Michael Montgomery: Scenes Around My Neighbourhood - 12 Pieces for Beginner Double Bass Quartet

About the Book

Chamber music is an important element when studying a string instrument, and this collection of 12 short pieces is aimed at the beginner bass quartet. It enables young bassists to encounter chamber music from the earliest stages of study.

Each piece is 16 bars long and in 4/4 time, using a limited number of note values, employing arco, pizzicato, and bass percussion. The edition enables the players to read from a score format or a separate part, and repeats can be used to increase the length of each piece.

Dynamics have been kept to a minimum encouraging each ensemble to add their own, to create a unique interpretation at every performance. The pieces can be played by quartet or larger forces and in any order.

A Story

With this collection of titles one might be excused for imagining a little tale, a story of a youngster with a day off, intent on finding a way to entertain himself:

Having heard in the forest that morning, just outside his back door, the familiar “tap-tap-tap” of A Woodpecker’s Morning, our friend decided he would take to the forest and cut across to his best friend’s house – unfortunately, a disappointment awaited – just after he arrived, before he and his friend could get their things together to head off on an adventure, a threatening Afternoon Thunderstorm popped up - they wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while - they would have no choice but to wait it out. But, we might point out, to wait on a quite dry back porch, watching as a windy storm passes, As Leaves Fall just outside, picking out rhythms in the pitter-patter of Raindrops on a Tin Roof, and enjoying The Squirrel’s Antics, well, that’s not such a terrible way to pass a bit of time after all, is it? (The two of them even got into a lengthy and somewhat heated debate when one of them wondered aloud, “What do you think, Can Elephants Dance?

Now, our youngster’s father, seeing how much of the boys’ day had passed with them stuck indoors and bored, thought they might have a good time At the Drag Races, so offered to take them out for the remainder of the day, an offer which they were most pleased to accept. Afterward the entourage decided to take a tour of a nearby historical village exhibit of sorts, one with an old wooden building that once was a working mill. The boys were able to see The Miller’s Wheel, which was still in operation, and outside, exhibit volunteers put on a show featuring A Square Dance with live performers and even offered free Horse and Buggy rides – and what A Bumpy Ride it was!

As the day was ending the father stopped for a short while at a beach to allow the boys to watch the sunset and the Waves on the Sand before heading home, and what a lovely ending to the day it was.

[Story by Michael Montgomery, Arkansas / May 2024]

About the Composer

Double bassist Michael Montgomery, a student of Robert Rohe (Principal Bass, New Orleans Symphony) and Lucas Drew (Principal Bass, Miami Philharmonic), earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in double bass performance from the University of Miami, played full-time in the bass section of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra for two decades.

He now lives in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, where he teaches double bass at the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and privately in his home studio. Michael has composed numerous works for young double bassists (including over five dozen short bass quartets for young students) which are published by Recital Music and two American publishers.

His articles about bass performance, literature, and teaching have been published in American Suzuki Journal, Bass World, and Pastoral Music.