Rodrigo Mata: 6 Etudes for Solo Double Bass

About the Collection

This etude collection has been created with the main objective of obtaining a better preparation to perform the music by Rodrigo Mata, therefore, some of the musical ideas and techniques used in his works can be worked out in this collection. 

In each etude, material that contains specific challenges has been captured within both the traditional technique and a few double bass extended techniques. 

ETUDE 1 

Skills to work: - Sound projection on the double stops. - Harmonic and normal note combination. - Bow with right hand and pizzicato with the left hand at the same time. - Combination of two pizzicato lines keeping the individual resonance in each one. - Harmonic and normal note pizzicato combination. 

Preparation for pieces such as SONES DE LA TIERRA, IN MEMORIAM, HYMN, or ON THE G. 

ETUDE 2 

Skills to work: - Pizzicato sustain and resonance on different strings (harmonics and normal notes) at the same time. - Left-hand articulation (several pizzicato notes within a single pluck), including gliss. - Flageolet pizzicato. - Flageolet pizzicato and normal pizzicato combination. 

Preparation for pieces such as VIII DECENNIUM, RAINDROPS, LUMINESCENCE, or OCELOTE DE LAS NIEVES. 

ETUDE 3 

Skills to work: - Harmonic flageolet pizzicato. - Flageolet pizzicato and open strings combination. - Pizzicato sustain and resonance on different strings (harmonics and normal notes) at the same time. 

Preparation for pieces such as LUMINISCENCE, ZEPHYR, LA PAIX or XOCHIPITZÁHUATL. 

ETUDE 4 

Skills to work: - Harmonic and normal note combination. - Agility in handling the bow strokes on harmonics and normal notes. - Bow position (sul ponticello) - Sound projection in some fast sections on high register. - Sound projection on fast double stops. 

Preparation for pieces such as SONES DE LA TIERRA, DESIERTO, RAINDROPS or LA PAIX. 

ETUDE 5 

Skills to work: - String crossing bowing. - High and low register combination. - Highest register harmonics. - Low normal notes and harmonics combination. 

Preparation for pieces such as SONES DE LA TIERRA, LA PAIX, LUMINESCENCE or ON THE G. 

ETUDE 6 

Skills to work: - Percussion sound on the fingerboard. - Flageolet harmonic pizzicato. - Hammer pizzicato with left hand. - Coordination to combine different kinds of sounds (fingerboard hit, flageolet pizz., hammer pizz., normal pizz., harmonic and open string) 

Preparation for pieces such as XOCHIPITZÁHUATL or RAINDROPS

About the Composer

Bassist and composer born in 1985 in Guanajuato, Mexico, he graduated in double bass at the University of Guanajuato. Concurrently, he studied with Valeria Thierry (Mexico) in Mexico City and, in 2010, completed an academic stay at Mount Royal University in the city of Calgary, Canada, with Sheila Garrett (Canada), John Hyde (Canada) and Rubim de Toledo (Brazil). From 2019 to 2021, he studied for a Master's Degree in Music Performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Dan Styffe (Sweden) and Håkon Thelin (Norway). He has received master classes from renowned musicians such as Stefano Scodanibbio (Italy), Bertram Turetzky (United States), Frank Proto (United States), Markus Stockhausen (Germany), Dominic Seldis (United Kingdom), Thierry Barbe (France), Jeff Bradetich (United States), among others.

As a soloist, he has premiered works by contemporary composers in Mexico, the United States, and Norway. He has performed with Calgary Youth Orchestra in Canada, Orquesta de Cámara de Leon, the Norwegian Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta, Ensemble 3030, and the Bergen Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently a bassist in Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato, as well as several chamber music and jazz projects. He is conductor and founder of the double bass ensemble "Mushamukas," with which he has premiered works by avant-garde composers and with which, in 2022, he was a beneficiary of FONCA's Programa de Fomento a Proyectos y Coinversiones Culturales. In 2021 he was a beneficiary of Programa de Estímulos a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA) as a creator with trajectory.

As a composer, he has won first prize in the 2020 and 2022 ISB (International Society of Bassist) Composition Contest, first prize in the 2021 FICI (Festival Internacional de Contrabajo Infantil) Composition Contest, and has been the resident composer of the Latin Orchestra of Europe in 2021, his works have been performed in Norway, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Germany, Venezuela, Peru, and the United States.

Both as a performer, as a composer, and as a director, he has participated in numerous international events such as the International Cervantino Festival, the Fjord Classics Festival, the International Festival of Contemporary Art, the Callejón del Ruido International Festival, the International Jazz Festival in Irapuato, the Convention of the International Society of Bassists and the Baja California Latin American Double Bajos Festival, to name a few, and has made album recordings with the Tagma Records, Quindecim Recordings and Evidence Classics record labels.

Additionally, he has served as a teacher in the Community Orchestras of the Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical, Trinitate Philharmonia, and continues as a double bass professor at the University of Guanajuato.