BEYOND BASS CAMP

Digging Deeper Inside the Bass, with Dr Steve Lawson.

  • The Real Crisis In Music Education

    Last Wednesday, I was speaking at a conference at Leeds Metropolitan University. I gave a keynote talk – the usual stuff about how great the changes in the music industry are for musicians etc. – then I did a workshop/brainstorming session on ‘recording and marketing music on zero budget’, which produced some pretty creative thinking…

  • Photos From the Second Class

    Well, I got to spend another wonderful day with the B*B*C attendees today, and another marvellous day was had. I can see me running a lot more classes like this in the future… Here are some photos from it:

  • Melodies > Phrases > Patterns – Extracting the Value From Other People’s Songs.

    The process I outlined in the previous blog post can be reversed when we start working on drawing musical information out of learning someone else’s music. I often classify this loosely as active vs passive learning. Passive learning leads us to learn the song we’re working on, play it like the original, tick that box…

  • Pattens > Phrases > Melodies – Organising Musical Material

    I’ve been thinking about this a fair bit recently, and working through these ideas with a few students. The big question that spawned this concept is the one about the relationship between what we practice and the music we perform. Anyone who’s read more than a few words from me about the process of teaching…

  • Evelyn Glennie On Playing Music And Learning

    OK, this is one of the best presentations on learning music I’ve seen in ages. I got to play with Evelyn Glennie a few years back, in her studio – she had been talking to Rick Turner about electro-acoustic music, and he’d advised her to talk to me about looping. I went to meet her…

  • Less Than A Week To B*B*C

    Beyond Bass Camp starts this Saturday, and is sold out. There’s even a waiting list. 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…

  • B*B*C in BGM + One Last Place Available…

    This month’s Bass Guitar Magazine has a little write-up on Beyond Bass Camp, which was nice to see. There it is, in the picture… You’ll have to get the mag – or at least pick it up in a newsagents to read what they say, but naturally it’s all good 🙂 As for B*B*C progress,…

  • What’s important?

    I’m always amazed – and dismayed – at how often I fail to ask the above question in my life. I spend a whole lot of time on trivial, time-wasting things as a diversion from the important things I really ought to be doing. That’s not to say that ‘trivial fun’ isn’t valid – sometimes…

  • Playing The Music You Love, Loving The Music You Play.

    I have certain pre-arranged responses to some of the questions and comments I get about my music. One of my favourites to throw out is to comments like “hey, Steve, you should do a whole ambient record” or “I really like the funky tunes, you should do more of that“, or any other ‘you should‘-type…

  • Photos from Beyond Bass Camp’s Elder Sibling 🙂

    As I’ve said before, the inspiration behind finally doing Beyond Bass Camp in London is the series of annual masterclasses that I’ve given in California every January for the last few years. The fact that I only visit California once a year means I only get to teach there once a year, but would love…