Ithaca College

In January, professor of Double Bass, Nicholas Walker, traveled to The Netherlands where he visited two conservatories in Holland, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.  Professor Walker gave master classes and technique lessons to double bassists from The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Sweeden, and Belgium. The classes covered a large swath of repertoire, from early renaissance music through romantic classics, as well as jazz and popular styles. Walker worked with the students on a variety of instruments, double bass, D-Violone, G-Violone, and D-Viola da Gamba.

Among the highlights of the trip was meeting with Margaret Urquhart and Robert Franenberg, double bassists of the renowned "Orchestra of The Eighteenth Century". Walker enjoyed playing with and discussing their vast arsenal of period instruments and bows, and hearing about their long history exploring the aesthetics and practices of an earlier age.