Academically Thinking...
Before joining Scott's Bass Lessons, Philip was a quintessential part of London's 'Institute of Contemporary Music and Performance’ bass faculty. Not only a senior lecturer, his commissioned course writing enveloped a vast array of academia - ranging from Part Time and Diploma programmes, to Bachelors and Masters Degree materials.
The success and quality of his materials resulted in an international decoration from The Players School of Music, in Florida: awarding him a ‘Certificate of Academic Excellence’ in response to ‘on going dedication and devotion to music’. Scott Devine describes him as "a natural born teacher", Jeff Berlin heralds him as "one of three go-to tutors in Europe".
Academically Thinking...
Before joining Scott's Bass Lessons, Philip was a quintessential part of London's 'Institute of Contemporary Music and Performance’ bass faculty. Not only a senior lecturer, his commissioned course writing enveloped a vast array of academia - ranging from Part Time and Diploma programmes, to Bachelors and Masters Degree materials.
The success and quality of his materials resulted in an international decoration from The Players School of Music, in Florida: awarding him a ‘Certificate of Academic Excellence’ in response to ‘on going dedication and devotion to music’. Scott Devine describes him as "a natural born teacher", Jeff Berlin heralds him as "one of three go-to tutors in Europe".
Academically Thinking...
Before joining Scott's Bass Lessons, Philip was a quintessential part of London's 'Institute of Contemporary Music and Performance’ bass faculty. Not only a senior lecturer, his commissioned course writing enveloped a vast array of academia - ranging from Part Time and Diploma programmes, to Bachelors and Masters Degree materials.
The success and quality of his materials resulted in an international decoration from The Players School of Music, in Florida: awarding him a ‘Certificate of Academic Excellence’ in response to ‘on going dedication and devotion to music’. Scott Devine describes him as "a natural born teacher", Jeff Berlin heralds him as "one of three go-to tutors in Europe".
"Phil Mann is alongside Steve Bailey,
Bruce Getz, John Patitucci and Victor Wooten
as one of my top five instructors on the planet”
Jeff Berlin
Ashdown Engineering's Lockdown Sessions
COVID19 is responsible for crippling the planet in the first half of 2020. As a result, Ashdown Engineering found themselves amongst a profound list of leading music industry manufacturers affiliated with Ben Pomphrett's (Liam Gallagher's tour manager) incredible charity: NHSFest.
Collectively, the NHSFest raffle raised more than £200,000 for frontline support (read that number again - what an incredible achievement). As a thank you to all of those who contributed, I went online to deliver a marathon eight hours of live bass tuition in a single weekend.
This wonderful event can now be accessed from an array of streaming platforms, such as Ashdown Engineering's social media portholes and YouTube page, as well as right here on With Bass In Mind.
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 1
Subject: Scales As Formulas
Broadcast Date: 25th April '20
Some tutors make a fundamental error in their delivery of academia: teaching melodic patterns without justification. In order for students to understand where vocabulary originates from they need to be educated by formulas, so that they can then respect the succeeding melodic motifs. This lesson breaks this habitual approach to learning and gives a fresh perspective on melodic analysis.
The harmonization process is a quintessential necessity for all musicians. The study helps develop skill sets which in turn permit the correct analysis and interpretation of chord progressions and melodic information. As a functioning bassist, this is a critical ability to prioritised over any other neighbouring studies.
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 2
Subject: Major Harmonization
Broadcast Date: 25th April '20
Pentatonic vocabulary is once again something that can be easily misinterpreted. Pentatonic Scales are more than just five note shapes - there's actually loads more theory behind their production. Check out this lesson, the third instalment of Ashdown's 'Lockdown Sessions', to pick up a few valuable insights...
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 3
Subject: Pentatonic Modes
Broadcast Date: 25th April '20
Although convenient for the fretting hand, exclusively executing
melodic patterns perpendicular to the nut does have the potential
to prove detrimental to fluency. Thankfully, there are alternative delivery methods
that actually enhance your vocabulary, best delve in!
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 4
Subject: Linear Thinking
Broadcast Date: 25th April '20
Triads: "Just three note structures", some might claim...
Not really, and there's good reason why I rattled on for more than 170 pages of A4 in my first book whilst excavating their potential! A standard root position triad can be performed in six different ways, in two additional inversions! Well, that's 18 permutations to be applied to four different structures for starters...
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 5
Subject: Triad Permutations (Cycle of Fourths)
Broadcast Date: 26th April '20
George Gershwin's 'I've Got Rhythm' is a seminal composition in the evolution of jazz. But you don't need to be an aspiring jazz musician to benefit from studying it. Mastery of its chord progression can lead to a whole host of practical and analytical benefits. After all, II-V chord progressions exist in almost every genre of music...
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 6
Subject: The Rhythm Changes (II-V)
Broadcast Date: 26th April '20
In all honesty, running scales can be a bit dull, but with just the smallest of refinements, they can come alive...check out this instalment of the Ashdown Engineering isolation sessions, where we investigated Resolutions and how
they can be utilised to transform scale practice.
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 7
Subject: Resolutions
Broadcast Date: 26th April '20
Any group of four notes can be delivered in twenty-four different combinations. If those four notes were a 7th arpeggio and you also considered it's inversions, you could now portray the initial four notes in ninety-six variations, or a total of one-thousand, one-hundred and fifty-two ways when transposed through all twelve keys. My brain hurts...
Ashdown Engineering's Isolation Sessions: Lesson 8
Subject: Permutations
Broadcast Date: 26th April '20