Bass-ic instincts relief

Renowned double bass performer and professor Paul Ellison is offering free master classes through Sunday with two celebrated Chinese performers. There's a student concert tonight.

The double bass is far more than orchestral accom-paniment, it's crucial to a successful symphony, and three celebrated double bass players are giving one-on-one instruction to young Chinese musicians in free master classes.

There's a concert by students tonight; maybe the big names will play a bit.

The master classes are given by Paul Ellison, one of the world's leading performers and double bass educators, Lu Yuanxiong who performs and teaches in the United States, and Chen Ziping, professor of double bass at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Classes began Wednesday and run through Sunday at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Ellison is professor of double bass and chair of strings at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music (Texas, US) and former president of the international Society of Bassists.

Lu is the double bass player of the San Antonio (Texas) Orchestra and professor of the music school of Baylor University.

Ellison and the others give detailed instruction to every student after hearing them play - about rhythm, holding the bow, how to stand while playing, and even which resin to use.

"The secret is always in the details," says Ellison. "It is true in sports, language, and especially in music."

Ellison arrived in Shanghai at the invitation of his old friend Lu, who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music before studying in the US. Having Ellison as his friend is one of the best things in his life, says Lu.

Though winning six international music prizes in two years did give young Lu exposure in the double bass field, he never dreamed that Ellison, already a master, would contact him.

"He just called and invited me to his home. We spent a week together. I played and he instructed," says Lu. "I learned a lot in that week, and we have been close friends ever since."

And 21 years later, when Lu planned to give double bass master classes in Shanghai at his alma mater, he first thought of Ellison.

"I want to bring the best teacher here," says Lu, "and Ellison is the one."

The students have a good level of skill, according to Ellison, yet they share the same problem with most of the young bass players worldwide: they lack knowledge of the history of the music.

"Every work carries the style of its time," says Ellison. "They have to know about it, and keep each style sounding different."

Free master classes
Date: through December 23, 9:30am
Venue: Shanghai Conservatory of Music, 9 Dongping Rd

Concert
Date: December 21, 7:30pm
Venue: Academic Hall at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, 20 Fenyang Rd