William K. Koehler
Biography:
William Koehler is Professor of Music at Illinois State University where he teaches applied double bass, string pedagogy, graduate courses in music education including psychology of music, and improvisation. Dr. Koehler has performed in England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Russia, Belo-Russia, Puerto Rico, and throughout the U.S. He is currently Principal Bassist with the Peoria Symphony, and freelance jazz bassist.
Bill has completed a new Solo Bass CD, entitled "Glimpse" featuring original compositions in jazz, and world fusion idioms, as well as classical pieces for unaccompanied solo bass.
Bill has performed in numerous Orchestras in his native New York City, the southeast, the midwest, and performed with notable jazz and improvising musicians such as Sam Brown, Joe Tecular, Joel Smirnoff, Harold Seletsky, John Clark, Joe Morello, Umayalpuram
Sivaraman, John Campbell, Carl Fontana, Dave Burrell, Jimmy Guiffre, Richard Davis, John Clayton, Rufus Reed, David Baker, Harvey Phillips, Turk Van Lake, and Nashville country music producer Byron Gallimore.
Dr. Koehler is a frequent clinician, and writer on bass pedagogy. He is a regular clinician/performer at the Richard David Festival, the International Society of Bassists, and various Bass Symposia. He has written articles and reviewed new music for string bass and string orchestra for the American String Teacher, and the ISB. His newest article, written with his wife Shela Bondurant-Koehler at IWU, on applications of Orff and Kodaly methodologies for string teaching appears in the Winter 1998 issue of the American String Teacher . Dr. Koehler has a number of transcriptions and original compositions for solo double bass which are available through Schorer Publications in Munich, Germany.
One of his research interests in string education involves the application of biofeedback to study physiology and to aid the reduction of excess muscle tension in string playing. He has illustrated double bass techniques and made editorial contributions in the two editions of Robert Klotman's string education textbook entitled Teaching Strings. He is currently working on a book entitled Variation Techniques for Improvisers and Composers.
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