Our teachers shape us more than we realize. Having the right teacher is critical for achieving our goals. Sandor Ostlund has had a staggering set of quality teachers throughout his life journey. First, he studied with Hans Sturm. Then he worked with Richard Davis. From there, he found his way to Paris to study with François Rabbath. In Paris, he met Paul Ellison, with whom Sandor would study with for his DMA. In fact, Sandor was the first student to every receive his DMA with Paul at Rice University. Talk about a great set of musical role models! Sandor has gone on to have a major impact in the world of the double bass. He teaches bass at Baylor University, works as a clinician across the United States, and has released a fantastic solo album of new works for the double bass. We dig into all kinds of topics: how Sandor continues to find inspiration lessons Sandor learned from Paul, François, Richard, and Hans what to do if you only have an hour to practice finding your path in the music world …and much more! Links: Sandor’s website Leap of Faith (album) This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. Enter the D’Addario strings giveaway for Contrabass Conversations listeners at contrabassconversations.com/strings!