I spoke with South African double bassist Zanelle Britz about her launching of the first ever double bass course in South Africa, which will take place December 9-12, 2018 in Cape Town.  Learn more about the event and donate to support it at givengain.com/cc/doublebass.   More about the South African Double Bass Course (from their website): The National Youth Orchestra is hosting our first ever course exclusively for the Double Bass! We are so excited - there are very few opportunities for bassists here and we want this to be the start of a wonderful bass community for South Africa. Wonderful teachers Roxane Steffen (principal bass at the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra), Nick Scales from the School of Music at West Texas A&M University, and Jeff Bradetich and Gudrun Raschen from the University of North Texas College of Music will be on this year's faculty. Every What It Takes course is designed specifically to cater to the needs of the participants. The course covers many aspects of professional musicianship including audition preparation, marketing of yourself as a musician, posture/injury prevention, performing with an orchestra, music history related to your instrument and individual master classes from top professionals. It gives insight into solo, chamber and orchestral playing as well as teaching and other career options. Each course also has an aspect of music education advocacy, and we will make sure to include people new to the bass in our audiences for our concerts, specially children.   Bursaries for the What It Takes: Double Bass Course We have young double bass players from across South Africa that would love to attend - but more than half are not able to do so without financial assistance. With your help we can provide transport, accommodation and catering for their time in Cape Town for the duration of the course 9-12 December 2018. It costs roughly ZAR2000 for transport and ZAR2000 for the course - so each bursary candidate would need USD265 to be able to attend. All of our financial assistance applications are means tested and we make sure they go to the young musicians that really deserve the opportunity.   Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: Steve Swan String Bass Steve Swan String Bass features the West Coast’s largest selection of double basses between Los Angeles and Canada.  Located in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, their large retail showroom holds about 70 basses on display. Their new basses all feature professional setups and come with a cover at no additional cost. Used and consignment instruments receive any needed repairs and upgrades before getting a display position on the sales floor. Upton Bass String Instrument Company Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. D'Addario Strings 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.   The Bass Violin Shop The Bass Violin Shop 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!   Kolstein Music The Samuel Kolstein Violin Shop was founded by Samuel Kolstein in 1943 as a Violin and Bow making establishment in Brooklyn, New York. Now on Long Island, over 60 years later, Kolstein’s has built a proud reputation f