As I approach the end of my final year at RCS I now understand why there is

such a stress to personally reflect our practice as individuals. It is very easy as

musicians to understand what and why we learn the pieces we play, but a question
often not solved is how we learn the things we do. This is the study of praxis.
Richard Bernstein writes:
In praxis there can be no prior knowledge of the right means by which we realize
the end in a particular situation. For the end itself is only specified in deliberating
about the means appropriate to a particular situation. (Bernstein 1983: 147)
Although we might not have all the prior knowledge to what the end result will be in
a particular situation, because we as musicians have gone through the process of
learning many other pieces of music there is already have some idea of how to
achieve an end result. This paper will discuss how I approached learning Chorale by
Nicholas Walker through exploring other pieces of music I have studied.
When approaching any modern piece the player is faced with many
challenges, but also many advantages. In the past there was the challenge that if a
piece was very recently composed the music would only exist on the score as there
would be no recordings as to how it should generally sound. This factor also would
have played to the advantage of the musician as no one else will have heard what
the composition sounds like which gives opportunity for the musician to interpret
the music in his own way, while still respecting the composer's original intentions.
In present day we have resources such as Youtube where musicians can instantly
upload video recordings of performances. Because the double bass being the only
bowed string instrument tuned in fourths composers for the instrument often tend
to be double bass players themselves. This was the case for both Nicholas Walker
and Peter Askim. Both composers have recorded themselves playing their own
compositions. This allows us to hear exactly what the composer intended. However,
in both recordings they don't play the score exactly as it is written. Nicholas Walker
writes in the performance notes for Chorale that:
I have notated this piece in a way that generally accommodates most hand sizes
and mainstream technical approaches (rather than documenting how I play the
piece) (Walker, 2013)
It does not come as a surprise that the recording of chorale differs to what is
written1. Peter Askim on the other hand does not indicate any suggestive notation
but yet in his recording there is much rubato and different dynamics than to what is
written the score of his 2003 composition Edge2. Last year both my colleague,
Wendy, and I learned Edge . She had contacted the composer asking questions

1 See Youtube link in cited works.

2 See Peter Askim website in cited works

about the composition. Hi reply included many he emendations to the piece. This
makes one wonder how many other composers who have published pieces amend
their scores after publication. Learning Edge aided me in learning Chorale. This will
be discussed in a later paragraph.
I have chosen to study Chorale by Nicholas Walker for many reasons. I
discovered the piece after double bassist Joel Quarrington, whom I have received
masterclasses from through RCS, shared the video of the composer playing the
piece on Facebook. After the video finished I immediately decided that I would learn
and study this piece. Chorale was commissioned by the International Society of
Bassists as the required piece for the Solo Competition in 2013. Edge by Peter
Askim was also a commission for the same competition in 2003. This also aroused
my interest to play the piece. Musically it is simply a very nice sounding piece of
music which is heavily influenced by American folk music. By the name 'Chorale' it
does not come as a surprise to find in most sections there is a melody accompanied
by a bass line playing fundamental notes of the harmony. A lot of the intervals
sound over an octave which creates the feeling of two separate voicings. The overall
structure is, ABA, ternary form. The first A section features a chorale melody played
in combination of stopped and harmonic notes which is followed by a very folk
influenced fiddle-esq B section with flurries of notes. The final A section returns to
the familiar harmonic feature at the beginning but instead of bowed harmonics they
are plucked in a pizzicato only section. The music is idiomatically written for basses
tuned in fourths.
One of the most distinguishing techniques of solo double bass repertoire is
the use of harmonics. Because of the size of the double bass the harmonics
resonate very well compared to other string instruments. As mentioned before, the
A section of Chorale features double stops for both stopped notes and harmonic
notes. The way Walker writes this section is a combination of roman numerals
indicating what string to play on3, the positioning of the Roman numerals (the
number on top is the higher note) and diamond headed notes to show what is a
harmonic. There are also 3 indications of false harmonics in the score which are
indicated clearer. I found this system of notation rather challenging to read and
understand mainly because there subjective as to where the harmonic could be
played. As quoted in a previous paragraph, the score is notated to generally
accommodate most hand sizes and basses. The diamond headed notes indicated
the natural harmonics so in many places within the score the note that is written
sounds different (figure 1).

3 E=IV, A=3, D=2, G=1

Fig. 1 (Walker, 2013)

To aid
I have
pitches
actually

with this difficulty

written what the
of
the
notes
arein figure 2.
Fig. 2

There
are
other
compositions
that
raise
the
question
of
harmonic notation.
In Le
tombeau
de
Couperin by Ravel
at 5th
measure
of
rehearsal number in the menuet he writes a diamond head note over an E-flat (see
figure 3).
Fig. 3 (Ravel, 1919)

After
to play this

experimenting in the various possibilities where

note it was clear that if the fingers are placed just
below the E-flat on the G strings it sounds as a G
harmonic two octaves above middle C. This,
however, is not very idiomatic writing for the bass
as
the
harmonics
used
are
very
unreliable.
In
Stravinsky's A Soldiers Tale there is a harmonic passage which is very idiomatic
writing for the bass seen in figure 4.
Fig. 4

This is because the harmonics he writes are tuning harmonics 4 which are
very easy to get to speak. Although in Chorale mostly uses tuning harmonics
having the addition of double stops with harmonics and stopped notes created
further difficulties. The general rule for bow technique when playing harmonics is to
use a fast and light stroke in the middle of the bow near the bridge of the
instrument. Because Chorale has the played playing both stopped notes as well as

4 Tuning harmonics refer to the harmonics found at half of the string length, a fourth and fifth above the
open strings. (Hellmann, 2014)

harmonics, the bow must have enough contact on the string for the stopped note to
speak. To compromise I found that bowing near the finger board with a small
amount of weight allowed the stopped note to speak and at the same time the
harmonic sounding without cracking.
Edge by Peter Askim uses harmonics almost exclusively. There are a broad
range of harmonics used throughout which requires studying where each harmonic
was. I experienced similar problems to Chorale as many of the harmonics would
sound at the in different positions. The difference with Edge compared to Chorale is
that Edge uses a lot more harmonics which could be produced at the end of the
fingerboard as opposed to the lower position on the neck. Wendy, my colleague who
also played Edge chose to play the harmonics in the lower position for various
reasons. She explained her choice in an essay she wrote, concluding that:
Since the harmonic is fingered nearer to the scroll of the instrument, almost
the entire length of string can ring (Hellmann, 2014)
I would argue that by the full length of string ringing it would actually vibrate
slower than if the harmonics fingered at the end of the fingerboard. The images
below show the two different ways of fingering the first chord of Edge.

Here is the first chord (Askim, 2003):

The image on the left shows where
Wendy
played the
opening
chord and
the image
on
the
right is where I fingered the opening
chord.
The average length of the string from
point of bow contact to finger contact
at near the scroll is approximately
70cm in Wendys fingering whereas for
the point of contact to the end of the
fingerboard is only approximately 30cm

in my fingering. I prefer my own as I feel it produces a brighter sound with much

more sound projection. Also, when performing Edge my fingering requires shifting
the entire length of the string which is more theatrical for the audience. I feel in
learning Edge it has very much familiarised my knowledge of harmonics. I was able
to apply this knowledge in learning the opening section of Chorale.
Choosing a logical fingering for the beginning of Chorale proved challenging.
On my first read through of the music I followed the suggested fingering that
Walker had written in the score and found it impractical. I then decided to study the
fingerings he used in his video recording. From measure A insert diagram in the
music he uses a fingering which involves using the thumb in lower positions of the
bass. The use of the thumb in this register is rather unconventional for the bass
because the distances between the notes in low positions are relatively far apart
which increases the likelihood of a note being out of tune. I have labeled the
fingering used by Walker in figure 5.
Fig. 5

(Walker, 2013)

The

difficulty
in
this
passage is between
the
minims in bar 14. It
involved shifting from
a harmonic to a stopped note and vice versa with the thumb. The problem occurs
because of the thumb placement on the E of the first chord in bar 14 to the F in
chord two on the D string. Making this shift sound legato is almost impossible so in
order to make it as smooth as possible I found focusing on letting the harmonics
sound from D in the first chord to E in the second chord. This highlights the change
of highlighted the major second interval leading to a major seventh interval when
the stopped F is introduced by the thumb.
The middle section of the piece has a very folky sound to it and some
passages sound as if they could have been written for a fiddle. It is in this section
he introduces the technique known as 'chopping'. This is a percussive effect often
used in fiddle music to emphasise the 'groove' of a piece. Walker suggests in his
performance notes to search for teaching demonstrations on Youtube. I found a
video by the Strings Magazine showing how to play the technique on a violin by
Laurel Thomson5. In order to produce the 'chop' sound there were three main
factors I perceived: a change in bow hold, position of the bow in the string and
angle of the bow. Instead of a curving the thumb holding the bow I used a straight
thumb. A curved thumb acts like suspension which absorbs too much force when
the bow is struck on the string. A straight thumb has a more direct force from the

5 See cited works for Youtube link.

bow to the string. The point of contact for the bow hitting the string should be
about 3 inches from the bridge otherwise the crunching 'chop' sound will not occur.
To get the bow to actually grip the string and speak Laurel explains that the player
should prepare the bow as if preparing to play a martel stroke 6 but stop the stroke
before the note speaks. It is much easier to strike the lower strings of the
instrument as the weight from the arm falls more natural on the bottom two
strings. Tilting the bow at an angle is the most important factor of the technique as
the 'chopping' crunch is created by the sound of the bow moving from the bridge
towards the fingerboard. Laurel states that because there is no need to keep bow
straight the wrist does not have to be in a fixed position which achieves a more
relaxed bow arm. However, Chorale requires switching between chopped and
normal notes fast which makes it difficult to produce a clear note after the chop.
As mentioned in a previous paragraph, in the video recording of Chorale,
Walker does not play exactly what is written in the score. In the 'chopping' section
there are numerous times where he adds more chops and extra percussive effects
which add to the overall groove of the music. Not only does he add chops, there are
many bars in section B where Walker adds slides up to notes. I was influenced by
his recording to experiment with adding in my own alterations to the piece in order
enhance the overall musical experience.
In the final pizzicato section of the piece Walker writes that the harmonics
should ring freely as much as possible. To achieve I had to consciously lift my
fingers off notes after playing them. This felt unnatural to me as it is always
stressed as a string player to keep your fingers close to the strings for 'good' hand
shape. As well as playing the harmonics ring the player has to emphasize the bass
line which is important to achieving the Steady Pop Groove indication at the
beginning of the section. This creates problems in letting the harmonics ring freely
as sometimes the left hand will accidently dampen a string which stops the
harmonic note sounding. I was quite comfortable with the right hand technique in
this section from my experience playing popular music. In orchestral playing
generally when playing pizzicato notes the right hand not anchored to the bass and
normally the notes are plucked in a lower area. In playing popular music and jazz
the hand becomes anchored to the bass nearer the bottom of the fingerboard. This
playing creates a more mellow sounding pizzicato in comparison to an orchestral
pizzicato which is direct and articulated. The second last bar has another very
interesting technique which I have not come across. Here is the bar:
Between
harmonics

the
last
two
is a portamento line

6 The martel stroke is when the bow grips the string with pressure, then stroked forcefully to produce an
intense note.

marked. Without instruction I would not know how to execute this technique.
Walker indicates the player should
Pluck harmonic, then slide resonating harmonic up a whole step from the nut.
(Walker, 2014)

It is quite an easy technique to achieve and it creates a very delicate sound. In his
video recording there is an extra harmonic section he adds after this. It was too
difficult to transcribe this so I have contacted the composer for more information. I
am currently waiting on a reply from Walker.
Chorale has proved to be a challenge which pushes my playing to different
levels by introducing me to unfamiliar techniques I am not so comfortable with. It
has shown me the possibilities of the bass I have not yet explored. However, the
piece has many elements which were familiar to me such as the location of
harmonics and how to play them, and jazz pizzicato technique. I had hoped to
receive more explanation on Walker's technique for playing thumb position in the
lower registers but unfortunately am still waiting on reply. I have no doubt that in
learning Chorale I will be able to apply the same process of learning to future
pieces I play.

Works Cited
Bernstein, R.J (1983). Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and
Praxis. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. p147
Nicholas Walker (2014). Nicholas Walker-Chorale [Youtube video]. Viewed 6th February
2015, Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyvHwHmSits
Walker, N. (2013). Chorale. Rochester, NY: Thats Right I Said Music. [Sheet Music]
Peter Askim, Music. [Recording].
http://www.peteraskim.com/edge2

Viewed

6th

February

2015.

Available

from:

Ravel, M (1919). Le tombeau de Couperin: Double bass part. Paris: Durand & Cie.. p4.
Wendy Hellmann (2014). Deconstructing Edge. [Essay]
Laurel Thomson (2012). Bowing Tips: Master the Chop (How to play the Violin or Viola)
[Youtube Video]. Strings Magazine. Viewed 6th February 2015. Available from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsWBs0Bu1Ag