'It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Mozart' - Mozart 40 Excerpt

Preview Lesson by Joseph Conyers

This is a preview lesson from Joseph's new online course, Orchestra Chops Vol. 2

In this lesson, Joseph tackles the opening of the excerpt from Mozart's great Symphony No. 40. There's a lot to deal with in just the opening phrase, and Joseph explains how the words 'It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Mozart' is an easy way to develop elegant phrasing in this gesture. He also helps with balancing the weight of the bow, which string to play on, and how to develop direction in this phrase. To help you follow along, you can download the free sheet music of the excerpt (with bowings) below the video.

We also need to give credit to the great Paul Ellison, who we believe came up with the phrase Joseph references in this video. Paul is a renowned double bass pedagogue and has done so much for the bass world!

► If you enjoyed this lesson, check out the full-length course, Orchestra Chops Vol. 2 by Joseph Conyers which includes seven new orchestral excerpts.