Raphaël R.

Over Raphaël R.

My name is Raphaël, I'm a professional bass player located in The Hague, and by bass, I mean double-bass !
It's an instrument I've always been fascinated about from a very young age.
The size, the sound and the vibrations you feel when you play it attracted me a lot.
However, I waited until being 17 years old to study it for the first time.

My passion for music began when I started classical guitar in the south-east of France (where I am from).
Music was, and is, important in my family.
We've been listening to a lot of different styles while driving the car all around France during the vacation.
But it's my music teacher who opened me for the first time to the beauty of music making through an instrument, the guitar.
I studied classical guitar for about 10 years at the conservatory, and the way I was taught has left an important trace on the way I conceive music today, and the way I want to share it.
Her approach was based on aesthetic or, in other words, sharing your emotions through your instrument, which I find essential because music is for me a way to share what we feel, to express emotions that can't be expressed by words.

Later on, after one year of bachelor at the Center of music Didier Lockwood, Paris in jazz guitar, I chose to switch my main instrument to double-bass.
I love both instruments the same, but I felt more comfortable playing double-bass in a context of a concert with a band. Although it seems to be an instrument that less people pay attention to when they listen to music, it is the complete opposite for the musicians playing with you.
Bass is the center, bass is what drives the band, leads it in a way. I am attracted by this duality!

Today, I completed a bachelor in Paris, and finished my master at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 2019 in jazz double-bass. I am playing regularly with different bands in a wide range of styles such as swing, funk, soul, folk and manouche.
I've been touring in Europe for the past 3 years, and had the chance to participate in a week of workshops at the prestigious Berklee in Boston in 2015 at the end of my bachelor's degree.

As a teacher, my goal is to give you the ability to be independent on your instrument by studying technical exercises, and to develop a sensitive approach to everything you are working on, so that you'll be able to share your emotions in your playing, and not robotically play what you have memorized.
As I am not omniscient, I see the teaching experience as a dialogue between the teacher and the student, between what I can share with you from my knowledge, and what you will bring to me to fill both our motivation to teach and learn!

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer all of them.
I am looking forward to meeting you and learning together!