Alexandre Ritter has become a champion of Armando Trovajoli's work Sconcerto. Once you hear this amazing piece, you'll understand why.   Written for Franco Petracchi, this work has been largely unplayed until Alex got his hands on it. The process was complex, but Alex worked it out to record the entire piece and publish it on YouTube.  This piece is destined to become one of the major concert works for orchestra.  It's jazzy, colorful, mysterious, and magical.  But that's not all Alex is doing these days. We dig deep into Bille, how Alex uses it in his teaching, and we get into the debate of using the 3rd finger in the lower positions like what’s printed in Bille—Alex makes a compelling case for it. While we were talking, he actually grabbed the bass and played through several examples for me! Alex and I also talk about the experience of leaving Brazil to study in Georgia, how philosophy has influenced his thinking, job prospects in Brazil, and much more! Learn more about my coverage of music teaching at contrabassconversations.com/teaching.   Links to check out: Alex's website TROVAJOLI - I TEMPO DI BLUES - ALEXANDRE RITTER 2016 (YouTube) TROVAJOLI - II ALLEGRETTO - ALEXANDRE RITTER 2016 (YouTube) TROVAJOLI - III PAVANE - ALEXANDRE RITTER 2016 (YouTube) TROVAJOLI - IV SCHERZO - ALEXANDRE RITTER 2016 (YouTube) Joel Quarrington’s Method Book (here’s a link to my Joel Quarrington interview) Alex’s dissertation about the Rota Divertimento (in the ISB’s Online Journal of Bass Research) Be sure to subscribe to Contrabass Conversations to get these episodes delivered automatically to your mobile device! Thanks to our sponsor! 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!