{"id":5800,"date":"2011-02-13T19:16:12","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T03:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5800"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:36:30","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:36:30","slug":"from-the-mouths-of-bass-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/13\/from-the-mouths-of-bass-players\/","title":{"rendered":"from the mouths of bass players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just read a great paragraph on why having all ages and levels of experience in an orchestra is so important, and why being ignorant of this is simply to be stupid:<\/p>\n

Like fibers of a rope, not a single one of which runs the entire length, the overlapping career spans of musicians carry on the traditions of an orchestra. An orchestra without this linkage to the past isn’t really an orchestra in the way we currently think of one, it is merely a group of musicians, a pickup group. The attitudes of managers and boards of directors in some places, where they assume musicians are easily replaceable from the stocks of eager conservatory graduates (who, most importantly, would work for less money) are misguided at best, destructive, and not in the interest of the institutions they serve. Cut too many fibers, and the rope frays and breaks; braid in too many, and it becomes thick and inflexible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Bass Blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just read a great paragraph on why having all ages and levels of experience in an orchestra is so important, and why being ignorant of this is simply to be stupid: Like fibers of a rope, not a single one of which runs the entire length, the overlapping career spans of musicians carry on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[225,2492,2],"tags":[2532,2531,3663,585,2530,62],"class_list":["post-5800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloggers","category-double-bass","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-aging","tag-experience","tag-musicians","tag-orchestras","tag-seniority","tag-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1vy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2245,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/24\/dallas-fort-worth-ballet-orchestra-replaced-with-outsourced-musicians\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":0},"title":"dallas-fort worth ballet orchestra replaced with outsourced musicians","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From a musician press release: Musicians are upset because Texas Ballet Theater is using recorded music it made in China to replace them in the orchestra pit at Bass Hall. When it owed the Fort Worth Symphony Association and Bass Hall more than $300,000 for services and rent last season,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7458,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/29\/progress-in-louisville-lockout\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":1},"title":"progress in louisville lockout?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 29, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"This press release was issued today from the Louisville Orchestra Musicians' Association: Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association Proposes End to the Lockout LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, March 29, 2012 \u2013 The Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association is pleased to announce that they have taken a very positive step in ending their lockout, and returning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7893,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/30\/minnesota-musicians-counter-offers-rejected\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":2},"title":"minnesota musicians’ counter offers rejected","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Press release from the Minnesota Orchestra musicians: BREAKING NEWS: Management Rejects Two Musician Counter Offers Minneapolis \u2013 The management of the Minnesota Orchestra rejected two counter offers by the Musicians today. Musicians have been making counter offers to avoid being locked out at midnight tonight. Management seems determined to lock\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24958,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2025\/09\/29\/the-latest-generation\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":3},"title":"the latest generation","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Saturday at the Oregon Symphony's Music Box space downtown I attended an introduction of our new 'class' of musicians that have recently joined the orchestra to a select group of donors and supporters. This may have been something that the orchestra has done before \u2013 it's entirely possible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2723-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5708,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/06\/oregon-symphony-welcomes-four-new-musicians\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":4},"title":"oregon symphony welcomes four new musicians","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After a series of auditions held this past Fall, the Oregon Symphony will welcome four new musicians to its ranks after the winter break concludes Friday.\u00a0 With violist Silu Fei, timpanist Jonathan Greeney and English hornist Kyle Mustain already here (and sounding fantastic), this brings our number of new musicians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "auditions"","block_context":{"text":"auditions","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/auditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Ted-Botsford-200x337.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":563,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/04\/33-musicians-resign-from-virginia-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":5800,"position":5},"title":"32 musicians resign from virginia orchestra","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a sad tale - I used to play in the Prince William Symphony when I was a student at the University of Maryland. Apparently there has been a good deal of trouble there since I worked there. It underlines a basic tenet of mine: let the musicians play\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}