The year before, when we were practicing for Brigadoon I noticed that a girl was playing the only string bass in the orchestra. I knew that she had been a long-time cello player. So I figured, correctly, that the orchestra needed bass players. I had long wanted to play a more musical instrument than the drums. Now was my chance. I probably could have asked Mr. Frohm, the orchestra director if I could start learning to play the bass. But the year before I had quit playing the drums rather abruptly and so I wasn’t on the best of terms with him. I felt like I had to learn on my own and then ask him. The only way I knew how to start learning the string bass was to make one. So I looked carefully at the string bass in the orchestra pit while we were rehearsing Brigadoon. I drew on paper what I could and then drew out a string bass that I could make myself.
On a Saturday morning I cut it all out from old plywood using a skill saw. I hammered it all together and it was really a big upright rectangular box. I cut out scrolly looking “F” holes and it really reverberated well when I knocked on it. Because of it’s shape, it stood up by itself. I attached the neck. I had carved this out of a piece of wood from our roof when we had re-done it a few summers before. It still had tar on it in a few places, but I carved that off. The scroll was not as detailed as I would have liked, but I was very limited with what I could do. The tuning knobs were tinker toys I had robbed out of my little brothers’ toy box. For strings, I checked into buying some real string bass strings, but the cost made me use electrical wire instead. When it was all done I went to Summerhays music store and bought a beginning string bass book and learned how to play it. At first I used a violin bow to play it, but this didn’t work too well on those electrical wire strings, so I just plucked the strings. I was able to tune the strings to their proper pitches. After I had practiced for several weeks I felt I was ready to ask Mr. Frohm if I could transfer into the orchestra. I put off talking to him until the middle of January just before the semester change. Finally I decided to do it. I was very nervous. I hadn’t even told my family what my real intentions were for building that bass. I caught Mr. Frohm in the small hall-way which separated the orchestra room from the chorus room. I said, “Mr. Frohm.”
He turned to look at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking: “This is that jerk drummer who quit last year!”
I had practiced what to say many times over. This was even more scary than asking a girl out on a date! “I am interested in learning to play the string bass. And I was so interested that I even made a bass.”
At this point Mr. Frohm’s eyes raised up. He was intrigued. I felt encouraged, and continued, “I’ve been learning on that but it doesn’t work too well with a bow. I have to pluck it.”
Almost snobbishly he said, “You mean pizzicato? “ This was the first thing Mr. Frohm said. And then he said, “Would you like to transfer into orchestra next semester?”
By the end of the day I had to call my Mom to pick me up from school because I had a real string bass to take home. Mr Frohm also signed my card to transfer into orchestra and I felt so proud when I turned that card in and it said SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA on it.
The next week was my first day of class. We started playing Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. Despite all my practicing I only knew were B flat was, so I only played that note when it came along in the music. But very quickly I improved.
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