Double Bass Solo from Mahler: Symphony #1 (3rd Movement)

[00:00:00] [music] [00:00:44] Hey, guys. It's Lauren with Discover Double Bass. Today, I wanted to teach you one of my favorite solos in orchestral repertoire, the bass solo from Mahler Symphony one. Now, this is a really common solo. You hear this all the time in orchestral auditions, and any kind of audition really, but I love it, and never get tired of it. It's one of my favorites. And so, in this lesson, I'm gonna teach it to you. Now, one of the things I love about this solo is how dark it is, and not only that, it's very haunting. It's basically Frère Jacques, right? But, in Minor. And so, that, combined with Mahler's careful choice to put this on the lowest stringed instrument makes this just very creepy, and very haunting, and emotional as well. And so, when you're first learning this, the first choice you're gonna have is where am I gonna play this opening line? Am I gonna play it on the G string? Am I gonna play it in thumb position on the D string? Am I gonna play it in extended thumb position? You have a lot of different choices, and a lot of people do many different things. Now, the reason that I choose to play this on the G string is because I like the tone quality that I get on the G string. I feel like even though this is dark and haunting, I still want it to be emotional, and I want to hear that forward, kind of nasally tone quality. And then, I feel like I have a lot more control over the contrast that I'm gonna make when the statement is then said again or the echo comes back. So, that's why I choose to play this starting on the G string, and also, I am thinking a little bit about how much I'm projecting. That's actually a big thing. You wanna make sure that the person on the very end of the row or the very back of the hall at the last row can hear you just as well as the person in the front. So, that's something that I think about. I project best when I'm on the G string, so that's definitely a thing. But now, with the call and the answer type aspect I was talking about, that's how I see this whole solo. You basically have these small statements of themes, and then there's an echo right after them.