The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Rumor control and Ali Yazdanfar

Man, it’s been a long time  since I blogged anything!  I’m moving and selling my house, which has pretty much dominated my time for the last few weeks.  I’m grabbing a  few moments on my train ride to Baltimore to write this post.  I’m seeing that, like most things, one needs to set aside and prioritize some time for blogging or else it just gets shunted to the bottom of the pile.

First, a little rumor control.  I was recently contacted by the Peabody Admissions Dept. regarding a question from a prospective applicant.  They had heard that my colleague John Hood was leaving Peabody.  This is absolutely not true.  John has no intention of leaving Peabody at this time, and I for one am thankful for it!  He is a great teacher and an integral part of our program here.  So once again, for the bass conspiracy theorists out there:  This rumor is FALSE.

Second, some reporting:  Despite my lack of blogging, the Peabody Bass Dept.  has been working hard and making good stuff happen over the last month.  A top item  on the list was Ali Yazdanfar’s amazing masterclass which he gave a few weeks ago.  Ali’s story is known to many in the bass world:  After obtaining a physics degree at Johns Hopkins, where he also participated in the Peabody bass program and studied with Paul Johnson, he went to Rice.  In his first month of school he won his first audition, for the Houston Symphony.  Soon thereafter he won his second audition and joined me in the NSO.  He also spent a year as principal bass in Montreal.  He teaches at the University of Maryland and in the summer at Domaine Forget in Quebec.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Ali during several stages of his career, and I’ve learned a lot from him.  His attention to detail and incredible focus make him an amazing player, and his recent trips to Paris to study with Francois Rabbath show his continuing commitment to his growth as a player at a stage in his career when many people are more than happy to rest on their laurels  Plus, he’s a great guy!

His class focused on how our posture and body position can effect how we play and sound.  Ali’s focus is on finding a natural and freeing stance that enables us to  approach the bass without tension.  If we are able to approach the instrument without stretching our shoulders or locking up our right arms, we are able to use our own body weight to draw out a good sound.  It’s good for all of us to remember these basic concepts.  Sometimes we get so sucked into learning lots of notes that we can neglect ways to treat our bodies well.  Of course, a great benefit of addressing these issues is that it makes playing all those notes a lot easier.

Otherwise, the semester is picking up pace as we approach the winter break.  The bass students are all getting focused on the upcoming mock auditions,  and students who are graduating are thinking about whether and where to go on for further study.

I promise to be back relatively soon with more posts...