except I
actually interchange yes in a small excerpt two and three like you
demonstrate that a little bit
so what I'm doing here I'm ascending with the third finger thus ending with
second so this is a classic example of how both techniques they coexist
what are the key components then of utilizing the third finger seems to me
or certainly using all four fingers is the use of the pivot and I know that you
studied with Francois Rabbath so I'm wondering whether you can speak a little
bit about whether the pivot was something you learnt directly from
Francois or was something that you already were exploring before how did
that come about well I was very lucky to study with Milton Masciadri the senior
this is a bass player from Brazil who was a former the principal double bass
with Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra and on my first lesson he actually showed me
the possibilities of pivots and shifts and he also told me about Francois Rabbath
so when I started I already had that name and that energy and I was very
lucky when I moved to the United States in 1995 to study with Masciadri son who
is also called Milton Masciadri, in Georgia that year Rabbath was a guest
there so immediately I connected with Francois and I started a long long
relationship with him we're very close and of course he showed me many things
that opened my my mind and I took his concept absorb it learn it and but I
made it my my own interpretation of it and what I did I added the third finger
on his technique he uses mainly pivots 1 2 4 and I use people 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 2 3 4
yeah it's he seems to have had such an impact on the world of the double bass
that's really you know it's got this ball rolling and everybody like yourself
is kind of jumping on it and doing different things so would you say that
your is do teach Rabbath technique that or do you think that you're when your
teaching your students you're teaching many different areas of techniques it
doesn't seem to be quite as one way you know a lot of people what
I'm getting is I tend to speak to people who are you know a Rabbath vs Simandl and all
its but it's one or the other yeah there's no kind of I think I think
they coexist I think if you look at for about the first volume it's very similar
like it's just a very melodic similar where I would put this way his volume
one is beautiful but it always didn't want too far technique I think people
forget that sometimes there is a core what I call a core technique and then
depending of the student I can use 1 2 4 or 1 3 4 as the departure technique
because I have some students who are it train it in the Italian school then they
use 1 3 4 so we started from that but gradually I start showing other
possibilities so I don't teach with only one book of course I use the Rabat book
I use my own book but I use many other books I use many books balay see mundo
hair - all these I think oh this is great we have all of this material at
our disposal you know I I would would be ashamed not used to all this because all
those guys were dedicated they dedicated their whole lives to the art of double
bass playing so I think we should loop with car care and love these these old
school old old methods that's what I do well I've not fantastic place to finish
here Marcus it's been a real pleasure talking to you today and it's been a
real joy to hear you play it really has it's we've been having a lot of fun
filming here in Leeds it's been yeah it's been a really great experience and
of course thank you so much for watching at home for checking out the video and
if you'd like to see more from Marcus he's filmed a full-length course that
will be available on Discover Double Bass all about left hand technique and
I'm sure we'll be releasing some videos to share with you and hopefully we've
given you some ideas and take you further on your journey with with the
double bass and perhaps in the new direction too so thanks for watching and
we'll see you next time