Next Level Bassist SPRING 2015

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Can you talk about your website of German bow grips
and what you were hoping to accomplish?
CARLO CARLETTI WILLIAM TARR PAUL TOENNIGES SAMUEL ALLEN DANIEL HACHEZ
PIETRO MENEGHESSO LORENZO & THOMASSO CARCASSI PAUL CLAUDOT GIOVANNI LEONI
ARMANDO PICCAGLIANI GAND & BERNARDEL STEFAN KRATTENMACHER JAMES COLE
FRATELLI SIRLETTO ALASSANDRO CICILIATTI AKOS BALAZS SAMUEL SHEN G.B. CERUTI
PAOLO ROBERTI CHRISTIAN PEDERSEN PAUL HART CHRISTOPHER SAVINO JAY HAIDE
ANDREW CARRUTHERS GUNTER VON AUE BARANYAI GYORGY CARLO CARLETTI WILLIAM TARR
PAUL TOENNIGES SAMUEL ALLEN DANIEL HACHEZ PIETRO MENEGHESSO LORENZO &
THOMASSO CARCASSI PAUL CLAUDOT GIOVANNI LEONI ARMANDO PICCAGLIANI GAND
& BERNARDEL STEFAN KRATTENMACHER JAMES COLE FRATELLI SIRLETTO ALASSANDRO
roBertson reCital Hall
www.RobertsonViolins.com
Tel 800-284-6546 | 3201 Carlisle Blvd. NE | Albuquerque, NM USA 87110
2013 Bass ColleCtion
partial
Interview with
BOB OPPELT
Around 2006, I created a website to promote a recording
I had recently released, called “The Double Bass,” which
featured the bass in a variety of performance settings.
I wanted to get the word out about the album, while at
the same time take the opportunity to share some of the
knowledge I had accumulated from playing in orchestras
over 30 years. One project involved presenting what
were, in my opinion, all the practical ways of holding the
German bow. I used photographs with captions to show
the pros and cons of each. That webpage turned out to
be the most popular on the website! After I discontinued
the website about four years later, emails kept coming in
from people around the world asking for the information
on the German bow page. I was trying to effectively
furnish that to them on the side but I didn’t have an
organized way to do it. As a result, I recently decided to
reconstitute a smaller website, making the German bow
grips article available on the internet once again.
I think the German grip issue is worthy of discussion
because there are quite a few valid approaches to holding
the bow that are in use by very successful bassists. In
five minutes on YouTube, you can scan the bass sections
of the orchestras of Berlin, Vienna, and Czech Republic
for their basic grip of all the players. I find that very
interesting. And you’ll also catch soloists from Asia,
Europe, Canada, and the USA who play very well, each
with their own style of holding the bow.
French bow players who are trying to teach the German
bow, as well as dabbling with it themselves, can certainly
benefit from a better understanding of how to grip it.
There are even some who have completely discounted it
and would rather it become a relic of the past. Well, it’s
clear that’s not going to happen any time soon, and
perhaps I can help stave off its demise.
The whole argument of whether French or German bow
is not new, of course, and not likely ever to be settled.
But I think there’s still room for discussion of how to grip
a bow. And it should be understood that the grip has
implications for the entire arm function and position
as well. For instance, there is a certain degree of bend
at the elbow with the French bow and the arm is quite
elevated. Some might automatically conclude that it
should be identical for German bow. However, with the
more supinated position of the hand for the German grip
the arm will drop and be less bent, more extended. This
is a key difference that often goes overlooked. As for the
German grips, I try to make it apparent on the webpage
that the best grip is one that is relaxed, powerful, and
provides dexterity for all types of strokes.
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