Sassmannshaus, Holger/Close, J. Peter – Early Start on the Double Bass – Volume 1

Bärenreiter’s long established standard work for young string players has received a welcome addition: “Früher Anfang auf dem Kontrabass”. It takes into account the ever-younger children’s ensembles and orchestras that have increasingly emerged in recent decades and demand a full range of strings.

After beginning with open strings and simple note values, Volume 1 introduces the ‘cuckoo call’ (minor 3rd) as a basic interval for guidance purposes and for mastering good intonation. It makes use of nursery rhymes, all of which are supplied with words to ensure that the melody lines can be easily grasped as a whole. Fingers 1, 4 and 2 are introduced in succession along with note values from whole note (semibreve) to eighth note (quaver). From the very beginning the volume places a special emphasis on reading musical notation and offers training in moving from one string to another and basic bowing strokes. Large print and delightful colour illustrations make the volume especially appealing to children. Enclosed is a sheet of cut-out musical cards that allow young learners to invent many puzzle and guessing games and later to master scales and pitch names.

The authors
Bärenreiter’s double bass tutor was written by J. Peter Close and Holger Sassmannshaus on the basis of preparatory work by Egon Sassmannshaus and the double bass teacher Ulrich Schwarz. “Früher Anfang auf dem Kontrabass” transfers the principles and experience gained from the violin tutor, combining them with modern methods of double bass playing to ensure quick progress on this special instrument.

Holger Sassmannshaus, the son of Egon Sassmannshaus, is a double bass player in the Lower Rhine Symphony in Mönchengladbach/Krefeld. He also teaches double bass and plays in other ensembles.

J. Peter Close, Egon Sassmannshaus’s son-in-law, works as a cello and double bass teacher in Munich.

The combined knowledge and experience of the Sassmannshaus-Close family makes these three volumes the most thoroughly researched and thought-through double bass tutor for beginners all over the world.

German edition of this volume: BA 9660