Lady Bass Music

Attention Northern Virginia, DC, Richmond, Fredericksburg,
Culpeper, and central Virginia bassists...
you are invited to our monthly BASS FORUM!

Due to the February snowfall, we rescheduled the 9th Forum meeting (the Alexander Technique Forum) to Sunday, Mar. 7th at 12 noon. Door is $10. Bart Etter's Speaker Cabinet Forum will now start at 2:30 PM. Both Forums will be held at Bill Mason's String Repair Shop, located at 502-1 Jackson Street in old town Fredericksburg. Here is a little information about each workshop:

Alexander Technique with Karen Loving: 12 noon - 2 PM

The information in this workshop is useful to anyone who owns and operates the human body. The information would be equally useful to a bassist, a cellist, an athlete, a guitarist, a violinist, or a computer programmer who suffers from back/neck/wrist pain....really, anyone who deals with motion.

Here is a quick blurb with more information about the Alexander Technique.

"The Alexander Technique has a long history of helping instrumentalists and singers to perform with less stress and likelihood of injury. Musicians do some of the most complex and demanding physical movements of any profession. In recent years, the term Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) has come into popular use, but musicians have always had to face the challenge of performing the same complex muscular actions over and over again.

By helping musicians improve the quality of the physical movements involved in playing an instrument or singing, the Alexander Technique also helps improve the quality of the music itself. A violinist's stiff shoulders and arms will get in the way of a pleasing sound; a singer's tight neck or jaw will cause the voice to become less resonant. By helping musicians release undue tension in their bodies, the Alexander Technique makes possible a performance which is more fluid and lively, less tense and rigid.

Over the years, a number of prominent musicians have publicly endorsed the Alexander Technique: Yehudi Menuhin, Paul McCartney, Sting, Julian Bream, James Galway & the conductor Sir Adrian Boult, to name a few.

The Technique is taught at the Julliard School of Performing Arts in New York, The Royal College of Music in London, The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and at many other schools of music, universities and colleges."

For more information online: http://www.alexandertechnique.com/musicians.htm

Karen Loving, owner of The Natural Spine in Culpeper, will be our clinician. We are charging a $10 door charge to cover Karen's time and expenses for this workshop. Please RSVP to lady.bass.music@gmail.com so we can provide enough handouts for the entire class. Bass teachers - you and your students are invited for this event.

You will not need to bring your instruments for the Alexander Technique forum.

Tone and Your Speaker Cabinets with Bart Etter - 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

For the 10th Bass Forum meeting, Bart Etter will talk about speaker cabinets and how they affect your bass tone. Often, we think of our tone as the bass we play, the strings we use, or even the effects we might use. The head and the speaker cabinet are also major players in your tone as well. Mr. Etter brings his extensive experience in speaker installation and custom cabinets (15 years in the industry) to this clinic. Check out his custom cabinets at www.betteraudio.com.

Mr. Etter got started in the audio industry right out of high school and was working in R&D for a speaker manufacturer by the time he was 19. To this day, his passion for audio is second only to his family. Mr. Etter provides a wide range of audio services, from enclosure design to install work. He designs and builds custom bass cabinets, custom studio monitor designs, and speakers for home use.

Both upright and electric players will get a lot out of this clinic, as upright players are usually confronted with amplification issues at some point during the course of their careers.

Please RSVP to lady.bass.music@gmail.com for planning purposes. Let me know if you will be attending one or both workshops. Thanks!

Check out NoTreble's article about the Bass Forum!