Donovan Stokes http://www.donovanstokes.com Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:41:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 2012 Bass Coalition Workshop Registration Materials Available http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/2012-bass-coalition-workshop-registration-materials-available/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/2012-bass-coalition-workshop-registration-materials-available/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:41:03 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1346 Hello Everyone,

Information on our third Bass Coalition Summer Workshop (set for June 16, 2012) is up. Get your registration materials HERE. Some scholarships are available. Registration materials MUST be received by June 16, 2012. No registrations can be taken at the door this year.

We are accepting donations via Kickstarter for our 2012 Workshop. Each donation level has a reward of some sort, and every dollar helps. If we reach our kickstarter goal, our minimum expenses are met and we can offer scholarships to 10 bassists.  Please consider donating and supporting high quality and high fun bass education. Bass Coalition Kickstarter

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/2012-bass-coalition-workshop-registration-materials-available/feed/ 0 Bass Coalition Workshop June 16, 2012 http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/bass-coalition-workshop-july-12-2012/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/bass-coalition-workshop-july-12-2012/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:07:01 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1339 Hello Everyone,

Detailed information on our third Bass Coalition Summer Workshop (set for June 16, 2012) will be up at www.basscoalition.com in upcoming weeks. Every year we have offered a number of full-tuition scholarships to participants. We hope to continue to do so in all future years. This year we are trying something new.

We are accepting donations via Kickstarter for our 2012 Workshop. Each donation level has a reward of some sort, and every dollar helps. If we reach our kickstarter goal, our minimum expenses are met and we can offer scholarships to 10 bassists.  Please consider donating and supporting high quality and high fun bass education. Bass Coalition Kickstarter

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/04/bass-coalition-workshop-july-12-2012/feed/ 0 Adolf Misek, Pedro Valls, Richard Duke and Donovan Stokes http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/02/adolf-misek-pedro-valls-richard-duke-and-donovan-stokes/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/02/adolf-misek-pedro-valls-richard-duke-and-donovan-stokes/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:42:52 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1335 Hi Everyone,
Tonight I am at the Stein Room in Siver Spring with the Four Star Combo, but next weekend I will be in San Francisco public schools and at Davies Hall as a guest of the San Francisco Symphony Education Department (special thanks and love to Anastasia Herold and Richard Duke!). I will be in the public schools on Friday March 2, and at Davies Hall for the “Bass Bash” on Sunday March 4. I am excited to see old friends and meet new bassists!

My Sunday afternoon recital will include a work by Richard Duke for three basses. Richard, Megan McDevitt and myself will be performing “Stoke the Fire” which Richard wrote just for my visit. I am honored! I am usually writing pieces for other people, so it is a special moment for me to have this work written for me.

Also on the Recital will be Sonata by Eccles, Saeta by Pedro Valls, Concert Polonaise by Adolf Misek and several of my own crossover and amplified works. The day, of course, is full of clasees and ends with a large bass ensemble concert! It truly is a Bass-Bash!!

I look forward to seeing everyone next weekend out in the city by the bay!

Yours in bass!

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/02/adolf-misek-pedro-valls-richard-duke-and-donovan-stokes/feed/ 0 Happy New Year of Practicing! http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/01/happy-new-year-of-practicing/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/01/happy-new-year-of-practicing/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:37:12 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1331 Happy New year everyone!

By now many people have put together their list of New Year’s Resolutions and are probably knee deep in trying to achieve each and every one of them. For those folks: Best of luck in 2012!

For many musicians, “practicing more” (in one form or another) is likely high on the resolution list. If it is, and especially if you are a bassist, I want to guide you to my bi-weekly column here: THE LOWDOWN.  For a specific starting point I would direct you to this article, which might be of help to a few folks:  Dedication: A Guide to Practicing.

Always remember, even if you only play one note today, it is still better than playing zero notes. Get to your instrument today. Best of success to everyone in 2012!

 

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2012/01/happy-new-year-of-practicing/feed/ 0 Solo Bass arrangement of Latin tune “Gentle Rain” by Luiz Bonfá http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/12/solo-bass-arrangement-of-latin-tune-gentle-rain-by-luiz-bonfa/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/12/solo-bass-arrangement-of-latin-tune-gentle-rain-by-luiz-bonfa/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:18:02 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1327 A few weeks ago I recorded a solo bass arrangement of “Gentle Rain” by Luiz Bonfá (one of my favorite Latin tunes) for a Shenandoah Conservatory Jazz Faculty Sampler CD. The CD release hasn’t been scheduled yet, but luckily my friend Kevin Johnson (one of my former students at Shenandoah Conservatory and known to the world via the giant notreble) was on-hand to record the session and got the performance on video.   You can find it here, or it is embedded at the bottom of this post.

I hope you enjoy and share it with the world!

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/12/solo-bass-arrangement-of-latin-tune-gentle-rain-by-luiz-bonfa/feed/ 0 Gentle Rain http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/gentle-rain/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/gentle-rain/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:48:25 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1323 Last week I did a quick solo bass recording of “Gentle Rain” by Louis Bonfá. The session was put together and recorded by Ryan Ainsworth and my friend and former student Kevin Johnson from www.notreble.com. Today we’ll get together and listen to how the rainstick accompaniment came out in the final mix. Who knew playing the rainstick took some skill?! I’m looking forward to hearing the final product.

Once it’s ready we will also have a video of the session up on my youtube channel.  More as it develops!

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/gentle-rain/feed/ 0 Celtic Duo http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/celtic-duo/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/celtic-duo/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:52:55 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1275 I recently found a video of a piece that was commissioned by Jerry Fuller “Celtic Duo for Cello and Bass.” It is performed by Soloists: Jack Fuller, cello and Kevin Fuller, double bass with the I Solisti Chamber Orchestra.  There is a Bodhran part that isn’t part of this performance (guess Bodhran players are hard to come by!) but I still thank Jerry, Jack and Kevin and the I Solisti for the performance!

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/celtic-duo/feed/ 0 Thanks to the Webcast viewers! http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/thanks-to-the-webcast-viewers/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/thanks-to-the-webcast-viewers/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:03:09 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1285 Thanks to everyone who joined us via Ustream to watch the Shenandoah Conservatory Bass Ensemble perform two nights ago. We hope to continue this with other artists and archive the broadcasts on the basscoalition’s Ustream as well, all while improving sound and video quality. So if you want to broadcast your event contact the basscoalition!

Looking forward to the next  one!

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/thanks-to-the-webcast-viewers/feed/ 0 Shenandoah Conservatory Bass Ensemble Streamed Live Tonight http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/shenandoah-conservatory-bass-ensemble-streamed-live-tonight/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/shenandoah-conservatory-bass-ensemble-streamed-live-tonight/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:00:48 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1279 We will stream the Shenandoah Bass Ensemble concert live at 7 pm (EST) on Wed. Nov. 9, 2011. On our ustream channel. Please join us! The program is Here: fall11BassEnsemble

Watch us below or click Outside link

]]> http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/shenandoah-conservatory-bass-ensemble-streamed-live-tonight/feed/ 0 It’s been ages since I made a post! http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/its-been-ages-since-i-made-a-post/ http://www.donovanstokes.com/blog/2011/11/its-been-ages-since-i-made-a-post/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:33:49 +0000 admin http://www.donovanstokes.com/?p=1273 It’s been ages since I made a post here! However, things have been active behind the scenes!  As always we are trying to update and refine this webpage. The Bass Coalition is in the process of establishing itself as a 501 c (3) corporation. I played a great concert with members of the Audubon Quartet and the great Seymour Lipkin on piano! I am still playing Rockabilly around DC and will hitting the studio with the Four Star Combo in December.

A new batch bow hooks are back in as well!

Watch for a more regularly updated page! In the meantime, check out my visit with First Officer Spock.

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