As if being an orchestra teacher, performer and tutor and podcaster isn’t enough, LHS’s newest addition to the orchestra family, Jason Heath, is also a noted blogger and podcaster.
Heath’s articles and podcasts revolve around the world of classical music and his experiences performing and teaching.
“I’m writing for an audience in the ‘musical circle,’” Heath said.
Although he was always interested in writing in high school, Heath’s talent for writing was first recognized at Northwestern University after he wrote a piece for a class on the superficiality of Rolling Stone magazine.
After receiving two degrees in double bass performance from Northwestern, Heath took a temporary break from writing to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. At Wisconsin, however, Heath began blogging about his experiences teaching and performing.
“Blogging is a totally different experience than writing papers for school. I like to think about some of my articles and stories as cautionary tales,” Heath said.
One particularly entertaining podcast focuses around an incident Heath had when his car exploded on the way home from a performance in Indiana.
“As I pulled on to the toll way, I noticed the check engine light had just appeared on my dash board. I scowled. This was the first time that any light had come on my dash, and I was annoyed that the perfect streak I had been having thus far with my Saturn was ending. And it sure was ending– I just had no idea how badly it was ending. In hindsight, I wonder why I didn’t just immediately pull my car off the road when the check engine light came on. That would certainty have made for a better evening, but ask yourself what you’d have done. Does a check engine light mean imminent death? Don’t people drive all the time with their check engine light on? Well, they shouldn’t in Saturns. I could tell you that for sure.”
Heath’s blog (www.doublebassblog.org) took off in 2007. His blog posts and other musical articles were recognized by publications such as International Musician and Adjunct Advocate. Heath is also currently a staff writer for Bass Musician Magazine.
After several years of writing and recording, Heath’s blog has become a widely- used source of information, tips and experience among those who share Heath’s passion for classical music. The blog allows its audience to network with Heath and his writers via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and many other blog-like websites. The blog also contains ads and archives of posts from 2005-2009.
Constantly updating his blog consumes a large part of his time, but Heath still prefers directing and teaching his students.
“I like to write, but the face-to-face interaction with students everyday is what I really love,” Heath said.
Heath has been a private tutor for the bass players of LHS for ten years, even using his blog to post his students’ practice assignments. This is his first year co-directing the orchestra with Jeremy Marino.
photo by Megan Smith