Emilse Rios
Let's study together
The membership
The problem isn't that you're short on time to practice.It's that you don't know what to do with the 30 minutes you do have.
This is the first membership for bass players. And we focus on the German bow. One concept a month to keep you active with your technique: coordination, vibrato, bow strokes —legato, spiccato, staccato—. One specific exercise a week. If you want to sharpen your technique and have support while you do it, see you inside.
I'll explain it in 1 minute
Do you know who Klaus Stoll is? For many years he was principal of the Berlin Philharmonic. A great teacher, one of my favorite pedagogues.
Well, he used to say that the bow is our main tool for communicating. Our tongue, teeth and lips.
beau ti ful
When we master the different bow strokes we can get a clear message across, move past the simplicity of just playing the notes, play great solos, bring musicality to the pieces, or simply be able to play what's actually written on the page.
That’s why this September the membership is dedicated to wrist flexibility, the most sensitive part of that whole chain reaction we set off when we play with the bow.
What will you find inside?
- Why the wrist shouldn’t move on its own (the reaction happens in a chain) and what breaks when you ignore it.
- Why the most common mistakes don’t feel like mistakes. That’s why you’ve been making them for years without realizing it.
- An exercise so strange you’ve almost certainly never done it, and that makes you understand once and for all what exaggerating flexibility actually means. I explain it in under a minute, in the base concept.
- Week 1 · Staccato. It’s two movements, not one like everyone thinks. This week is about exaggerating.
- Week 2 · How to use flexibility so one note connects into the next, with no noise and no rattling. What we learned before now has to go unnoticed (like a singer).
- Week 3 · We focus on spiccato, and watch out, because applying what came in the previous weeks isn’t enough anymore: turns out you also have to change your bow hold. (Maybe that’s why you still struggle with it.)
- Week 4 · How to fix the traarrkkk, that bow rattle you can’t control. It has to do with flexibility, yes. But also with something else almost nobody looks at.
All the exercises come in several levels, from beginner to advanced.
Each week builds on the one before. That’s why the doors close on Wednesday the 2nd at 23:59 CEST and nobody comes in during September. Joining halfway through the month doesn’t leave you with half the topic, it leaves you without the base for what comes next.
I don’t want that.
Doors close on September 2 at 23:59 CESTThe doors are closed. They open on October 1. Tell me when they open →
Want to know why I created this membership?
In 2012 my only job was to play, as well as I possibly could, the symphonies of the composer I love most in the world. But it wasn’t always like that, and in this story I’ll tell you something that might help you manage your practice time better — if you feel like you don’t have time, this might interest you.
That year we played all of Mahler’s symphonies. At the Walt Disney Concert Hall, with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic together on stage, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
A full month in California. A five-star hotel with such special treatment that one of the gifts they gave us was taking the whole orchestra to Disneyland — without a doubt the most fun day off of that tour — I felt like we were all ten years old again. For about four more years, my life looked more or less like that.
And in 2016 I emigrated. I had to leave my country.
I arrived in Argentina. And while I waited for my papers, I couldn’t audition, or play, or teach anywhere. I ended up working twelve hours a day in an ice cream shop.
I shared a flat with friends, so the only moment I had to practice was before seven in the morning. And the only place where I wouldn’t bother anyone was the rooftop of the building.
So there I was, carrying a double bass up the stairs to a rooftop in Buenos Aires. Some days I made it. Half an hour, an hour if I got up earlier. Other days exhaustion won.
I discovered 3 things:
The first:
the excuses, complications, lack of time — they’re there, that’s life and there’s nothing we can do about it. What we can do is train our discipline and be consistent. A great way to start is with 30 minutes — some days it might be more.
The second:
Goals matter. Without goals, you stand at the music stand, you tune, and… now what? What are you going to play? The same as always — you end up feeling like you’re not moving forward.
The third:
There are plenty of exercises floating around the internet, but finding and organizing them takes longer than actually practicing them. The way I see it, YouTube often steals more practice time than it gives back.
Having a goal makes us move — it makes us carve out space in the calendar, it trains our consistency. That’s my advice to you: write it down. It can be a piece you always wanted to play, or getting to know the high register of the instrument. Whatever it is, write it down. Build a plan to reach it.
This membership is about doing just enough — sustaining your consistency week after week, improving without piling up exercises you’ll never watch or practice (that’s what YouTube is for).
Every Thursday, when the new exercise comes in, the previous one disappears. Yes, you read that right. I delete the previous content.
Why would I do that?
Because libraries overwhelm. Having fifty exercises archived “for later” ends up in doing none of them. And not just that — with the guilt of not doing anything.
Need help? A clear guide? That’s exactly why Let’s study together exists.
This membership is for you if…
- You have little time to practice each week but want a clear guide to keep advancing on the double bass.
- You study on your own, without a teacher, and often don’t know “where to begin.”
- You’ve spent years stuck on the same repertoire, the same book or method of exercises.
- You struggle to be consistent with your practice.
- You’ve reached a level that lets you play in orchestras and ensembles but you have technical gaps that hold you back on basic bow strokes: spiccato, staccato, legato.
- You feel your technique limits you from advancing in interpretation (better vibrato, connection between notes, etc.).
- You’re in the jazz world and want to learn and master the bow.
It’s not for you if…
- You’re after an endless library of exercises to save and watch “someday.” There’s no library here, no archive, no “I’ll see it later.” There’s one exercise this week. If you don’t do it, it’s gone and another arrives — no guilt, simple.
- You’re looking for help toward a specific goal: getting into a conservatory or an orchestra. That would call for private lessons. This membership is meant to keep you fit and technically active. We won’t work through specific repertoire problems, though these exercises do help you build the foundations to solve them later.
- And if you’re not willing to make space in your life to practice, even a couple of days a week, then don’t bother joining. This membership isn’t for you.
- The exercises will be adapted for several levels, but everything starts slow, so you take it in and understand it. If you don’t have the patience to study slowly, it won’t work for you.
Courses come to an end. So do method books. This membership doesn’t: every week a new exercise comes in that keeps you active with your technique. And yes, there’s support. You ask your question in the chat and I answer it personally.
Let's study together Estudiemos juntos
Price
€65/mo
The membership is €65/month. That price freezes for you: the day it goes up, you keep paying the same for as long as you stay in.
- A new exercise every Thursday on the platform, based on a core concept.
- Every month I explain one topic — a core technical concept — so you understand where the movements, coordination, and sound come from. Just one concept. Simple.
- Platform access, 24/7, wherever you are.
- A questions forum — I answer personally, and you can see other members’ questions too; you learn from the group as well.
Doors close on September 2 at 23:59 CESTThe doors are closed. They open on October 1. Tell me when they open →
Cancel anytime, no questions asked.
Payment still lives at emilseriosacademy.com. It moves into this house with the domain change, and anyone already inside has nothing to do.
You pay each month on the date you joined. For example, if you join on the 20th, your month runs from the 20th to the 20th. You never lose days. You can cancel whenever you want, no explanations needed. One thing though: if you leave and later want to come back, you join at whatever price is in force at that moment.
A lot for a lot of you.A gift for anyone who wants to learn the technical concepts that help you improve your double bass playing exponentially, and enjoy the sound of your instrument. Simple as that. Let’s study together!
Doors close on September 2 at 23:59 CESTThe doors are closed. They open on October 1. Tell me when they open →
P.S.
I made this membership for the Emilse of 2016 — the one carrying her double bass up the stairs of that rooftop, full of determination not to give up the instrument, but who over time was left not knowing what to study. I owed it to her. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t know where to begin or what to study, then this is for you too.
— Emilse
Frequently asked questions
1.Can I pay in my own currency?
Payments run through Stripe. When you join, it automatically detects your card’s currency and you pay in it. Right now it’s €65 a month, about $75 USD. The price you join at stays frozen for you as long as you’re a member.
2.Do I need to be advanced to join?
No, but you should at least know the first positions of the instrument. I’ll leave each exercise adapted to a beginner, intermediate or advanced level. These are basic concepts we all need to study throughout our careers, whatever our level — and the sooner you start, the better.
3.I play French bow. Does this membership work for me?
This membership is designed specifically for the German bow. Some left-hand concepts will help you either way, but I teach bow strokes with German technique only. Why? Because I consider it easier, faster, and more natural for the body. It’s the one I recommend.
4.What happens if I join mid-month?
It depends on the month. When a topic’s exercises are independent from one another, the membership stays open and you can join any day: you get that week’s exercise until the next one replaces it, and the base concept stays available all month long. But some topics are progressive. Each week builds on the one before, and joining late doesn’t leave you with half of it, it leaves you without the base for what comes next. In those months I close the doors and nobody comes in during that month. September is one of them: wrist flexibility, doors closed from Wednesday the 2nd at 23:59 CEST.
5.How does payment work?
It’s a monthly subscription, just like your others (Netflix, Disney, etc.) — an automatic monthly charge. In this case you pay the day you join and that becomes your billing day each month. The price you join with freezes for you as long as you’re a member.
6.Can I cancel anytime?
Yes, from your account, with no explanation. You keep access until the end of the period you already paid for. If you later want to come back, you join at the price in force at that moment, not your previous one — you’d lose the founder price.
7.How do I ask my questions?
In the classroom chat. I answer them, everyone can read each other’s questions and answers — that’s another place you learn.
8.What language is it in?
This version is in English and Spanish; you can register in the language you prefer.
9.How much time do I need?
Half an hour a day, the days you can — that’s enough. Simple as that.
10.What hours can I access the platform?
It’s available to you 24/7.
11.I have a question that isn’t listed here:
Write to me and I’ll answer you personally at info@emilserios.com
Doors close on September 2 at 23:59 CESTThe doors are closed. They open on October 1. Tell me when they open →
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