The Bass Guitar in the Contemporary Music
The interest for the contemporary repertoire, combined with the interest never abandoned for the Electric Bass Guitar, pushed me to investigate the role of this instrument in the contemporary repertoire, observing that only at chamber music level It has found its own dimension, however totally absent in the soloist field. Can the electric bass guitar rise to the role of solo instrument in contemporary music? How can it find its way to be considered as a solo instrument in contemporary music? Can composers approach this instrument exalting its expressiveness and technical potential? The research is divided into two parts: The first part concerns the history of the instrument, its construction and its impact on musical culture. In this part we will also analyse some pieces of the contemporary repertoire, analysis accompanied by video demonstrations of some excerpts that I perform personally. The second part is the fulcrum of the research: the execution of a piece for electric bass and electronics, "L' Autodidatta" by Maurizio Tedde. It will highlight the collaboration between the performer and the composer, the vision of the composer and the role of the electric bass in the piece, demonstrating that Bass and the electric bassist can have their own dimension in the soloist field.
Author: Andrea Dettori
