James VanDemark just celebrated his 40th year of teaching at the Eastman School of Music. His students have held positions with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Minnesota, San Francisco, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and the orchestras of Syracuse, Buffalo and Wichita. We dig into many topics, including: boxing and what it has done for James as well as his students the experience of being a principal bassist of a professional orchestra at 17 how he came to join the Eastman faculty in his early 20s studying with cellists like Paul Katz and Leonard Rose learning how to play for a bigger hall - lessons learned from Leonard Rose learning how to vary sound and color to blend in or to project out There’s also a great feature on Backstage Pass from Classical 91.5 celebrating James and his 40 years at Eastman. Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Kaplan strings, which have versatility and control throughout the dynamic spectrum, rich tonal color palette, superb bow response, and beautiful balance. Enter our latest string giveaway for Kaplan strings at contrabassconversations.com/strings! Thank you also to the Bass Violin Shop, which  offers the Southeast's largest inventory of laminate, hybrid and carved double basses. Whether you are in search of the best entry-level laminate, or a fine pedigree instrument, there is always a unique selection ready for you to try. Trade-ins and consignments welcome! Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!