Hi, I'm Max Zeugner, Associate Principal Bass with the New York
Philharmonic and this is "What's in My Case." So today I'm going to take you
through the gear that's in my case and what I use as a double bassist to the New
York Philharmonic.
So this is my bass. She was made in France in around the 1830s, in the
Mirecourt region where a lot of instruments were produced. It's got the
number 28 stamped in the back, possibly from the Paris Opera in the 19th century,
and if we get a close-up here on the back we can see it's had a very hard and
distinguished life where all the players that have come before me have left their
marks of loving care.
It was also skillfully cut down sometime in the 19th century; it used to have a
bigger shape. With these shoulders cut down it's a little bit easier to play up high.
So the strings that I've got on my French bass today are actually Pirastro
Perpetuals, which are a new string, and as you see they have a nice ringing
sound for pizzicatos. They're predominantly a jazz string. This is my
backup double bass, of course with the coronavirus, my good Italian bass is still
in the locker at the New York Philharmonic. These strings have a bright
and clear sound that's very good for pizzicato, but it's not necessarily the
most beautiful sound with the bow.
So this is my bow case. It's a custom job, it's actually an architecture tube which
I've plugged up at both ends with some soft material, and inside it I keep what
is very important to orchestral-level bassists: the rosin.
The rosin allows us to grab the string and make good articulations with the bow.
I use exclusively Pop's rosin, and sometimes, for extra grip, Kolstein rosin.
So inside is my bow. It's a Pfretzschner bow, which is a very
popular old German maker of bow. It's very long for a typical double bass
bow, and it's got a big frog and I hold it German-style, of which there's a long
tradition in the New York Philharmonic.
So perhaps as you saw at the beginning of the video, one thing that's very
important to us urban double bassists is a good quality wheel, and this wheel that
I have here is custom-made by David Gage's double bass shop, and it allows me
to walk about 20 blocks back and forth to work with my bass and cover all the
rough surfaces of New York City streets.
So a few tips for students out there and anyone who might be on a budget, I'd say
if you're learning, spending a lot of money on a good bass is probably not
that important right now. If you're a classical player I would advise you to
get a good bow first, a nice wood bow, or perhaps a nice inexpensive carbon fiber
bow, there's a lot of good ones out there now.
Now, a big part of playing such a physical instrument like the double bass
is making sure that your body and the bass are joined as one. And one thing
that I like to envision is to imagine that your entire body has a liquid
energy flowing through it and you don't want any sharp angles cutting off the
energy of that liquid, you want gentle curves to help it flow. And I always
advise my students to take great care to think about the balance in their feet.
You're going to want to be able to transfer your weight from side to side
and back to front, and to make tiny little steps as you play. Ideally, you
should be able to have the bass and you positioned as one so that you don't need
to hold it.
Well, I'm Max Zeugner of the New York Philharmonic. Thanks for joining me.
This has been "What's in My Case?".