Beyond Bass Camp starts this Saturday

The popularity of the idea means I’ll probably run a few one-offs, and/or 2 day weekend classes over the summer. Please feel free to post in the comments which of those you’d be most interested in, and which days of the week would work best.

For those of you that are booked in, see you on the boat on Saturday!

As for B*B*C progress, there’s one space left, thanks to a cancellation, on the course – Given that all the other 4 places are taken by people that are coming to all 5 classes, the deal for this last place is that you can come to as many of them as you want (for £70 each) but they have to be from the beginning. So you can come to June 20th, or June+July, or June, July, Aug etc… It means that the continuity will remain for those involved, and you won’t feel like you’ve jumped in and missed a load of stuff. It still stands that if you book for all 5, it’s only £60 for the whole thing.

But, fear not, if you were planning on coming to just one of the classes, I will be running at least one more one-off, probably in August. There may be one in September as well…

I’m also happy to travel to other places and do B*B*C-style one day bass sessions. If you’re interested in hosting one where you are and know of 5 or 6 other bassists that would be interested, please do get in touch.

It’s also worth checking out my recent blog post on stevelawson.net entitled “House Consulting – Like A House Concert, But With Less Tunes And More Talking” – about this very topic.

On the blog post announcing Beyond Bass Camp, Kevin posted a very pertinent question relating to syllabus/curriculum. So here’s an outline of the kind of approach I’ll be taking.

As with everything I teach, much of the content will remain fluid and be based on the needs and personalities of the musicians who attend… Having taught privately now for 20 years, and lead masterclasses of this type for about 6 years, I’ve found that the best format is to have an outline of the ‘approach’ and allow the detail of the content to form itself in response to those needs.

That said, each day long class will be split into 3 two hour sessions.

Contrary to normal methods, we’ll be asking ‘Why’ at the start - So much that goes on in music education fails to look at ‘why’ we do anything:

• Why do we play?
• Why should we ‘learn’ anything?
• Why learn scales?
• Why use particular techniques?
• Why practice the way we do?
• Why play in a particular way?

The answers to these questions will form the basis of the exploration and experimentation of the later sessions. We’ll also – as the weeks go on – be exploring how the terminology of music theory and performance either limits or enhances our understanding of how and why we play what we play. Additionally, we’ll be discussing the musical backgrounds and aspirations of the people on the course, to consider how those influence the kind of questions we ask going into the process of learning the instrument.

Session 2 each time will be about applying practical exercises and exploratory methodology to the answers to those questions from part 1:

• Developing ways of expanding on the things we already do well.
• Recognising the things we do automatically, rather than the things we consciously choose to do because that are ‘what’s best for the music’.
• Pinpointing ways of building exercises that put musicality and expression at the heart of our practice time – finding ways to develop the right kind of skills to play the way we hear in our heads.
• Combining dexterity with technical breadth and depth,
• Linking technique with expressive potential and harmonic possibility.
• Connecting the right kind of approach to the desired outcome – e.g. how practice aimed at performing pre-written music differs from practice designed around building a vocabulary for improvisation, or how stylistic preference/focus can change our practice choices.

The consequence of this will be us finding our own filters in defining what are the right things to practice and work on, learning from each other in that process of discovery…

Session 3 will be about 2 things – Student Questions and Playing/Application.

It’ll be a time to show things you’re working on, get group input, to ask questions that haven’t been dealt with, or about things that weren’t clear, and to try out some group playing in duos/trios/quartets/quintet. While the general atmosphere will be one in which questions, queries and comments can be raised at any point during the day, this section will provide us with plenty of space to make sure the things that are supposed to be clear, and the things that are supposed to be exploratory/open-ended are defined as such with an outline of how to explore them, moving forward.

If you’ve got any more questions about the kind of things that will be covered, please post them in the comments below:

But that got me thinking, why not run an ad in the magazine? I’ve got a few stored up as the column I wrote for them was ‘paid’ in advertising space.

So I put to together the ad up there - the mag’s on a really tight deadline, so I didn’t have time to get the input of my ‘proper’ design chums.

Not bad for 20 minutes work.

Here’s a link to Bass Guitar Magazine’s interview with me about a year ago. It’s a pretty good interview, and a decent intro to what I do as a player, if you’ve stumbled in here via some route othe than stevelawson.net.

For the first 3 weeks – up until May 19th – booking will only be open to people wanting to book for all 5 classes that are already in the diary – that’s £300 for the 5. After that it’ll be open to anyone else that wants to book in. If 5 people go for the all 5 classes option, then I’ll just add in some more dates in between for the one-offs.

I’m also looking at the possibility of a 2 day intensive at some point in the summer, in response to some requests from overseas. More news on that as it unfolds.

For now, if you want to book for the first 5 classes (dates are in the FAQ), please email me to sort out payment. It’s going to be 1st come 1st served, so probably worth getting in quick.

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below.

The attendees reported back that they found it hugely useful, and a many became regulars coming back year after year to develop the themes and ideas of the classes.

But I’d never done anything quite like it in the UK, which seemed odd, so now I’m starting ‘Beyond Bass Camp’, which will run on Saturdays in London, once a month to start with, but will also be available as a ‘package’ that I’ll take to wherever there are 5 bassists who want to study for a whole day.

The final details are being sorted out at the moment, but times, venues, pricing etc. will be available here ASAP.