I am David B Teague, Western Carolina Math-CS Professor Emeritus. I have a serious interest in the double bass. In the early 2000s I read an article about bassist Joel Quarrington (see his web site, http://JoelQuarrington.com) and that he tunes his bass in fifths CGDA, and octave below the cello. I thought, OK, but didn't do anything until I saw Dennis Masuzzo's article in the American String Teacher. (see his web site too: http://dennismasuzzo.com/) I sent him email and his response was exited and exciting. I bought a laminated instrument and a set of Thomastic Red Mitchell strings for fifhts tuning, bought Dennis' book (excellent introduction, buy it from LemurMusic.com), and was off to lean the bass in fifths.

I played a year in one orchestra on my Pollmann bass with low C extension, tuned in fourths, and in the Blue Ridge orchestra, I played the laminated bass, tuned in fifths. That was an interesting year. At the end of that year, 2005, I had the low C extension taken off the Pollmann and installed strings for tuning in fifths. I have not looked back.

Finding satisfactory strings has been a interesting trip. I had been using Corelli Tungsten on the Pollman, so I chose to follow Joel Quarrington's suggestions on strings: First string is the A from the solo set of strings. The second string is the D from the orchestral set. The third string should be a G, a step below the usual A (3rd) string for fourths tuning, but the only thing close was the F# (fourth) string from the solo set. Use this but turn it up to G. The fourth string is an orchestral low C string.

This combination works if you can find strings that are equal across the CGDA range. With Corelli strings, they were not equal. I found that the Corelli low C did not produce the sound I needed.

I discovered Pirastro Obligato strings for tuning in Fifths. I had the advice of another bassist who tunes in fifths and had tried them. He said not to use the low C from the Obligato set, rather, use the Thomastic Spirocore low B string and turn that up to C gives a proper bottom with my instrument. This seems to be an ideal balance between cost (about $175) and performance. The alternative is to use a Velvet Compas 180 set that costs about $375.

Dedicated to music played on the Double Bass, and in particular, the bass tuned in fifths.

Here you will find news, some of my views.

 I will include information about my musical doings, information about the Blue Ridge Orchestra in Asheville NC,  the Western North Carolina Community Orchestra in Cullowhee NC, and the Hendersonville Community Orchestra. I intend to provide a photo gallery, an occasional weblog about several topics and a forum where you can add comment.  Please look around and feel free to to leave a message in the guestbook.

The Blue Ridge Orchestra, Ronald Clearfiled conducting, http://blueridgeorchestra.org

The BRO celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a Spring Concert in Diana Wortham Auditorium in Asheville NC on Sunday March 21, 2010 at 3:00 PM. The repertoire will be:

The Four Seasons: Spring --- Vivaldi
Listen... the Earth is Weeping -- Clearfield
Amy Lovinger, Violinist

Symphony #6 (Pastoral) -- Beethoven


The Western North Carolina Civic Orchestra, William Henigbaum, conducting, will present a concert on Saturday May 1, in the Western Carolina University Coulter Building Recital Hall at 8 PM.
Partial repertoire will be
Borodin -- Polyvetsian Dances
Haydn  -- Symphony No 100.
The remainder of the repertoire depends on the winners of the 20th annual Student Solo Competition. The competition winners play with the orchestra.


The Community Orchestra of Hendersonville presents a concert set tentatively in the evening of April 2, Friday. Repertoire is to be

Vivaldi - Gloria (with chorus) -- Robert Knipple conducting

Marcello - Oboe concerto (Cheryl Tuttle soloist);
Vivaldi Double Concerto (Marjori Hill and Jean Starnes soloists),
Becker - Sinfonia;
Bach -- My Spirit be Joyful (Peter and Pamela Voisin -- trumpets)
Robert Hudson Conducting