Musical Progress! Reading Notes, Playing Bass and Replacing My End Pin

I have now finished three classes of "Beginning Big Band," an adult education class, and my skills continue to grow.  The band leader is a lovely lady Brit who seems to like me a lot, probably because I am one of the few musicians in the class who doesn't play some kind of horn (we have four alto saxophones, one baritone sax, one tenor sax, two trumpets and a trombone.  Non-horn musicians include a drummer, a guitar player, and me, on string bass).

I am reading notes better and better.  Now when I look at the sheet music, it makes a lot more sense then when I first glimpsed the chaotic collection of dots and lines on the page (the notes and staff).  More and more the feeling grows, that not only is this possible to become a literate musician, it is inevitable.  It will happen.

We have a two week break before resuming our weekly class, which ends in early August.

Last week the end pin on my bass broke, and I was wondering how to repair or replace it.  I took a chance and ordered a new end pin unit, not knowing if it would suit my bass as opposed to other brands of basses.  However, when I loosened the strings on my bass, the old end pin could be pulled out and the new one inserted.  (The end pin is held tightly in place by the strings, which are attached to the tailpiece, which in turn is attached to the end pin by a steel cable.)  Apparently, just about any end pin will fit just about any bass.

I love it when I am able to figure out and fix things for myself.