32 Folk Songs for the Young Double Bassist (arranged by Michael Montgomery)

About the Collection It was my Suzuki mentor Virginia Dixon who first told me her young students could play some of their more simple tunes in the upper register of the bass, one and even two octaves above the register in which they were notated in the Suzuki Bass books.  I was quite skeptical but decided to put some of my little nine and ten-year-olds to the test.  They had begun meeting for a weekly “group” class, and I realized if they could utilize the four-and-a-half octave range of their instrument, they could play in parts, and I could have a little double bass orchestra.  To my surprise, Virginia was right – little bass students who had been playing only a year or two could indeed learn to play in thumb position and even execute the harmonics at the end of the fingerboard – my ensemble would be able to play in parts! But there is not, as one might imagine, a great deal of double bass ensemble music published for novice bassists, which makes use of the entire four-and-one-half