STUDIO 4
Dinsdag 1 september
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15
20.45 Joost W.
Woensdag 2 september
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
Dinsdag 8 september
16.00 Pim
16.30 Serge
17.00
17.30 Woody
18.00 Nick
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 pauze
20.00 Vincent
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Joost W.
Dinsdag 15 september
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 16 september
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 22 september
16.30 Serge
17.00
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
19.00 Michelle
19.30
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Lisette
Woensdag 23 september
18.00 proefles Meike
18.30 Nick
19.00 pauze
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes
Dinsdag 29 september
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Pim
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 30 september
17.30 Björn
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
20.30 Homme Fatale
Dinsdag 6 oktober
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Gaby
Woensdag 7 oktober
18.30 Nick
19.00 Hans
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes
21.30 Rob
Dinsdag 13 oktober
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
Woensdag 14 oktober
18.00 Meike
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Vincent
20.00
20.30 Homme Fatale
21.30 Joost V.
Dinsdag 20 oktober
geen les
Woensdag 21 oktober
geen les
Dinsdag 27 oktober
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Gaby
Woensdag 28 oktober
18.00 Joyce (via zoom)
18.30 Nick
19.00 Meike
19.30 Rob
20.00 Vincent (via zoom)
20.30 It Goes How It Goes
Dinsdag 3 november
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 4 november
18.00 Woody
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
20.30 Homme Fatale
Dinsdag 10 november VIA ZOOM
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 Joyce
Woensdag 11 november KLOOSTER
18.30 Nick
19.00 Meike
19.30 Rob VIA ZOOM
20.00 Vincent VIA ZOOM
Dinsdag 17 november VIA ZOOM
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 18 november KLOOSTER
18.00 Aron
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30
20.00 Vincent VIA ZOOM
Dinsdag 24 november
18.00 Joost V.
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Gaby
Woensdag 25 november
18.30 Nick
19.00 Meike
19.30 Rob
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes IN STUDIO 3
Dinsdag 1 december
16.00 Gijs (dubbele les)
17.00
17.30 Woody (dubbele les)
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 2 december
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
20.30 Homme Fatale
21.30 repetitie Europa
Dinsdag 8 december
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Gaby
Woensdag 9 december
18.30 Nick
19.00 Meike
19.30 Rob
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes
Dinsdag 15 december VIA ZOOM
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Joyce
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
Woensdag 16 december VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 22 december
geen les
Woensdag 23 december
geen les
Dinsdag 29 december
geen les
Woensdag 30 december
geen les
2021
Dinsdag 5 januari VIA ZOOM
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
21.30 Gaby
Woensdag 6 januari VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Hans
19.30 Rob
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 12 januari VIA ZOOM
16.00 Pim
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Rene
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 13 januari VIA ZOOM
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 19 januari VIA ZOOM
17.00 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 René
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 20 januari VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 26 januari VIA ZOOM
17.00 Aron
17.30 Serge
18.00 Gijs
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 pauze
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 27 januari VIA ZOOM
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
20.30 Rob
Dinsdag 2 februari VIA ZOOM
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 pauze
20.00 Joost W.
20.30
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 3 februari VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Vincent
19.30 Rob
20.00 René
Dinsdag 9 februari VIA ZOOM
16.00 Pim
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Serge
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 pauze
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 10 februari VIA ZOOM
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 16 februari VIA ZOOM
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 pauze
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 17 februari VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Rob
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 23 februari
geen les
Woensdag 24 februari
geen les
Dinsdag 2 maart VIA ZOOM
16.30 Gijs
17.00 pauze
17.30 Woody
18.00 Serge
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 pauze
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 3 maart VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 9 maart VIA ZOOM
17.30 Aron
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 pauze
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 10 maart VIA ZOOM
19.00 Ruud
19.30
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 16 maart VIA ZOOM
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Pim
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Joyce
20.45 Joost W.
Woensdag 17 maart VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Serge
19.30
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 23 maart VIA ZOOM
17.30 Aron
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 pauze
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 24 maart VIA ZOOM
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 30 maart VIA ZOOM
16.00 Pim
16.30 pauze
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 31 maart VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 6 april
geen les
Woensdag 7 april
geen les
Dinsdag 13 april VIA ZOOM
16.30 Gijs (dubbele les)
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 pauze
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 14 april VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 20 april VIA ZOOM
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 21 april VIA ZOOM
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 27 april
geen les
Woensdag 28 april
geen les
Dinsdag 4 mei
geen les
Woensdag 5 mei
geen les
Dinsdag 11 mei
17.00 Nick
17.30 Woody
18.00 Gijs
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 pauze
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 Serge
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 12 mei VIA ZOOM
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 18 mei
16.00 Pim
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Rene
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 19 mei
18.30 Nick
19.00 Ruud
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
Dinsdag 25 mei (Sven)
17.30 Vincent (via zoom)
18.00 Nick
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 Serge
21.00 Joyce
Dinsdag 1 juni (Sven)
16.30 Gijs
17.00 Aron
17.30 Woody
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Vincent (via zoom)
20.45 Joost W.
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 2 juni (Sven)
19.00 Ruud (via zoom)
Dinsdag 8 juni (Sven)
16.30 Vincent (via zoom)
17.00 Joost V.
18.00 Nick
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 Serge
21.00 Joyce
Dinsdag 15 juni
17.30 Milo
18.00 pauze
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Hans
20.15 Serge
20.45 Rene
21.15 Joyce
Woensdag 16 juni
17.30 Woody (les 2, nog 16 tegoed)
18.00 proefles Viggo
18.30 pauze
19.00 Ruud
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes (1,5 uur)
Dinsdag 22 juni
16.30
17.00 Aron
17.30 Milo
18.00 Gijs
18.30 Lisette
19.00 Michelle
19.30 Pim
20.00 Joost W.
20.30 Rene
21.00 Joyce
Woensdag 23 juni
18.30 Nick (les 8, nog 10 tegoed)
19.00 Ruud (les 14, nog 4 tegoed)
19.30 Joost V.
20.00 Vincent
20.30 It Goes How It Goes (1,5 uur)
Dinsdag 29 juni
16.30
17.00
17.30 Milo
18.00
18.30 Lisette (jamsessie)
19.00 Michelle (jamsessie)
19.30 Joost W. (jamsessie)
20.00 Hans
20.45 pauze
21.00 Serge
21.30 Joyce
Woensdag 30 juni
19.00 Vincent
19.30 Homme Fatale
20.30 It Goes How It Goes (1,5 uur)
Dinsdag 6 juli
reserve lesdag
Woensdag 7 juli
20.30 It Goes How It Goes (1,5 uur)
TEACHING BASS
Teaching bass at a music school has been very rewarding - bass students tend to be highly motivated, and are a diverse bunch, often with very clear ideas about what they would like to learn. Quite often a student will already have tried a few things on his own before finding a teacher, especially in this age of easy access to tabs and tutorials on youtube. I believe the teacher's task is primarily to identify the needs, weaknesses and blind spots of the student, and to provide the necessary tools that will enable the student to overcome the obstacles that limit growth. To be able to do this, the teacher needs to be able to identify every aspect of the student's performance.
When a student has difficulty with timing for instance, one first needs to recognize the root of the problem: does the student have difficulty maintaining the tempo? Or is the problem feeling the pulse, or establishing a groove, or understanding rhythmic notation? Or perhaps the problems might not even be musical in nature - it could be a physical problem, or maybe it's the result of the student feeling nervous in the presence of the teacher? I think identifying the basic problems is step 1 for any teacher. Step 2 would be to find a way to deal with these issues.
On any musical instrument, often different hurdles will present themselves simultaneously: for instance, it's not uncommon for a musical phrase to include a couple of wrong notes, that are also played rhythmically incorrect, while using weird fingering with an attitude that's inappropriate for the song. In such cases I'll try to tackle each issue separately. First we'll figure out the correct notes - if more than two notes are incorrect, I'll save the rest of the lick for later and will correct the first two mistakes first. I will always try to avoid situations where the student needs to process loads of information; I like to create a situation where one doesn't have to think at all and playing becomes automatic.
We'll figure out the best fingering for playing the correct notes. Next we'll repeat these notes a few times in a loop so that the movements of the fingers start to feel comfortable and the sequence is memorised. At the same time we'll try to make sure the phrase is performed rhythmically correct. A metronome or a tapping foot will be used to maintain a steady pulse.
And so on. Usually I will recommend practicing at the correct speed right away, to prevent the student from incorporating unnecessary movements that seem harmless when playing at a low speed but become problematic when speeding up to the required tempo.
Every step of this process not only yields great results in the student, but has been a great inspiration for me as a teacher, forcing me to analyse every aspect of playing, especially the exact movement of each finger, obvious and hidden tensions in the body, and many aspects of timing: pulse, tempo, groove, feel, the division of each beat, understanding and interpreting rhythmic notation. This has made me more aware of all these details in my own playing, improving my own technical abilities and musical understanding along with the student's.
Another thing I love about teaching, is that bass students will often request material that I may not yet be familiar with. Although my own tastes are very eclectic, students have expanded my horizons in a big way, introducing to me many fantastic or interesting bands, musical styles, and bass players. Generally I would say that bass students tend to be pretty serious, dedicated to their instrument and to music, and eager to learn.
My prefered method of teaching is in person, which I do at music school Het Klooster in Woerden (the Netherlands). If you're interested in getting bass lessons from me, please fill out this form. If it's not possible for you to go to Woerden and you'd still like some help with certain bass issues, please send me a message and we can schedule a few lessons online. However I would recommend finding a local teacher.
If you need help with specific songs, I am happy to provide tabs and lead sheets.
LEARNING
In my early days as a teacher, a lot of time would be dedicated to verbal instruction, charts to read, theory to understand, information to memorize. To be frank, this would often be only mildly effective. Sometimes students would have no trouble mastering a difficult song, especially if they really knew and loved it, and would subsequently struggle with simple exercises because they were just too boring or too abstract.
Then when I began working with talented musicians with intellectual disabilities, I realised verbal instructions and written parts would be of no use at all. So I took a different approach. During rehearsals, I would make sure that I knew the song well enough to "fill in the blanks" for every musician's part. Often the lead singer would already know the song, otherwise I would sing the song first. I would play the bass part, initially incorporating many thirds when necessary to indicate if cords are major or minor; incorporating other intrument's licks if they were an essential element of the song, occasionally singing the horn lines. This would be enough for everyone to understand the basic structure and many of the details. During every subsequent rehearsals more details would be picked up by the band, and very quickly even relatively difficult songs would be ready for performance. And in impromptu situations, when an unrehearsed song is requested or an unexpected guest artist joins the band, this band is always very quick to deliver at least a reasonable performance, because everybody is trained to listen closely, recognize the structure of a song, and correct mistakes in real time.
I've come to believe that the most effective way to learn music is similar to the way a child learns a language: by listening and imitating. So as a teacher I will often try to create moments where thinking about the music is not possible - for instance, by not giving any information at all. I might play something on the piano and the student has to come up with a suitable bass part, not knowing what key I'm playing in or what song it is. Another exercise might be for the student to sing the bass part first before playing it; this can be especially effective when working on soloing and improvisation. But the main goal during any lesson will simply be to be playing as much as possible, student and teacher simultaneously, so that the student will be allowed to experience, absorb and perform all the nuances of timing, phrasing, dynamics, and so on, while having very limited time to think about it.
STUDYING
One of the most thorough and inspiring books I have ever read about studying music is Victor Wooten's The Music Lesson, which basically includes all the advice that I would give any student plus so much more.
A few suggestions that have helped me immensely:
1. Play along with recordings as much as possible, both simple and complex stuff. For bass players especially it's possible to start playing along with simple songs from the very first moment you pick up the bass. This will help the bassist with so much more than just the right notes and rhythm: it will convey a sense of how the line works within the context of the song, it helps maintaining the tempo, it makes studying feel more like making music, and it will demonstrate the different approaches of bass players to sound, timing, improvisation, and all those many aspects that are sometimes hard to define verbally.
2. As soon as you encounter a problem, or make a mistake, find the correct way to play this and repeat this several times until you are able to play the sequence without mistakes at least three times in a row. Then move on to the next hurdle. It can be tempting to finish playing the entire song as soon as a problematic sequence has been played correctly once. But then the next time the same sequence will still feel just as difficult as it did before. It takes repetition for the correct execution to become the obvious and only way of playing the sequence, especially if the ear and the muscles are already accustomed to playing it in a different way. It is my belief that part of the problem with difficult passages is often that it requires too much thinking on the part of the player - what was that note again? what string, what fret, which finger - which often results in unncessary tension in the muscles and many superfluous movements in the fingers. Once such a sequence is repeated often enough for the bassist to know every movement by heart, it will actually become a lot easier to perform because of the elimination of thought processes, panic and anxiety, and superfluous muscular activity.
3. I encourage students to sometimes read along with bass parts when they're presented in classical notation. Often, especially if a bass line is repetitive, the student will soon know the part by heart and doesn't really need the notation anymore. But occasionally parts will come along that are too extensive to quickly learn by heart, or someone will ask them to perform a written bass part on the spot, so some training in reading sheet music can be very useful. So I would encourage everyone to occasionally do some sightreading. Also, classical notation may expand one's understanding of certain details, because it is yet another way of describing what goes on in the music.
4. When students feel frustrated, after putting in many hours of practice with little result, I always remind them that if someone else can do it, then it IS possible to perform this piece! But sometimes it takes a little more time. I recommend tackling each difficult detail one step at a time. This might seem like slow going at first, but very often once the first few bars of a song are mastered, it turns out to be most of the song, due to the repetitive nature of many bass parts!
IMPROVISING
Here's my thoughts on the basics of improvisation. Some musicians seem to be primarily interested in the scales that can be used in a solo, and will subsequently use all the notes from the scale without any rhythmic or melodic purpose. This can result in very boring music, but is also very difficult for the supporting musicians. As a bassist, I feel so much more involved if I have to accompany a solo that has a clear direction or purpose, a melody or a groove, or dynamic development.
So in my workshops I will usually first approach improvisation from a rhythmic foundation. For instance, by singing the improvisations while clapping or dancing a rhythmic pattern. When improvising using different notes, I think the player should know in advance how the notes that will be played are going to sound. An exercise could be to sing a simple phrase which then has to be repeated on the instrument. And the rules that apply to all music also apply to improvisation: it's not just about scales, it's music, so timing, phrasing, tone, every aspect of music is important. This can also be trained using specific exercises.
Once students have mastered the basics of improvisation, I encourage everyone to attempt improvisation within any situation whenever it's possible, with little instruction since the whole point of improvisation is for the musician to be creative, not to be following instructions. However it might be useful to explain basics of music theory, scales, and so on when relevant.