Developing a Crossover Idiomatic Writing for the Double Bass: Composing/Arranging & Playing, and ... Da capo !

Resumo: A partir de obras de natureza crossover (erudito + popular) compostas ou arranjadas para a “2019 International Society of Bassists Convention”, discuto o desenvolvimento da escrita idiomática do contrabaixo acústico. A partir da interação entre três processos musicais criativos – compor, arranjar e tocar, em vários gêneros musicais (canção erudita, canção de musicais da Broadway, blues, rock, balada e samba), discuto (1) o refinamento da notação na partitura; (2) a heterogeneidade dos sete registros do contrabaixo; (3) a exploração do contrabaixo como instrumento harmônico; (4) a exploração do contrabaixo como um instrumento de percussão; (5) a exploração do binômio texto-música (6) a redução de instrumentações maiores (orquestra sinfônica, grupos de câmara, bandas de blues e rock) para grupos menores (duo, trio e quarteto com contrabaixo, voz, piano e percussão) e (7) o desenvolvimento de técnicas estendidas no contrabaixo não documentadas na literatura. Abstract: Based on works of crossover nature (classical + popular) composed or arranged for the “2019 International Society of Bassists Convention”, I discuss the development of idiomatic writing of the acoustic double bass. Departing from the interaction between three creative musical processes composing, arranging and playing, in various musical genres (classical song, Broadway musical song, blues, rock, ballad and samba), I discus (1) the refinement of the notation in the score; (2) the heterogeneity of the seven double bass registers; (3) exploring the double bass as a harmonic instrument; (4) exploring the double bass as percussion instrument; (5) the exploration of the text-music binomial (6) the reduction of larger instrumentations (symphony orchestra, chamber groups, blues and rock bands) to smaller groups (duo, trio and quartet with double bass, voice, piano and percussion) and (7) the development of extended techniques on the double bass not documented in the literature.

his auto-ethnographic study 1 has three motivations: (1) the need to develop the idiomatic writing for the double bass, 2 especially in the interface between classical and popular music (the so-called crossover music); (2) an invitation for me to present a recital of new compositions and arrangements at the the "2019 ISB (International Society of Bassists) Convention", which was held on the 6th of June, at Auer Hall, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, USA and (3) the receival of the Grand Award in the "2018 ISB Research Competition", a prize accompanied with the publication of an interdisciplinary paper (available at www.ojbr.com/volume-10-number-1.asp), co-authored with professor and researcher Guilherme Menezes Lage of UFMG's School of Physical Education (BORÉM and LAGE, 2019). The paper abovementioned explains how the integration among the senses of vision, touch and hearing allows for greater control of pitch intonation in the double bass, what opens a window for expanding the compositional language of this instrument.

Composing/arranging and playing the double bass
In the narrow space of this exploratory article, I briefly address issues of the double-bass idiomatic writing in works taken from the program of this recital, namely "Dream with me" by Leonard Bernstein; "My Melancholy Blues" by Freddy Mercury; "Surprise Samba" by Bill Mays; "Song of Love" by H. Villa-Lobos and Dora Vasconcelos; "Sol e Chuva" by Chico Buarque and Edu Lobo; "Sunset Blues" and "Gimme Five" both by myself. The selection of the repertoire comprising the primary sources of this study was based on the following traits: (1) original twentieth-century music that includes the voice, (2) composers who transit between and mix classical and popular music, (3) diversity of styles and genres, (4) instrumentation based on small chamber formations with the double bass (duo, trio and quartet) and (5) idiomatic crossover writing, that is integrating classical and popular performance practices. In contemplates a repertory and its compositional techniques 1 As previously discussed (BORÉM and TAGLIANETTI, 2016, p. 195-196), I am very parsimonious about autoethnographic research in Music Performance. Auto-ethnography is still a controversial modality even in the areas it arose (Cultural Studies, Anthropology and Sociology; see SPARKES, 2000, p. 22). The reason is not only because of the possible researcher bias while evaluating his/her own results, but also due to the common lack of consolidated methods, methodological procedures, and the quality of research impacts. 2 Idiomatic writing here refers to the compositional ability to effectively and comfortably explore the sound possibilities of an instrument.
T that are not explained, let alone illustrated, in the relevant orchestration or instrumentation references to date.
In this process, three creative figures (the composer, the arranger, and the performer) were combined in one person, the present author of this text. It led, I feel, to a much more gradual, exploratory, and creative approach than what is observed in a traditional compositional process. Or even when the dual composer-performer collaboration occurs, which usually includes two or three versions of the score before the final cut of the work is presented. Like in a two-person collaboration, the situation presented here (either the composer-performer or the arranger-performer) has the privilege of intrinsic and/or concurrent feedbacks (MAGILL, 2000, p. 199), but with the plus of being more agile and challenging. The processes of composing/arranging and building a performance at the same time is an interdependent, continuous, and online one. When the performer is also the composer/arranger, there is a much more intense pursuit of an idiomatic language and, very often, it results in the development of new instrumental or vocal techniques. In fact, the music scores in the present study went through the process of having 6 to 10 versions each, with corrections, additions and cuts, all of which were documented through logbook notes on digitally printed scores. Two concepts from the mAAVm (Method of Analysis of Audios and Music Videos; , namely EdiP (Performance Edition, that is, a score edition notated with the performer's decisions) and EdiPA (Audiovisual Performance Edition, that is, the combination of music notation with graphic signs to indicate events of a performance), were used in the musical examples to present and describe relevant techniques used in my compositions and arrangements.

The Double bass: "seven instruments in one"
Differently from other violin family members, the double bass had a complex and controversial genealogy that mixed with the gamba family. Its very ambiguous terminology during the baroque and classical periods (SAS, 1999;PLANYAVSKY, 1998;BONTA, 1990;COHEN, 1967;SACHS, 1940), the constructive limitations of its materials and accessories generating confusing and almost superhuman patterns for over four centuries (BRUN, 1989;BONTA, 1988;BONTA, 1976) and the inconsistency of its performance practices and tuning types until the late nineteenth century (DREW, 1979;COHEN, 1967;BILLÈ, 1928) caused a historical delay in the formation of double 4 bass schools and a shortage of high level instrumentalists. An obvious and mistaken output in this scenario was the common belief that double bass players could manage well its instruments only in lower registers, which began to change punctually with virtuosi such as Domenico Dragonetti and Giovanni Bottesini in the first and second halves of the nineteenth century, respectively. 3 Departing from a terminology presented in a previous study (BORÉM, 2011, p. 53), I propose the scheme below (FIGURE 1) to divide the double bass registers into seven different pitch regions, 4 which marked differences in sound production and timber let us think of "seven instruments in one". Leonard Bernstein wrote "Dream with me" in 1950 as part of the musical "Peter Pan", but a change of plans in its production cut off this and other soundtrack songs from its Broadway debut, which imposed a long period of ostracism over them. It was not until 1997 that Alexander Frey, conductor of the Rome Philharmonic Orchestra at the time, rediscovered "Dream with me", recording it for the first time in 2005 with soprano Linda Eder (LACHER, 2008). The dreamlike 3 An exception was the so-called Viennese violone, which experienced a virtuosic period in the second half of the 18th century (COHEN, 1967). 4 The seven regions of the double bass I propose here are: (1) Sub Low: ranging from C1 to E1 (NOTE: the pitches here are sounding pitches as the double bass transposes one octave below all written notes. The octave designation used here considers the central C of the piano as C4). Exceptionally, in some scordature, the double bass may go lower to Si0 (as in Richard Strauss's symphonic poem "Also sprach Zarathustra"; Cohen, 1989: 190) or even Sib0 (as in Richard Wagner's opera "Rienzi"; Brun, 1989); (2) Low: going from E1 (open 4th string on 4-string double basses) through G2 (open G string) till D2 (a perfect 5th above the open G string); (3) Medium (or Transition to Capo Tasto): ranging from D2 on G string to G2 on the same string, which coincides with the beginning of the traditional capo tasto position (1st partial of the harmonic series on each string); (4) High: ranging from the first octave above open strings (the beginning of the traditional capo tasto position; e.g., the G2 on the G string) to two octaves above open strings, i.e. the 3rd partial of the harmonic series (e.g., the G3 on the G string); (5) Super High: which goes from the 3rd partial of the harmonic series (e.g., the G3 on the G string) till the end of the fingerboard, around (since there is no length pattern for the double bass fingerboard) the 5th partial of the harmonic series, e.g. around D4 on the G string; (6) High Natural Harmonics: which goes from G3 till the bridge; (7) Artificial Harmonics: theoretically, it ranges from the 1st octave of each string to the bridge.

Composing/arranging, playing and ... da capo!
The definitive score version of a work rarely coincides with the first ideas that come to the composer's mind. When the figure of the instrumentalist mingles with that of the composer and/or arranger, the search for a mature and definitive version and the reach for a sophisticated idiomatic language may become a quicker and more intense process of experimentation. The following paragraphs narrate some of these auto-ethnographic experiences.

The text-music relationship between the double bass and the voice
The

Double bass, electric bass, EU bass and rock idioms
The orchestral double bass emerged around mid-sixteenth century and evolved in the interactions between the gamba and the violin family (BORÉM, 2011, p. 121), 5 while the electric double bass guitar only emerged some four centuries later, in the early 1950s, with the advent of electric sound amplification and experiments of the Gibson and Fender makers (DENYER, 1983, p. 41, 100-101). If the double bass was embraced into the popular jazz realm, the electric bass guitar excelled into rock'n'roll bands. In the meanwhile, the EU bass (electric upright bass, also called stick bass), a hybrid instrument, appeared as an option to combine traits of the double bass (the curved bridge that allows the use of the bow, the lack of frets that allows regular glissandi and non-tempered intonation, and the upright playing position) and traits of the electric bass guitar (more efficient electric amplification of the sound, better mobility and more articulation and timber control of the sound envelope).
In the rock inspired Gimme Five, for voice and double bass, I exploited traits of these electric and acoustic bass instruments. For example, the introduction section of this song (FIGURE 8) shows the use of an electric bass pick (or a fingernail to emulate its timber) to continuously hit the strings 5 See concluding and divergent remarks in the thorough studies of Alfred Planyavsky (1998: 159-161;also in German, 1984) and in Irving Cohen (1967: 233-234).     FIGURE 11 -Emulation of a four-strata texture (1, 2, 3 and 4) using the right hand to bow the string (1) and the left hand to both press the string (1) and play open-string pizzicati (2, 3 and 4).

Final considerations
In this study of creative nature, I aimed at refining and developing the idiomatic writing of the double bass repertoire in the cyclic process of composing/arranging and playing. It encompasses music genres centered on the interaction of this instrument with the voice, such as lieder, Broadway musical, blues, rock, ballad, and samba. Crossover aesthetics were explored, combining instrumental techniques from classical music (natural and artificial harmonics, traditional and Bartok pizzicato, extreme registers of the instrument, ponticello, double stops, declamation, and percussive techniques), and popular music (hammer-on, pull-off, finger snap, various glissandi and pizzicati). Also, there was an intentional pedagogical use of double bass extended techniques, such as several types of pizzicato (left-hand pizz., glissando pizz., simultaneous arco and pizz.); textures with two-, three-and four-voice strata; imitation of other instruments such as the flute, guitar and the samba's cuíca, tambourine and surdo; use of the double bass as a percussion instrument and the instrumentalist's voice while playing.
It is my hope that the repertoire developed here could serve as a reference to 1) a better understanding of the cyclical process experienced by the performer-composer-arranger; 2) the consolidation of a idiomatic writing for today's acoustic double bass; 3) the expansion of double bass extended techniques and, therefore, its performance practices; 4) adaptation procedures when reducing larger instrumentations; 5) the integration between classical and popular music in crossover repertoires. (1) (2) (4)