Podcasts
11/8/2019
In today’s episode, I wanted to celebrate 50 episodes in style by bringing someone who’s work has had a profound impact on generations of musicians: bass player and author of The Inner Game of Music, Barry Green. I’m very happy and honored that Barry accepted to be on the show to have this very, very important conversation with me because his authentic approach to music-making has inspired and influenced thousands of musicians and redefined careers throughout the years.
Barry Green’s creative output is filled with surprises and unexpected new directions. The last tie he was on the podcast, we were chatting with Barry and Jeff Bradetich about Anna’s Promise.
An article from Barry just came out in the American String Teachers Association’s journal. Titled “Chair Factor,” this article is an examination of body energy in playing, and how posture can indicate good or bad body energy.
We dig into all sorts of fine points about this well-researched article. Anyone who isn’t an ASTA member and didn’t get the article in the magazine, can send Barry a private message on Facebook or write him at [email protected]. and he will be happy to send you a copy.
We are diving into a really interesting project today called Anna’s Promise. Anna’s Promise is the third in a series of multimedia works developed by Barry Green (author of The Inner Game of Music and several other works, and also a former Contrabass Conversations guest). Barry is joined by Jeff Bradetich (double bass professor at the University of North Texas and also a former Contrabass Conversations guest) to speak with me about this work.
We’re featuring double bassist Barry Green on Contrabass Conversations this week. In addition to being an influential bassist and teacher (he served as Principal Bass for the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years, has written many method books, and currently teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area), Barry is the well-known author of The Inner Game of Music, The Mastery of Music, and Bringing Music to Life.
I was driving from Santa Cruz to San Jose with Barry Green recently. We were talking about folks I should connect with for the podcast, and Eric Hansen was the first person Barry suggested. Eric teaches bass at Brigham Young University and is the former principal bassist of the Winnipeg Symphony.
Eric and I met in person for the first time in December of 2017 at the Midwest Clinic. He’s great guy with a fascinating musical background, and I had a blast chatting with him about all kinds of topics like:
- how he got into conducting
- ways in which conducting has informed his bass playing
- studying with Eugene Levinson, Audrey Bush, and Hal Robinson
- what motivates students