Robert Oppelt's Website

Welcome to my website!

I am the Principal Bassist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. I intend this website to be a portal of information about the art of bass playing. Drawing on 25 years experience, I will post advice that might aid musicians who are in the early stages of their career. I invite email exchanges and will post those of interest to the bass community at-large. Also, on this site I give more detailed information about my CD, The Double Bass, which was released in December of 2006.

Being a member of the National Symphony Orchestra has been a rewarding experience. I've enjoyed tours to many interesting parts of the world, such as Asia, the Baltics, Europe, Russia, the Philippines, and South America. My 13 years with Mstislav Rostropovich as Music Director amounted to a front row seat at one of the "greatest shows on earth". His personal charisma and profound musicianship won him access to many corridors of power, and hearing him play the cello countless times indelibly influenced my approach to musical expression. Most importantly, I've been privileged to sit in the middle of a fine orchestra, awash in the sounds of the greatest music ever written...

Let me start by stating the obvious about playing the bass: it is really "cool". There's not much that compares to the full-body massage one gets when drawing out some of the lowest tones on the planet. And when you get together with your buddies in a symphony orchestra to "crank out" the bass parts of Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss, Tchaikowsky, and Wagner, it's tremendous fun.

But how can one make a career of it? Well, there's no easy answer. For sure, it requires dedication and perseverance.

Auditioning for an orchestra is very competitive. There might be upwards of 100 bassists vying for one position; most players never make it out of the preliminaries. Increasingly, I tell my students to be well-rounded, to be prepared in case they don't make it to the "big show". This might mean broadening their studies to include administration, composition, music history, or teaching. One should also not rule out education in a field other than music to secure a means of employment.

If one doesn't make it into a major symphony orchestra, there are still possibilities for a rewarding life in music as a professional or semi-professional performer. Known as freelancing, it means not being dependent upon any one musical ensemble for work. Many freelancers even prefer the variety of "gigs" to the idea of playing with the same group all the time. There are some downsides, however, like in order to get an engagement you might have to wait for the contractor to call (which can be disheartening when they don't). And, you might log a lot of time on the road in your car (which can be taxing for you and your vehicle). Finally, it's not very lucrative unless you land a long-running broadway show or a block-buster movie sound track.

I've given a little straight talk in parental fashion (two children!). I don't want to discourage anyone, but, it's important for young musicians to know what they might be facing. Pursue your dreams (as I did), but get the best available advice, training, and education along the way...

Good luck!

E-mail Post (always anonymous)
Mr. Oppelt,

I enjoyed your page about the Mahler 1 solo, especially this part: "You haven't heard yourself play a note in two movements and you hope you've got your bass in tune. The timpani summons you for two measures, setting the funeral procession in motion."

I had the experience of playing this solo with a metropolitan level professional orchestra. It was a big night. The orchestra was playing for the first time in their newly renovated hall, and a famous soloist had opened the concert with his signature concerto. The house was sold out.

When the timpani came in at the beginning of the 3rd movement, it was very obvious that the orchestra had settled in below A440 - I assume that the timpanist's pitch pipe was in tune. I had literally a few seconds to decide what to do - match where the orchestra would be after my solo or match the timpani. Ultimately, I went with the orchestra. I am (of course) interested in what you might have done.

I can certainly relate to the predicament you found yourself in. Facing a significant difference of opinion about intonation between the orchestra and the timpani, you were "between a rock and a hard place".

You implied that the orchestra was flat, but, I'm not sure how you could tell that, other than sensing the timpani to be high relative to the notes at the end of the preceding movement. It's hard to imagine such a huge discrepancy, so, I'll assume the timpani was significantly sharp and proceed to address it as a timpani intonation issue…

To avoid finding one's self in such a situation, it's important that you and the timpanist do your homework. You should touch base in a brief session before the first rehearsal to work out pitch, tempo, and balance issues. You should also practice tuning your instruments simultaneously, and on stage in the concert you might even be able to hear each other tune and get a read on things. Even so, Murphy's Law could dreadfully prevail on any given night. I think if I were to detect a reckless timpani coming my way (which is more likely in a lower level orchestra), I would put my head down and just try to play in tune with myself - it's what I do anyway.

The sound of the timpani is a bit diffuse in general and there is often a difference of timber from one drum to the other. Because of this, I think most audience members wouldn't perceive the falseness. I'd think mainly about "numero uno" - being in tune with yourself and executing the solo successfully. Besides, you are followed by the bassoon and tuba, so, you don't want to hand them a "comedy of errors" type of situation. Believe it or not, those instruments fret quite a bit about their turn (especially the tuba) and you don't want to make it any more difficult for them.

It also points to a potential weakness of the fingering I use, namely, that one can't make major intonation adjustments because of the G and D harmonics. (Getting your bass in tune is a priority.) If the timp. is out, there's a very good chance that only one of the drums is out. Well, no matter what your fingering, you don't want to be chasing that one note, certainly. Other fingerings might catch an intonation "curve ball" better, but really, you are just as likely to come across as out of tune yourself if you're intent on matching a bad timpani. I would emphasize practicing with the timp., checking your own tuning before you play, and then ultimately making it your solo (not the timpani's). That fact that you could be forty feet away from the timp. doesn't help, and means that you might not accurately perceive what's going on over there anyway.

I have performed the Mahler solo at least fifteen times and have never thought about adjusting to the timpani pitch. Maybe I was lucky and never faced a timp. that was horribly out. I look to the timp. mainly for rhythmic steadiness. With a couple of big shifts to land I don't want to be late, so I need the rhythmic targets.

On the subject of time, the only conflict I ever had in that regard was with a timpanist who wanted to take rubatos while I was playing. It wasn't a case of poor rhythm, he just thought there was musical cause for it. I had to nix that pretty quickly! The tempo the conductor sets can be an issue, too, and that's another reason why it's good to have an understanding with your timpanist. I'm not suggesting defying the conductor, but in some cases you need your "brother" with the drums to look out for you…

Thanks for the great story/question!...Robert Oppelt