279: Round Two with David Allen Moore - a podcast by Jason Heath

When I got the podcast going again in 2015, I knew that I wanted to do "round two" interviews with past guests. Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist and USC Thornton School of Music professor David Allen Moore was at the top of my list.

I had David on the show back in 2009, which has been one of the most popular interviews from the first-generation podcast episodes (nearly 14,000 downloads at the moment).

A lot has changed for David since we last spoke:

• He took a sabbatical and, after analyzing Edgar Meyer's technique, developed the concept of fractal fingerings.
• He wrote a book on Fractal Fingerings.
• He became an ultra-marathon runner.

Several of my former students have studied with David over the years.  When I asked them who had the biggest impact on them as a musician and as a person, David was the first person they mentioned.

I headed down to Los Angeles and we met up at his USC studio. Here's a shot of us along with bassists Fernando de la Fuente and Dan Carson (another former student of mine!).

We dig into all kinds of topics, including:

• building an internal map
• how bass pedagogy is still catching up to reality
• analyzing Edgar Meyer's bass playing
• the concept of framing
• Rabbath's approach and the German bow
• how practicing is a creative process
• how running changed David's approach to various aspects of life
• fractal fingering
• peak performance
• raising your floor as well as your ceiling
• reveling in your successes

...and much more!

Links to check out:

• David's previous podcast appearance
• Videos on Musaic (New World Symphony's great service)
  • Bowing exercises for clear sound and articulation
  • Building a technical and musical foundation
  • Learning a new piece of music
  • Organizing practice habits and learning how to learn
• Domaine Forget (David teaches there in the summer)
• David's LA Phil page
• David's USC page

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