Bass line

“ Last season I only met three strangers at the lake, but they never seemed to catch anything beyond eels, turtles, sun-fish, and a few two inch bass, the name of which they did not even know, and I got into their bad graces by telling them they ought to return the bass into the lake. They thought I was a crank, in fact one of them told me so. These men were salt-water sports, and one man who came there from Newark, N. J., was actually baiting with shrimps for fresh-water bass and had no less than eight hooks upon his line, all baited with shrimps. ”

“ On the spoon I always run a lamper or a minnow, and for slow water, like the stream at Milton, or for lake fishing, I manufacture one as follows: A spoon not more than three quarters of an inch in length. If you cannot buy one so small, get one made by some working jeweller or metallist. Then slide a round black bead as large as a pea on your line just above your hook, letting the spoon be above it. This will be found to spin in the slowest water, and, as every bass fisher knows, the slower the rate of progression, the better, so long as the spoon is spinning. ”

“ If the violin is the leader of the orchestra, the double bass is its foundation. To it is given the lowest part, on which both harmony and melody rest. The English term 'double bass' has probably been applied to the instrument because it often doubles in the lower octave the bass of the harmony, given to the bass voice, the violoncello, the bassoon, or some other instrument. ”

“ The basso continuo of certain organists, who have fallen asleep over their pedals, soon becomes an intolerable nuisance for the audience. We should go wild at a performance of a symphony in which the double-basses played uninterruptedly from the first note to the last. Plain-song itself, thus interpreted, loses its eloquence; although the apparent monotony of its design, closely confined within the limits of an octave, would, above all, seem to be better adapted than any other form of music to a continuous bass. ”

“ It resorts, when large, to the banks and rocky reefs in deep water. Those of less size frequent the inshore waters. It is a fine food-fish, and a very game one on the rod.
A light striped-bass rod, or the natural bamboo chum rod, with good multiplying reel and fifty yards of braided linen line, size E, and Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hooks, Nos. 3-0 or 4-0, on gimp snells, with a brass box-swivel for connecting snell and line, and a sinker adapted to the strength of the tide, make up the tackle for the gag. A large landing-net or a gaff-hook should not be forgotten. ”

“ The high, squeaking tones of the violins and flutes, and the growling ground bass of the bassoon are all that I can hear; they follow each other up and down in octaves, which tear the ear, until, at last, like one who is seized with a burning pain, I cry out involuntarily,
“What mad music! Those detestable octaves!”—Near me some one mutters.
“Cursed Fate! Here is another octave-hunter!” I look up and perceive now for the first time that imperceptibly to me a man has taken a place at the same table, who is looking intently at me, and from whom I cannot take my eyes away again. ”

“ I see the silvery sky-reflecting stream winding its peaceful way through the rich pasturage, under the rustic bridge, past the line of undulating willows, that, moving with the faintest breath of air, seem ever bending down to kiss its ripples ”

“ One is, the wise God will have it so; some must pipe, and some must weep. Now Mr. Fearing was one that played upon this bass. He and his fellows sound the sackbut, whose notes are more doleful than the notes of other music are; though, indeed, some say the bass is the ground of music. And, for my part, I care not at all for that profession which begins, not in heaviness of mind. The first string that the musician usually touches is the bass, when he intends to put all in tune. God also plays upon this string first, when He sets the soul in tune for Himself. ”

“ The notes of the lowest register, when played piano, sound weird and sometimes grotesque, and are sometimes used instead of the kettledrum; when played forte the tone is grand and full. The lowest octave is mainly used as a fundamental octave bass to ’cello, bassoon or trombone. ”

“ The boom of the breakers finds a marvellously close echo in the splendid volume of the men’s voices, which are bass for the most part, and very much more powerful and sonorous than anything one hears in the country of the “superior” race. The women’s voices are somewhat shrill, but they sound well enough as one usually hears them, wandering wildly in and out of the massive harmonies of the basses. ”

“ I have heard, and you doubtless, in a fine concert of viols, extemporary descant upon a thorough bass in the Italian manner, when each performer in turn plays such variety of descant, in concordance to the bass, as his skill and present invention may suggest to him. In this manner of play the consonances invariably fall true upon a given note, and every succeeding note of the ground is met, now in the unison or octave, now in the concords, preserving the melody throughout by the laws of motion and sound. I have thought that this is life. ”

“ The bassoon has an eight foot tone, the compass extending from B♭ bass [1] to A♭ treble , or in modern instruments by means of additional mechanism to C or even F . These extra high notes are from their extreme sweetness called vox humana. The pitch of the bassoon apparently lies two octaves below that of the oboe, since the lowest note of both is B, but in reality the interval is only a twelfth, as may be ascertained by comparing their fundamental scales. ”

“ To this instrument are assigned normally the deepest bass parts of the score. Basses are mounted with three, four, or five strings. The four-string variety is most widely used, having almost completely supplanted the three-string instruments. In modern symphony orchestras the five-string bass is making rapid headway, its special advantage being the downward extension of its compass to low (16 foot) C—one octave below the C string of the cello. ”

“ As I heard the deep bass of the old Drummer, rolling in a low, solemn undertone, a sudden shifting of the scene came to me. I was in a great auditorium filled with light, and packed with humanity rising tier on tier and stretching far back till lost in the maze of distances. A grand orchestra, banked before me, with swaying arms and earnest faces, played a wonderful harmony which rolled about me like the sea and whelmed me with its volume till I was almost swept away by the tide, then suddenly down under its sweep I found the low deep roll of the bass drum. ”

“ As long as our country shall prosper, as long as our banner shall wave,
Sever the bonds of oppression as they severed the bonds of the slave.
37
ARISE, MY SOUL!
Arise, my soul! forsake the shadows dreary,
Where dark and dread battalions line the way;
The grandest heights refuse to make us weary
When we can struggle upward day by day.
Arise, my soul! do swift and valiant battle,
Tread down the foe beneath thy steadfast feet;
Fear not the stern assault, the cannon's rattle,
A moment's failure makes the end more sweet. ”

“ Strings first, of course, violet, indigo, blue,—violin, violoncello, double-bass,—upon these you repose; the vault is quite perfect. Green, the many-sounded kinds of wood, spring-hued flutes, deeper, yet softer, clarinetti, bassoons the darkest tone, not to be surpassed in its shade,—another vault. The brass, of course, is yellow; and if the horns suggest the paler dazzle, the trumpets take the golden orange, and the red is left for the trombones,—vivid, or dun and dusk. ”

“ Basso, bas′so, n. the same as Bass (1) : also a bass singer.
Bassoon, bas-ōōn′, n. (It. fagotto) a musical wind-instrument filling an important place in the modern orchestra, of the reed species, made of maple-wood or plane-tree, its compass from B flat below the bass stave to C in the treble.—The Double bassoon (It. contrafagotto) sounds an octave lower.—n. Bassoon′ist. [It. bassone, augmentative of basso, low, from root of Base.]
Bass-viol, bās′-vī′ol, n. a musical instrument with four strings, used for playing the bass in concerted music; the violoncello. [See Bass, low, and Viol.] ”

“ The wood wind, for example, consists of flutes and oboes, which are purely soprano instruments, clarinets, which extended from upper bass to moderately high soprano, English horn, which has a tenor range, bass clarinet, which runs from deep bass up into treble, and bassoons, which comprise bass, baritone, and tenor registers. That organization of instruments is capable of independent performance, possessing, as it does, all the components of full and extended harmony and a wide variety of color. ”

“ The back organ has solo and combination stops, the principal of 4 ft. (octave higher than diapason) , and bassoon (bass) and oboe (treble) , 8 ft. These may be mechanically combined by a stop called full organ. The French maker, Mustel, added other registers for much-admired effects of tone, viz. “harpe éolienne,” two bass rows of 2 ft. pitch, the one tuned a beat too sharp, the other a beat too flat, to produce a waving tremulous tone that has a certain charm; “musette” and “voix celeste,” 16 ft.; and “baryton,” a treble stop 32 ft., or two octaves lower than the normal note of the key. ”

“ Suddenly the heavy vibration of a single pedal note burst from the organ upon the breathing silence, long drawn out, rich, voluminous, and imposing. Presently, upon the massive bass, great chords grew up, succeeding each other in a simple modulation, rising then with the blare of trumpets and the simultaneous crash of mixtures, fifteenths and coupled pedals to a deafening peal, then subsiding quickly again and terminating in one long sustained common chord. ”

“ While the various sections are distinct from each other, it is like a gradation of colors whose harmony arises only from the order of their selection. This series of strokes produces something more than the feeling of continuity, it frees itself of an intensity of expression which is increased at every measure; but the climax is attained with stately chords, in five real parts, the bass emphasizing them by a quarter-note upon each beat. ”

“ After the bass, is he, with Bill Bobbins for gaffer? Why, the last time Bill got within strikin' distance of a bass he gaffed the line instead of the fish, he did so. Sand dabs is his game—sand dabs and a paternoster."
"I hope they'll keep clear of our water," growled the Colonel.
"They're makin' for a pitch haff a mile from this," said Joe. "Not near as good as here. But, Bill, he don't know. Give him the choosing of a dozen pitches, and he'd choose the worst. That's the way fools do—it's onnatural for them to choose the best. ”

“ The [198] sound is clear, deep, and sonorous, nothing at all like the dull and thick tone of the ordinary double–bass. The fingering is done by means of mechanism connected with keys at the lower end of the finger–board, which the performer, standing on a stool, easily reaches with the left hand, while with the right he draws a big bow across the strings. The use of this instrument must be reserved for the grander effects of harmony. It is like the sub–bass of the organ. ”

“ In the “singing-pew” sat a clarionet, a double bass, a bassoon, and a flute: also a tenor voice which “set the tune”. The carpenter, to whom the tenor voice belonged, had a tuning-fork which he p. 18struck on his desk and applied to his ear. He then hummed the tuning-fork note, and the octave below, the double bass screwed up and responded, the leader with the tuning-fork boldly struck out, everybody following, including the orchestra, and those of the congregation who had bass or tenor voices sang the air. Each of the instruments demanded a fair share of solos. ”

“ That light, cheerful movement, which caresses the soul, is cleverly supported by chords in the bass, and by a vague fanfare on the trumpets, restricted to their lowest notes, so as to give a vivid idea of the last cool shadows that linger in the valleys while the first warm rays touch the heights. Then all the wind is gradually added to strengthen the general harmony. ”

“ Five pounds, four ounces, he weighed, and his relatives under the canal bridge knew him no more for ever.
The bass has countless vagaries, and one never knows what he will do under given circumstances. As a father and son were fishing for small-mouth on the St. Lawrence, the senior hooked a fish which broke the snood and went free. Now there is a persistent tradition that, when a bass has been pricked by the hook, he does not bite again until the passing of twenty-four hours or such a matter has served to wipe the experience from his memory. ”

“ Double Basses by the great makers are rare and not effective in the orchestra: professional players usually choose old English ones, or modern ones by such makers as Fendt and Lott, who made the Double Bass a speciality.
Fiddle-making is so little practised as a trade in this country, that a short explanation of the process may be useful. ”

“ Its four strings are tuned as follows the entire range of the instrument being from EE to a. In music written for double-bass the notes are always printed an octave higher than the tones are to sound: that is, when the bass-player sees the note he plays this being done to avoid leger lines. The tone of the bass is much heavier and [Pg 119] the instrument itself is much more clumsy to handle than the other members of the group, hence it is almost never used as a solo instrument but it is invaluable for reinforcing the bass part in orchestral music. ”