Bass
Cello, Bass, and Harp players will receive a maintenance fee form the first week of school. A $77 fee is charged for the use of the classroom instruments at school. Additionally, students are responsible for having a rental bass at home for practice.
Remember to handle your bass carefully. Treat it as if it were a puppy. Any place where the temperature is uncomfortable for you is not a place you can leave your bass. This linked video has a demonstration of how to safely unpack your bass or cello.
Remember:
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The front of the bass is the most fragile. The front is the side with the strings. I call it the bumpy side. On the case it's the side that bumps out where the bridge and the bow are.
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In your vehicle the bass should be on its back or wedged where it won't tip over. Remember to protect the bridge. Also protect the very top of the bass or it will be out of tune when you get it home.
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The back of the case is flatter just like the back of the bass. It's the side that sometimes has backpack straps. It's not a good idea to carry the bass on your back in a crowd since that leaves the most fragile part facing out. Plus, it's harder to carry that way!
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Carry the bass with the neck of the bass over your left shoulder and both hands hooked into the C bout (the curved part in the side. The "bumpy side" should be where you can see it. You carry the bass on edge, not with the back facing the floor. If the bass is in the case there should be a strap there. If not, put the bass on the other shoulder and use that strap. If there is no strap at all, grab what you can!
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Be sure the endpin is inside the bass and locked in place before you try to carry it.
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Protect your bass from pets and siblings. Only authorized bass personnel should handle your bass!
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Whether it's in or out of the case always put the bridge side of the bass toward the wall or the corner so that if it tips over it lands on its back.
Practice doing only what I've taught you so far. Don't set yourself up to have to undo bad habits!
Bass Links
This online resource has all things bass. Great photos and descriptions.
Edgar Meyer is hailed by The New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument” He is both a composer and performer on the bass.
Simply Three is a trio of Glen McDaniel, Nick Villalobos, and Zack Clark. They call themselves “Classically trained. Pop influenced. String driven.”
Bob Gollihur's Double Bass Links has over 900 links to everything about the double bass.
Octobass is almost twice the size of a bass, so big that it makes a cello look like a violin. Only a few of these instruments exist and The Musical Instrument Museum made a video showing theirs in action. We don’t play anything this big at Collins. You will play a bass the right size for you. This one is fun to hear, though!