matthew wengerd|bassist

This website has been known as “104 weeks” for almost 104 weeks. My first post was on 25 June 2006. It was planned as a chronicle of two years (not quite 104 weeks, actually) for Graduate school. I’m near the end of my schooling and things have evolved here. While I’m still hosting at USF’s servers, many readers reach this site from a redirect at MatthewWengerd.net.

This page is an opportunity for people to get to know me. People who may want to study with me, book me (and my band) for an event, other bassists and jazz musicians who may actually be interested in my perspective, Polk county locals looking for a good restaurant. 104 weeks no longer reflects the purpose of this website, which is why I’ve renamed the heading of this blog: “matthew wengerd|bassist.”

Stay tuned. Things are only getting bigger and better.

On Thursday, the wife and I, two cats, my brother-in-law, and his newlywed bride will all take a road trip to Cleveland to spend Christmas with our families. It just so happens that both of the jazz clubs in town are featuring bassists while I’m home. Unfortunately, they’re both the same night!

Dave Morgan, Youngstown State faculty member and Cleveland Jazz Orchestra composer/bassist will be performing his tunes with a nonet at the Bop Stop this Friday. As Dave and Jack performed at our wedding reception, I had to give top bill to the Tom Knific Quartet, which is playing at Night Town Friday night. Tom is the chair of Western Michigan’s jazz department. I’ve secured a lesson with Tom for Saturday morning, pending schedules and Dave Morgan pointed me in the direction of a very generous Jared Craig, who is lending me a bass with which to practice for the week and a half I’m home. I’d love to get a lesson with Dave, too, if time permits.

When it rains it pours! I spend so much time at home laying around, watching TV - this will be a good opportunity to practice, learn and hear some live music! I wish I lived in a town with a real jazz club or two.

Good to see Michael Formanek becoming an active member of the Peabody Bass Blog. I’m looking forward to his addition to an already superb collective bass blog.

The ClickForLessons blog had another interesting post (I was reading back into the archives) I thought worth mentioning. The issue of pricing lessons has always been a vexing one. How do you prevent undervaluing yourself without pricing yourself out of the market? I think these figures wouldn’t fly in my market:

If you want to make $100,000 this year, you can get 200 students to pay you $500 ($20 for half hour lessons, twice a month). You’d also be working your rear-end off - 6 days a week - and needing a support staff.

Or, you can have 60 students that will take two 1-hour lessons a month at $70 an hour. In the latter scenario, you could work Mon-Thurs and have a three day weekend every week - while making $100K. Typically, the person paying $70 vs. $20 also tends to be more serious and stay with you longer (thus avoiding churn and turnover).

I recently “gave myself a raise” and am charging $17/half, $30/hour. Upon obtaining my MM, it’s a sure bet that’ll go up. I could see charging $70 after a decade of pro experience, but don’t read the CFL blog and get the idea that you can demand those prices fresh out of school.

I do indeed like this reality check, though:

The average plumber charges $85 for a house call - whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour - then $85-$100 per hour thereafter. I’d say you’re adding more long-term value than my local plumber, wouldn’t you?

In high school, they all used to laugh at me because I dug this instrument. The theremin is one of my all time favorite sounds, coming in right behind that of my own instrument. www.clickforlessons.com had a link to this video on their blog. I now feel slightly vindicated:

Congratulations to Jason Heath for being the latest addition to the International Society of Bassists’ (ISB’s) Board of Directors. Jason’s appointment shows the foresight (perhaps by this point it’s just common sense) the ISB has in including an www component in its highest level. Jason says it best:

I am still amazed at how sitting at a laptop in your kitchen and typing furiously into the wee hours of the morning can give one more credibility than all the hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent practicing prior to that point.

Many, many thanks to be.jazz for the link. I’ve discovered a lot of interesting reads through it. There are great photographs to boot.

Oh, and he linked the USF Jazz blog a while back!

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.

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.

When I was a young boy, I had convinced myself that, if I belly-flopped to the ground, I would not land, but could fly. I could never attain much height but was capable of gliding along the ground, giving my too-young-to-be-weary legs a rest. I had vague memories of actually performing this manoeuvre, but was unable to do it on command (or even really do it at all, for that matter).

I’m old enough to know better now, but I still allow myself the pleasure of those memories. Denis Darzacq’s La Chute (The Fall) brought me right back to those fond dreams.

Darzacq’s no-trick photography is a reminder of the alienation of youth, straddling the border in my mind of the childish gliding of my dreams and the sense of utter freefall I felt as a teenager. Many thanks to be.jazz for the story.

If you are unfamiliar with Tom Harrell’s playing, do yourself a favor and get familiar. Tom is an extraordinary jazz trumpet player who suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia. I saw this interview when it occurred, well before I had any clue what it actually takes to be a jazz musician.

This is not the full interview; there is a longer version on Youtube, but it has japanese overdubs.

My friends have been ribbing me for quite a while now about the fact that I will be attending Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops this year. Yes, I’m going to summer camp at 25.

Thousands of people have played jazz tunes counted off by that inimitable heartland accent of Jamey’s (”One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four…”) via his jazz play-along books. Every summer, the Aebersold staff and an A-list jazz faculty descend on the University of Louisville for week-long intensive training in jazz improvisation. The two one-week courses are supplemented by rhythm section primers (g,b,d) on the weekends.

Of interest to me (and hopefully some of my readers) is the bass faculty:

J.B.Dyas
Glenn Fisher
Chris Fitzgerald
David Friesen
John Goldsby
Bill Moring
Lynn Seaton
Bob Sinicrope
Frank Smith
Sonny Stevens
Tyrone Wheeler

This Who’s who of the bass community is at students’ service throughout the camps. Additionally, USF Jazz Faculty members Jack Wilkins (sax - jazz department chair) and Steve Davis (drums) are on faculty.

I will be attending both weekends and both weeks, working one week and being a student the other. If you already plan on attending, let me know and we’ll be sure to get together while in Louisville. If you are just now hearing about the Workshops, please consider them. Jamey encourages players of all levels to attend to maximize their playing potential.

By the way - that’s Chris Fitzgerald and Steve Davis in the picture.

Tuesday night, I drove straight from USF to Loch Haven Park in Orlando to meet Rumano Solano and pick up my bass. Some ribs have been doubled for strength and all of the cracks repaired. I have some work to accomplish to get the sound where I want it, but I am very pleased with the results. Even though I get frustrated when my bass is gone, Rumano’s a great guy and I really appreciate how much he cares about younger cats like me who are trying to get better.

mine’s the one in the middle

Rumano with a bass he just completed

Rumano, Mike Hill and I

This is the first of hopefully many entries chronicling my 2 year (hopefully no more) journey through the MM program in Jazz Performance at the University. This will be quite a different experience from my undergrad, four years at a small, slow-growing, less-than-demanding music program.

Now, I am married and and 25 miles from campus. I have real responsibilities and a lot of commitments. This may turn out to be a study in time management (whether it is effective time management or not will reveal itself in the future). In the meantime, I’ve got more practicing to do.