Highly-esteemed pedagogue and virtuoso Orin O’Brien offers a
lifetime of insight in her acclaimed String-Bass Notebook: Ideas, Tips
and Pointers for the Complete Professional. Originally only available
through special orders and by word-of-mouth, Carl Fischer is
proud to premiere an updated and newly typeset edition of this
indispensable tool. This volume draws together musical examples
and intuitive texts which O’Brien has integrated as an essential part
of her teaching studio. Works spanning from Zimmermann and
Simandl to articles from contemporary colleagues form a strong and
definitive compendium. Practical advice is given on topics such as
practicing and learning the instrument, as well as professional advice
on auditioning and repertoire. As a groundbreaking performer (first
female section-member of the New York Philharmonic), O’Brien
continues to nurture as an author and teacher. This volume is, as
Donald Palma writes in the foreword, “a sharing of valuable resources
from our past and present, resources that can help to make us better
performers, better artists, and help us reconnect to our traditions.”

Foreword by Donald Palma
About Orin O’Brien
1. Introduction and Acknowledgements
2. ARF: Automatic Response File
3. Before You Play
4. Daily Practice Schedule Recommended
5. Four-Year Plan (For Conservatory and Private Study)
6. Recommended Study Material for Reading and Listening
7. Daily Warm-Up Finger Exercises (L.H.)
8. Frederick Zimmermann’s A Contemporary Concept of Bowing Technique for the Double Bass Explained
9. Shifting Practice
10. Scale and Arpeggio Suggestions
11. Frederick Zimmermann’s “Editor’s Note”
12. Intonation Etude in D Major by T.A. Findeisen
13. Explanation of Hooked Bowings
14. Re-taking of Bow (Bow Retrieval) Etude by T.A. Findeisen
15. F. Simandl: Etude No. 13 from Gradus ad Parnassum
16. Articulation Terms
17. Rotation System of Practice (For Learning Difficult Passages)
18. Professional Behavior and Auditions
19. Basic Principles of Orchestral Playing
20. Repertoire Most Often Requested at Double Bass Auditions
21. Comparison Chart of Three Basic Styles of Music (Baroque, Classical and Romantic)
22. Becoming a Team Player by Jeanne Baxtresser
23. Audition Form Used at Professional Auditions
24. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, Op. 125: Movement 4: Recitative (Score Articulations and Bowings)
25. Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes: Double Bass Solo by Orin O’Brien
26. Analytical Practicing by Barry Green
27. The Prague School (Courtesy of the Bass Club of Chicago)
28. Chamber Music for the Double Bass (Essential Repertoire)
29. Photos of Correct Left-Hand Position and Correct German and French Bow Grip