Christopher Field: Olympic Games for Beginner Double Bass Quartet

About the Composition

Olympic Games features four colorful and exciting pieces for the beginner bass quartet. Only using 1st position and easy harmonics in 4th position, each piece offers simple and accessible musical and technical challenges, including effective bass percussion and spoken dialogue.

The rhythms are straight-forward, with contrasts of arco and pizzicato alongside unison and solo playing, creating mini musical soundscapes which should appeal to beginners both young and old.

The pieces can be played in any order, with or without the narration, and these are ideal as both study and recital pieces.

Chamber music is no longer the preserve of the advanced player and young bassists are now able to experience the challenges and enjoyment of playing in trios and quartets from the very beginning of their studies. ‘Olympic Games’ joins a growing collection of fun and exciting chamber pieces for the beginner bass ensemble published by Recital Music.

“The four short pieces of 'Olympic Games' challenge beginner bassists to capture the differences of speed and endurance required for 100 meters and marathon races, and the techniques required to reach the heights in the pole vault and distances in the triple jump (hop, skip and jump). Just as athletes must train long and hard to reach their goals, musicians must practice long and hard to perfect their playing techniques.” [Christopher Field]

About the Composer

Christopher Field has a lifetime's experience of singing and teaching stretching back to 1953 when he was a chorister at the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Later he won a choral exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music and an Arts Council of Great Britain award for postgraduate study with Frederick Husler in Switzerland.

His subsequent career as a schoolmaster at Dulwich College was combined with work as a concert baritone, choral conducting, and teaching singing and double bass. For many years a number of his teaching works have been included in the graded examination syllabuses of the leading examination boards.