Comfort zone Finding effortless ways to play

• BORN Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

• STUDIED WITH Claudia Chen, Derek Weller, James VanDemark, Lawrence Wolfe

• TEACHES ages 14–40

As a double bass player with a considerable physical disadvantage (unusually small thumbs, and with both little fingers missing a knuckle and only reaching to the first joint of the adjacent finger), I have found it vitally important to make technical adjustments to overcome the constraints of my hands. I have done this with the help of teachers, individual experimentation and, though I say it myself, no small degree of tenacity.

Having originally trained as a pianist, I soon realised that octave stretches would always be a struggle, and that this would limit my potential. Most students in this situation would have reached for a small instrument, but I was a tall eleven-year-old, had a competitive mindset, and my elementary school orchestra was in need of a bass player. From the start I connected with the instrument and although I sensed that there would be difficulties going forward, competition success as a teenager spurred me on and encouraged me to pursue a career as a double bassist, despite my eventual adult stature of just 5’3”.

It took me many years to achieve a truly comfortable and sustainable way of playing, and there was injury along the way. Now, as a professor of double bass, I have many students, a significant proportion of whom have sought me out specifically because they have a small physique or have particular issues that make playing the bass unusually challenging. They know that I have experience of adjusting my technique to suit the requirements of my hands and that I am therefore sympathetic to the need to be creative when making necessary adaptations. However, it is extremely rare for any bass student to come to me without some kind of tension related to playing and as such, experimentation with technical matters is relevant for each and every one of them.

SET-UP

SET-UP ESSENTIALS

• Good posture and breathing technique (a familiarity with t’ai chi is particularly helpful here because it teaches visualisation of the breath circulating and flowing through the entire body, enabling effortless and smooth movement powered by the breath)

• A sense of balance from the core, and an understanding of the three optimum body positions to play the double bass (in the low, neck and thumb positions on the fingerboard)

STANDING OR SITTING?

• There are advantages and disadvantages to the standing or sitting playing positions

• Practise both set-ups to maintain body awareness; being familiar with both possibilities allows choice based on experience

• Keep a sense of balance as you play (leaning over the instrument without fundamental balance is problematic)

WORK WITH YOUR BODY

• Whether you choose to stand or sit with the instrument, it is vital to balance your body with the bass so that you don’t grip or press on to the neck of the instrument as you play. When I was a student, I had a tendency to grip as I shifted, which resulted in a compressed feeling and a lot of pain.

• Ensure that your knee joints are soft

• Keep shoulders down when transitioning into thumb position

• Choose fingering to suit your hands – and of course the music as much as possible. This applies to most players to some degree, but I had to stop using my little finger in the neck positions near the block because I developed tendon issues; instead, I have developed the use of my third finger.

• Reassess the suitability of your bow hold if necessary. As a student I was constantly trying to find a bow hold to best suit my right hand and to create a full sound. With the help of one of my teachers I found that I got the most relaxed feel with an adapted French bow hold; instead of holding my bent thumb at the conventional contact point (which made me feel tense and gave me tendon problems) I moved my thumb further down to the top of the curve on the frog. This lowered my little finger and connected my finger joints more snugly into the bow stick.

• Be driven by your choice of repertoire. I wanted to play a number of works from the cello repertoire and to connect with its emotional content, and this was a big motivator to being creative with my technique. For example, recently when I wanted to play my transcription of the Brahms Second Cello Sonata, I had to place my thumb on to the ferrule to make the powerful string-crossings manageable. As a student I had tried playing like this with little success, but now that I have more flexibility it works well.

• Re-evaluate aspects of your playing as you develop. Your body changes over time and after certain ways of playing.

EXERCISES

FIT-TO-PLAY WORKOUTS

• Power yoga and t’ai chi classes are very useful for developing core physical and mental strength, and flexibility

• An initial warm-up exercise is to bend your body forwards from your waist with soft knees, arms flopped and loosely folded. As you breathe, work your body gently down in front of you with each exhalation. Put your hands on your waist to straighten up. Then stretch your arms up with palms facing the ceiling and do a whole-body stretch.

• Then taking the bass, I like my students to hold the t’ai chi ‘horse stance’ for one minute. This is a type of squat that resembles the way a rider sits on a horse. With your weight in the heels, the pelvis sinking down and a straight back, it clears and focuses the mind and is good for breathing and for leg strength.

RIGHT-ARM WARM-UPS

• Prepare to play by making exaggerated retakes with your whole arm, reaching towards the ceiling, then letting your arm drop down into the A string of the bass to feel how much natural body weight you have, however small you are. To start with, do this without drawing out sound.

• Repeat the above using exaggerated down bow, then up bow retakes. Don’t worry too much about the sound but get used to the sensation of the natural weight of the arm.

LEFT-HAND WARM-UPS

• With a firm wrist, squeeze your fingers together and, while maintaining a firm core, shift to the top of the instrument. With a soft and slightly open mouth, keep your breathing flowing naturally as you go up towards the bridge on an inhalation. Exhale softly as you return to the nut, which naturally rids the body of tension.

• Vibrate on a single note, playing your vibrato from the arm using the fingers in the following order: 4, 3, 2 then 1. Use minimal finger pressure and check that the resonance of each finger sounds the same. Vibrate using two fingers at a time if necessary.

REPERTOIRE

In the slow movement of the Beethoven Cello Sonata no.5 op.102 no.2 (example 1, page 77), I create a tranquil flow to my sound by breathing a silent sigh ‘heh’ in the soft lyrical passages.

I like to play this piece a tone down with the strings tuned to low E [orchestral strings], B, E, A [solo strings]. You can watch my performance of the work here: bitly.ws/Ws5J

Here is the opening of my transcription of the Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor op.85 (example 2), which I play with strings tuned E, B, E and A. As you can see in this video (bitly.ws/Ws78), I inhale deeply before I start, then use the following exhalation to power my sound, giving my tone maximum impact. While I exhale, I engage my core and keep my chest open and free by breathing continuously. I use two bows for each chord (down bow then up bow) to create extra power and to achieve a sustained tone. In the up bow where I need more emotional intensity in my sound, I engage my intra-abdominal pressure, imagining my breath circulating in my body to give extra energy and intention.

IN YOUR PRACTICE

• Always warm up systematically using the exercises given above; producing a full tone in a healthy way is important

• Spend a proportion of your practice playing near the bridge, not to produce a nasty sound but to experiment with what your instrument can do when you are relaxed in your body

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

• Teach to the individual

• Make sure that the basics are well embedded before moving on

• Draw on yoga and t’ai chi and their breathing techniques to encourage your students to be more centred, focused and well-coordinated

INTERVIEW BY NAOMI YANDELL

FURTHER MATERIALS

This recording of Jacqueline du Pré performing the Elgar Cello Concerto made me realise that music should be played with real and deep emotion (blood, sweat and tears): bitly.ws/Ws8o