We’re featuring something a bit unusual for this week’s Contrabass Conversations episode. Ball State University bass professor and International Society of Bassists president Hans Sturm has been featured several times on the podcast in video episodes, and this week we’re featuring Hans discussing the fundamentals of the Rabbath technique left hand positioning system.This dialogue was featured in some of our previous video episodes, but it was broken up into bite-sized chunks, so I think you’ll enjoy the opportunity to hear the entire segment uninterrupted!After the segment, we feature some bass news and listener feedback. Enjoy!  About Hans: Double bassist Hans Sturm has performed as soloist, chamber, orchestral, jazz and improvisational musician throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and the United States. Sturm received his doctorate from Northwestern University and is currently a Professor and Chair of the String Department at Ball State University.Sturm has appeared with a variety of artists across the spectrum of jazz music including Eddie Daniels, Phil Woods, Randy Brecker, Dick Hyman, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Eddie Higgins, David Baker, Stanley Jordan, Peter Erskine, Joe LaBarbera, Alan Dawson, Bela Fleck, Howard Levy and many others. A frequent performer of chamber music, Sturm has toured with ‘Fireflight’ (soprano, Japanese koto and bass koto, double bass, and percussion) and ‘Trinkle, Burkett, and Sturm’ (trumpet, marimba and double bass) for more than fifteen years. He has worked in the electronic medium with composers such as Cleveland Scott and Joan Wildman. As an orchestral bassist, he has served as principal bassist of numerous regional orchestras including the Muncie Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Dorian Opera, Rockford Symphony, and Racine Symphony and toured Europe as a member of the American Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra.Recently Hans Sturm has appeared at the Beijing Music Festival; the Association of Brazilian Contrabassists International Conventions in Goiania and Pirenopolus, Brazil; the Scottish Bass Trust’s International Convention and the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland; the College Music Society International Conference in Kyoto, Japan; Encontro de instrumentistas in Joao Pessoa and Belo Horizonte, Brazil; the Biennial International Symposium on Arts and Technology in New London, Connecticut; a State Department tour of Morocco; various International Society of Bassists Conventions in Bloomington, Houston, Indianapolis, Iowa City and Richmond; and jazz fest ivals in Chicago, New York, Detroit, Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. Sturm has contributed performances and compositions to more than thirty recordings with artists including the Pro Arte String Quartet, soprano Mimmi Fulmer, vocalist Jackie Allen, synthesist/composer Joan Wildman, guitarists Scott Fields, Rolf Sturm, Dave Baney, Jeff Parker, and Jack Grassel, trumpeters Bob Levy and David Young, and pianists Jane Reynolds, and Marilyn Crispell. He has recorded for A440, Innova, Red Mark, Music and Arts, CRI, Big Chicago, and Cadence labels among others.Hans Sturm is currently the President-Elect of the International Society of Bassists and served as the New Music Editor for the organization’s journal ‘Bass World’ for six years. He is on the summer faculty of the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University and his works for bass are published by Liben Music (U.S.) and Klaus Schruff (Europe). His major teachers have included Northwestern University Professor Jeff Bradetich, Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Bass Emeritus Anthony Bianco, Philadelphia Orchestra bassist Ferdinand Maresh, and international soloist and pedagogue François Rabbath.