matthew wengerd|bassist

I have been in ensembles where things have come just to the brink of falling apart, but I have never found myself in a situation of on-stage restarting. It is comforting to know, however, that I would be in good company if and when that situation arises. My number one, the Cleveland Orchestra, had a restart on-stage recently, as noted by Vivien Schweitzer in Playbillarts: “There must have been something in the Midwestern air last Thursday, as performances in Detroit and Cleveland both came to a grinding halt.” She goes on to quote some of the Donald Rosenberg story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Anyone who has ever played an instrument or sung knows the uncomfortable feeling that creeps in when things don’t quite go as the composer planned.

Listeners aren’t always aware of these discrepancies, but the Cleveland Orchestra’s audience Thursday at Severance Hall was abuzz at intermission about the two interruptions during the last movement of Alban Berg’s Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin and 13 Wind Instruments.

The piece was moving along when everything suddenly collapsed and music director Franz Welser-Möst uttered, “Sorry.” He took the ensemble back a bunch of bars and tried again, to no better effect.

“You see how difficult this is,” the conductor said to the audience. “It worked this morning.”

Finally, Welser-Möst got his meters straight, and the music proceeded to its inevitable, touching end. One suspects the weekend’s remaining performances will go more smoothly.

Berg’s score deserves the attention. It is a masterpiece of construction and emotional content, albeit one of the most intricate works in the repertoire. The composer flirts with 12-tone techniques as he incorporates hidden codes and the musical names of his close Viennese colleagues Schoenberg and Webern into the fabric.

The opening theme and variations introduce the primary motives and develop them. The second movement is a palindrome that also serves as an impassioned memorial to Schoenberg’s first wife, Mathilde. Material from the first and second movements are combined in the finale, whose tricky textures and rhythms — the cause of Thursday’s distress — are major challenges.

Despite the discomfort, the performance wasn’t an outright disaster, though it also wasn’t very good. Mitsuko Uchida’s forceful, alert pianism and concertmaster William Preucil’s silken violin solos gave vibrant voice to Berg’s profusion of ideas even when the interplay of solo instruments and fine winds failed to achieve coherence or urgency. Welser-Möst’s helpful comments before the performance about the work’s “meaning” often didn’t transfer to the music-making itself.

How mortifying.

Coincidentally, the music (and more) blog, Dragons and Princesses, posted a similar story this week:

Big applause the other night, but the conductor kept going. Low strings didn’t…violins did for a couple notes.

Awkward short silence, then huge cue which most of us correctly understood to be the next forte entrance-so we had skipped a few bars. Fun. Maybe that’s the musical equivalent of things getting lost in cyberspace.

We finished the act, and conductor waves hands in front of face…but we couldn’t figure out if that was an international gesture for “You should really watch me closer next time”, “Something strange just happened on stage”, or “I’m sorry, that was completely my fault”.

It’s only a matter of time for me.

Reneaud Garcia-Fons is a bassist every bassist should know. I was hipped to him by my very first double bass teacher (a classmate of mine who had barely studied the instrument himself) and, like my first exposure to Victor, Edgar, Jaco, I could not even be sure I knew what it was I was hearing.

Garcia-Fons’ technique stretches the concept of the double bass to its boundaries. His extensive use of his high C-string and extended techniques elicit unexpected timbres from what, for all intents and purposes, is a clumsy, cumbersome instrument. Renaud recently released a DVD (from which this video is culled) and it is worth the cost to obtain.

David Howells posted a review of the Arcoluz package at Amazon.com that reads as follows:

J. Hellborg, G. Willis, S. Clarke, D. Holland et al could not begin to dream where Renaud Garcia-Fons journeys on his 5 string double-bass. He is quite easily the greatest bass player of them all and this breath-taking CD (and DVD) is a living testament to his out of this world skills. His bowing technique alone is both bewildering and awesome. The sounds and speeds he gets in the higher register are like those of a maestro violinist and the arrangements are a joy. If you don’t believe me, buy this CD/DVD. The 85 minute DVD alone is worth the asking price (and more!). If you are a bass player, please ensure have a loved one close by to console you. If you want (need) to listen to Renaud in a larger group setting, get hold of a copy of Oriental Bass. Oh, and the guitarist and percussionist are also wonders to behold. PS: If you’re of the opinion that Jaco was the greatest bassist of all time, think again!

Jason Heath just might be obsessed with cats. Since Jason is the inspiration for this blog, it seems I might as well follow suit.

My wife and I attended Pigilicious this weekend and came home with an adorable little kitten. I want to call her Pigilicious (Miss Piggy for short). I don’t think Meghan will let me.

And Kitten the Elder (AKA Rylee):

As you may already know, I use Google Feed Reader as my RSS feed aggregator. The following is a list of the items in my Google Reader:

_104 weeks
This blog.
_Aaron In Africa: My Time in Togo
My friends were in the Peace Corps serving in Togo. Reading this helps me understand the stories they tell.
_Adaptistration
Drew McManus’ excellent orchestra management blog. I was the Development Coordinator for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and find this to be a very informative resource.
_be.jazz
A Belgian blog that highlighted the USF Jazz blog.
_Cow Country Bass
A Connecticut Yankee writing about bass playing.
_craigslist | musicians in lakeland
_craigslist | musicians in orlando
_craigslist | musicians in tampa bay area
The musician’s classifieds at Craigslist for my local areas.
_CSO Bass Blog
Michael Hovnanian (of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra)’s insightful look into life as Big 5 bassist.
_Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
I met DJA at IAJE 2007. One of the more prolific jazz bloggers, Darcy keeps the NYC dream alive for me.
_Dark Roasted Blend
Amazing images. Jason Heath hipped me to this one (and others).
_Dragons and Princesses
“Non-political, frequently musical, life in Washington.”
_EMERGE Lakeland Blog
A local business-type blog.
_Empirical Polk
One of the Lakeland-related blogs I try to keep up with.
_hella frisch
Matt Heller, the New World bassist who just won Calgary.
_Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog
The man who started it all for me.
_Jazz Licks
One I just discovered. Explores jazz licks (duh!).
_Jazz: The Music of Unemployment
Andrew is a member of the Industrial Jazz Group. This is courtesy of DJA.
_JazzPortraits
Station Manager of 90.7 KFSR radio in Fresno, California, Joe Moore writes on jazz.
_JazzTrombones
Just like it says.
_Jessica Williams, Jazz Pianist, MORE NEW MUSIC!
Legendary pianist Williams’ blog discovery was a result of her Before and After in JazzTimes
_Lakeland Local
Another Local blog.
_Mama Need Java
And another (though I think the author is leaving the area, she hasn’t posted in a month, so I can’t quite recall).
_Musical Perceptions
Scott Spielberg is a DePauw Assistant Professor of Music.
_Rhetorix.net
My friend, David Gross’, rarely-updated blog.
_Riding For Charles
Bike riding in memory of Charles Barr.
_Rifftides
From the same people who bring Adaptistration, this is Doug Ramsey’s take on jazz.
_Scribe Life
Philip Booth’s blog. Philip is a friend of mine who contributes to some major publications and works at the University of South Florida.
_SpiderMonkey Stories
Taylor Ho Bynum, in blog form.
_stop the play and watch the audience
A California jazzer.
_Tampa Jazz
The new project. All yo need to know about Tampa area jazz.
_Tcritic - The Daily T-Shirt Blog
I sued to hate tshirts. Then Tcritic changed me.
_the double bass is my best friend
The Double Bass community at Livejournal.
_Thomas Dolby’s Blog
Just like it says.
_USF Jazz
The blog I maintain that was highlighted by be.jazz.
_Win’s Bill Evans Blog
Win Loves Bill and Scottie.
_Working From Home Dad
Amos Wong works at home.I discovered him Googling for some scripting tips.

If you think I should add something, let me know. Post your own list and leave a comment so I check it out. And please don’t be offended if you’re not on this list; I’m not always as focused as I should be.

It’s been a bit more than a month since I parted ways with my bass so she could get fixed. I posted some pictures of the instrument, post lobotomy, and now have what should be the penultimate post in this saga.

The guys at Upton have done an excellent job of keeping their www.stringrepair.com site up-to-date with pictures of my bass in progress. I have added some of these to my Flickr page to share here. If you are a gear-head like me, you might find these photos fascinating. Otherwise, I’ll have more updates up for you soon.

After repairing the damages corner and doubling the edges of the table, the top gets glued back on. What you are looking at is several dozen string-instrument clamps, made of cork-lined wood tensioned by a bolt and wingnut.

The fingerboard was then removed.

After discussing my thoughts on the sound of the instrument, Gary and I decided to replace the fingerboard with a longer, stiffer one to afford me a more percussive playing position. The fingerboard is getting the Upton setup.

You can see here the difference between the old shape of the saddle and the new shape Eric carved. It’s primarily aesthetic, but a nice touch none-the-less.

A normal tailpiece is way too short for my bass, so the Upton guys made a new one for me. I was using the Marvin tailpiece and Gary suggested I try a tailpiece with more mass to get me closer to the sound I want. I already told you that I liked what the Marvin tailpiece did to my sound, so I wait with baited breath to hear what this will do to my sound.

That’s a double dose of Eric working his magic on my tailpiece.

This is the repair; post-shaping, pre-finish. Allowing the wood to get a little “dirty” will make the finish less conspicuous.

And here you can see the doubled edge, designed to reinforce the slab-cut top in this vulnerable area (the shoulders).

This shop delivers. What a unique tailpiece!

If all goes according to plan, I will have my bass mid-week. I cannot wait to hear her!

Today was the second day of Mayfaire by the Lake in Lakeland, Florida. Yesterday’s hit was a 1:00pm with matthewwengerdtrio and today was a 12:00pm hit with Bendelow Road. There were over 200 exhibitors, ranging from musicians to sculptors to jewelry makers. There were quite a few duds, in my opinion, but I am very anti-Florida-style and imagined a lot of the art I saw hanging over a wicker sofa. ugh.

Highlights included:

Jack Hill created these scultures - the larger “mello cello” sculpture was nearly six feet tall. I am particularly fond of the Icarus image of the middle piece.

This is perhaps the most impressive work at Mayfaire. I was at first convinced that these were photos screened onto frames, but Mike takes the photos and Patty paints the frames. It’s a pretty phenomenal setup they have and I was impressed with every piece they had displayed.

Nathan Herrera had an excellent set of Flamenco-inspired solo guitar work.

Joe Pilcher’s work focused on laminate wood bent into vibrant shapes. His use of a reflective laminate on one side of the material creates pleasing lines in the center piece. I could not find web information for Pilcher.

This image of Trane was created by Arthur Dillard. Dillard’s work is in the practice rooms of several of my friends’ homes. His work is music-centric and an interesting source of jazz-art.

Joe Ihn’s furniture and sculpture work with wood is contemporary and plays to my interest in unique pieces of wood.

Ron Lemoine creates fish-centric metal sculptures. I love the Bass-playing Bass, but am particularly fond of the shot in the center.

It seems a lot of the artists had subject-themes. Michelle Mardis‘ theme was dogs. I can easily see one of these hanging over our couch, but I’m not sure the cat would appreciate it.

I think I can easily call this my favorite exhibit at Mayfaire. Scott Causey’s sculptures are absolutely breathtaking. I am not the only one to be drawn to these absolutely wonderful animals!

Last but not least, yours truly playing with matthewwengerdtrio:

While wifey and her brother watched:

My friend, Rich Van Voorst, and I have started a listing of straight-ahead jazz gigs in the West Central Florida area called tampajazzscene. It is a blogspot with a companion Google Calendar. If you or anyone you know has a jazz hit anywhere in the Central Florida area, let us know and we’ll list it!

We’re looking forward to an opportunity to build the jazz scene in Tampa. I’ve gotten sick of waiting by the phone, so now I’m hitting the proverbial streets.

matthewwengerdtrio and Bendelow Road will be playing at Lakeland’s Mayfaire by the Lake this weekend. Mayfaire is an excellent outdoor arts festival on Lake Morton in Lakeland, FL. mwt and Bendelow Road are the only jazz groups performing, but there will be other excellent performers and dozens of artists’ booths. Stop by and say hello if you can make it!

The modern American church does a poor job of conveying what Jesus taught and who he was. These videos, known to me as “the Jesus videos,” are a satirical look at the concept of Jesus that many people have today. It’s meant to be funny, feel free to laugh.

Eric Roy of Upton Bass emailed me to let me know that pictures of my bass have been posted on www.stringrepair.com, the webpage of the workshop at Upton Bass. Eric has been diligently working on my bass while boss-man, Gary Upton Birkhamshaw, is on a little R&R. Eric has been reinforcing the damaged area of my bass and re-building the missing corner. I appreciate the communicative and transparent nature of the shop. These guys politely tell the truth, whether or not it’s pleasant, because they know that the customer would rather hear it up front than deal with it after the fact.

Eric outlined a loose timeline that could have my bass back in my hands by the beginning of the week after next. The whole thing would have been done much earlier had I not had the rosin accident, but the wait is plenty reasonable for work of this magnitude (if not downright amazing) and is only alleviated by the amount of communication they provide.

Eric (and some other Upton folks, I bet) took some of the most eye-catching pictures of my bass imaginable. I love seeing the inside of basses and this is my first glimpse into the inside of mine. He says there are more on the way, so I am looking forward to seeing those soon.

Michael Calore had a great post at Wired.com a few weeks back about Google’s attempt to usurp the desktop. On a daily basis, I use Google’s maps, calendar, feedreader, mail, image search, blog search, news search, and personalized homepage. On a slightly less frequent (but still steady) basis, I use Google Documents.

My experiences have been similar to Calore’s and I can say that the only frustration I still have with the Google products is the inability to drag and drop in Gdocs. I am not using these applications in an office setting, but manage my gig calendar, contacts, practice goals, and communications with the suite. Do yourself a huge favor and get a google account. Explore the Labs Section to see what’s in the works.

104 weeks now has a favicon! You’ll notice that, next http://mwengerd.blog…… in the address bar is a tiny version of the bass clef here. Favicons are particularly useful for surfers who are not yet using del.icio.us and still use their browsers’ favorites bars, where the favicon will be displayed next to this blog’s desription.

This website will convert a photo file into a favicon.ico file and this webpage has instructions for installing your favicon into a Wordpress blog. Now everyone can have a favicon!

Well, I’ll join the Z-List. This is a type of traffic-builder designed to up your technorati ratings. Copy and repost the links, if you get a chance:

104 weeks
Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog
Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman’s Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That’s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
darrenbarefoot.com
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

At roughly 11:43 pm yesterday, I (somewhat) successfully completed my first year of Graduate School. I started this blog to chronicle the experience and it is slowly evolving into something greater. Summer is upon me and I can finally do the practicing I feel I need to do, without the distraction of assignments.

These last few weeks have overwhelmed me, so I’m going to catch my breath on this last day of work (for the year) at the CJC and get into this full steam shortly. I have a secret project brewing, too, so keep your eyes peeled.