We were lucky to catch up with Brittany Frompovich recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve had a long and ongoing journey shaped by both traditional music education and self-driven development from life experiences, the help of mentors, and just being curious. “Formal” instruction includes private lessons and getting my degree at music school. Getting the degree provided that intense, focused period of time to be in a culture of people with the same interests…to be immersed in music.

There’s also the topic of the business of music and being a creative personality managing a business…coming up with marketing and business ideas, branding, social media, networking, accounting, doing spreadsheets, applying for grants, budgeting, and the like. You take years practicing and learning your craft as a musician…but then you have to learn the whole business side to put food on the table and keep the lights on. I had to develop these skills (and I still work at this) as my mindset shifted to understand that being a musician is essentially being an entrepreneur.

I spent time in high school learning electronics and building / modding instruments with friends. And I was fortunate to be around musicians who prioritized writing original music just as much as learning cover songs, so a lot of songwriting sessions were going on. And there’s that process musicians can undergo where one develops their unique voice as an artist. Many of these things, at least in my case, manifested with self-driven development that happened outside of the classroom. And that doesn’t mean that structured learning didn’t contribute at all…that provided many tools that helped me progress more quickly. But there’s that need to explore…a sense of curiosity or wonder…or maybe you see a hole in your skill set…or the work of another inspires you to consider a path you hadn’t taken yet. And…almost on a feral level…you have to work with that drive…and in some instances, quite obsessively. An example…by the end of college, I had spent most of my time immersed in classical music and performing on upright bass. But as an electric bassist, I wanted to understand better the process of working with and locking in with a drummer. I took private lessons on both drumset and hand percussion; that process helped me understand what the drummer is doing and how to read them better. And the list goes on of various topics that I have a lot of curiosity about…and that curiosity drives me…I’m still dabbling in electronics…I’m still modding guitars and basses, and now I’m learning about modding microphones.

If “future me” could have talked to “teenage me” who was playing in a garage band, I could have sped up my learning process by focusing much earlier than I did on the basics…ear training, critical listening, understanding theory and applying it to the instrument, learning both patterns on the neck AND the notes on the neck. I would have gotten an electric bass into my hands at an earlier age and learned how to lock with a drummer. I would have created more structured practice routines. Being more disciplined in those areas at an earlier age might have saved me time down the road. But…to be fair…that could have taken time away from developing some of the other skills I have now. It is ultimately about the process, right? Save too much time on a trip rushing to get where you are going and you will miss the scenic views.

Getting myself into more social situations like summer music camps or conferences…spaces where you surround yourself with musicians who share their knowledge…those experiences speed up your learning process as well. I’ve both attended and taught at camps; if I had access to those at a younger age, I would have definitely sped up my learning process. Getting into more music business and entrepreneurship classes early on would have helped me tremendously as a young musician building a business.

In response to your question about what the essential skills are…there are a lot of skills I’ve already mentioned that are considered important to a musician…but the “importance” of a skill set will vary based on what path one takes. So I’ll mention one skill that helps with all the others…persistence. You’ll have no shortage of obstacles in your path…including people who will not support you. Heck…one of the faculty at my own college believed I would never be a professional musician. I got my degree because I was persistent. I’m still working as a musician and music educator after several decades because I’m persistent. Just look at the act of practicing your instrument… it’s ultimately a form of persistence…you show up to deal with weaknesses in your playing…maybe you don’t sound great yet, or you are frustrated because it is taking so long to make progress…but you show up daily and do the work because you understand the work will pay off. The trait of persistence…and some call it consistency…that trait is what manifests the change that you are working towards.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m primarily a musician and music educator, and I’ve had a lot of different experiences just with those two titles. As a musician, I’m often hired as a bassist for various events…currently, that takes the form of music theater work, subbing work, or choral pit work. I also play bass with the Ashleigh Chevalier Band. I have been in a few different projects along the way…several Celtic rock/Celtic fusion groups, a classic rock/Americana group, an acoustic duo (as a singer and multi-instrumentalist), a fusion group that featured two bassists, and I’ve even toured across the United States as a solo artist a few times. As a solo artist, I perform like a singer-songwriter who happens to play bass. I do a lot of work for hire, and that’s satisfying. But it’s even more so when I can perform as a solo artist…or in a small group…where the creative limits are wide open.

As an educator, I wear a few hats. I run Lady Bass Music, my private lesson studio/home studio. I give double bass, electric bass, guitar, cello, and theory lessons. I’ve been doing lessons in-person and online for over a decade, but with the pandemic, about half my clientele has become online students from all over the country. Students often hire me because I tend to teach music lessons with more of an “apprenticeship” feel to the experience, even if you never intend to go out on a gig. I teach both recreational music makers and the very serious students who have embarked on their own music careers.

I teach at the University of Mary Washington as the bass instructor, and I’m one of the remote lesson instructors for Pickers Supply, a local music store in my area. Some past accomplishments I’m proud of as an educator include managing an intergenerational community rock orchestra. I’ve also run a clinic series for bass students wanting to improve their craft. This event, called the Virginia Bass Forum, brought in world-class professional musicians to teach clinics and perform in an intimate setting. I’m also proud when my students go on to do incredible things on their own; going out on tour with their own bands, or winning important auditions for colleges or scholarships, or getting that chair placement they worked so hard for in a county, state or regional orchestra event. I’m also very honored to have been offered opportunities to do clinic events at places like Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp or at the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles at the invite of Stuart Hamm.

I’m a writer as well.; I used to contribute columns to the Music Teachers Helper’s website (now called Duet). I’m currently a contributor for No Treble Magazine, the leading online magazine for bass players. My column features the stories of female bassists…the “Wonder Women: Stories from the Women Who Play Bass” series. I’ve interviewed players like Mohini Dey, Liza Carbe, Becky Baldwin, Jennifer Young, and Angeline Saris to name a few. It’s been a pleasure interviewing all these intelligent, ambitious and inspiring women who are doing amazing things in their careers. I also go back and try to give a “signal boost” to some of the female bassists who may have been overlooked by the magazine simply because they passed before No Treble came into existence; Kristen Pfaff is one example. So my job is one part interviewer and one part archivist so these stories are not overlooked.

Lastly…in my spare time (chuckles)…I run an Etsy store that sells various items related to music. There are handmade bass string bracelets and pendants with music-themed boho designs on them. In the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with offering photography and digital art created via made-to-order print services. The newest item I’m starting to offer on Etsy are copies of music arrangements I create for students. These are digital downloads that are available instantly. The Etsy store has been a great experience, resulting in sales at gigs and international sales online. I’ve also had the opportunity to be a vendor at major events like the Richmond Folk Festival and Belmar’s Italian Festival in Colorado. I’m looking to expand my digital offerings over to other platforms like Gumroad as well.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had been connected into the bass community much earlier in my journey. The bass tribe has been great for talking shop with other players, hosting events, finding opportunities, and talking with folks to gain diverse perspectives and insights that can contribute to your growth as a musician. I’ve learned a lot from teachers and mentors I’ve met there, and I’ve had the honor and privilege to have students choose to study with me as a result of meeting up at community events. There’s some amazing folks in that tribe, and I’m proud to be a part of it. I also wish I had started attending conferences, conventions, camps, and industry trade shows a lot earlier than I was able to in my career. The networking and opportunities at these events have been invaluable to both myself and those around me who benefit by proxy.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A story that sums up my resilience happened back in July 2021. It started like any other day…I had practiced, gotten through some office work… it was just a regular morning. But by mid-morning, things took a turn when I fractured my left wrist during a workout. It was a distal radius fracture, but it wasn’t so bad that I needed surgery. I ended up at urgent care, where I got a temporary sling and a sedative to sleep off the pain and shock, and I was told to follow up with an ortho for a proper cast. But that follow-up? Yeah, that didn’t happen in a timely fashion.

A few hours after I got home, a severe storm…a microburst…hit. I was still knocked out from the sedative and completely slept through all the emergency alerts. I woke up to the storm raging outside, feeling super groggy. By the time it was over, I had a massive maple tree down across the front yard of my house. It just missed hitting the roof but it blocked the front door so you couldn’t get out…it was that close. And the tree trunk was ON my work van. To top it off, a second tree was blocking the back exit of my house, so there was no safe way out. It was over 100 degrees outside, the power was out, and I was supposed to be dealing with this broken wrist—oh, and did I mention I also found out my mom was in the hospital for a heart issue? (She’s doing fine now, thankfully.)

It was a rough night’s sleep that first night…everything was too quiet as the power was out and my arm just hurt. The next day, once the power was finally back on, I had to cut myself out of the house…literally with a reciprocating saw using one hand. And then I had to start freeing the car. It was insane…the heat was brutal…like 102, 104 degrees and that Virginia summer humidity. The area was hit so hard…nearby houses had second floors crushed by fallen trees. I actually felt lucky that the damage to the house wasn’t much worse.

Over the next few days, friends and neighbors started coming by. They brought food, helped clear the trees, freed my van and moved it to the body shop. And I finally got to the ortho to get my wrist properly cast. But that was just the beginning. The insurance company gave me the go-ahead to repair my van on a recorded phone call with the claims adjustor, then a few days later the company changed their mind and decided to total it. So I went down to the body shop and brought the van home. I was ready to fight the insurance company to make sure they kept their word. Around that time, my best friend surprised me by organizing a GoFundMe to help cover the car repairs and medical bills. I had already started shopping for a new vehicle in early 2021. But as you might recall, car prices were through the roof by summer that year. Thanks to the fundraiser, I was able to start thinking about rebuilding the van instead without the insurance company being involved. Since I was still in a cast, I started small by putting together a spreadsheet of all the parts I needed to get it back on the road, sourcing the parts, and locating a shop willing to work with me if I brought in the parts myself.

It was crazy how everything came together…truly some synchronicity there. There was a point where I had to decide whether to go ahead with the rebuild because so many of parts I needed were on sale, and if I didn’t jump on them, the costs would have shot up. The GoFundMe wasn’t quite enough at that point. After talking it over with my best friend, I figured I’d cover the difference and just go for it. It felt like there was a whole community rallying behind this recovery effort. Right after I made that decision…we’re talking minutes here…someone made a huge donation that covered exactly what I needed. It was incredible. So many instances of that synchronicity were happening that got me through this tough time…and I’m grateful. For the next few weeks, I focused on rebuilding the van and getting my house and business back in order. People kept showing up to help…whether it was money, support, or just showing up at the right moment with a kind word or some helping hands. It really made me realize how connected I was to my community, and I was (and continue to be) humbled by the outpouring of support.

But while I was focused on all of that, I had started developing a bigger health issue. My wrist and arm began to burn every night, and I’d wake up in terrible pain. I assumed it was stress, or maybe some weird PTSD starting, or maybe my arm was burning because it was swelling up in the cast. This was all new to me, so I didn’t understand that something was actually going wrong in the healing process. It was actually the start of something called CRPS—Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. It’s an excruciating condition nicknamed ‘the suicide disease’ because of the intense, constant pain.

The house eventually got fixed up, the van was out of the shop by late fall, and the insurance mess was getting sorted out. But when the cast came off my arm, my left hand was paralyzed. My fingers and forearm had atrophied, and the doctor warned me that if I didn’t get into physical therapy immediately, I might never play bass again. That was a huge blow. I left that appointment and started calling anyone who had contracted me for gigs from the parking lot…before I even drove home. Once the doctor said “chronic pain,” in the context of an ongoing and potentially worsening condition, I realized I had to step away from my livelihood and fully focus on recovery.

The physical therapy process was slow. It was like coming back from a stroke…there were small, incremental improvements. Some days were big wins…like when my fingers finally began moving again after several months of paralysis. But other things…like simply touching my thumb to my pinky…took much longer. I had to relearn everything. Even basic tasks like typing or picking up a small object with my left hand…impossible. I took a picture of the first time I could pick up my car keys with my thumb and one finger of my left hand…it was a huge accomplishment to get that far.

By Christmas, my mom and I had rigged a setup that let me play bass in a new way…we made a harness that held my bass upright…more like a Chapman stick or a double bass…allowing me to play electric bass without needing as much wrist mobility. I had a lot of new setbacks, like my fingers just stopping mid-movement for no apparent reason. I was dealing with allodynia (pain caused by things or actions that shouldn’t hurt) and hyperalgesia (pain that is out of proportion the action that caused it) and ongoing soft tissue swelling in my left wrist/fingers/forearm. Guitar strings bit into my fingertips and caused shooting, fiery pain. But I kept at it, practicing every day, like a beginner again. And I know people who saw me early on the the process really had their doubts I would recover…and they weren’t wrong to feel that way…my arm was pretty messed up. It took a lot of patience, but I had made a choice…I was determined to get back to playing. Or fins another way to play.

Fast forward to now…three years later…I’m playing gigs regularly again. I did 52 shows in 19 weeks during the first half of 2024. My hand…and many other aspects of my health…are in much better shape. I still struggle with some things like turning doorknobs. It’s been a journey, but I’ve learned to appreciate the “little things” even more than I already was; the ability to type, to use both hands to button a shirt. I continue to research new ways to manage CRPS and improve my range of motion. CRPS can also spread and cause greater disability in some cases. But right now, we’re successfully co-existing with each other. But just like any disease you learn to live with, this is a balancing act.

I’m currently working with a bass student who lost part of her fingertip in an accident. I always make sure to check in on how she’s handling nerve pain and fatigue as she works on rebuilding her hand strength. But it’s not just physical—it’s also about regaining confidence. I remember playing too quietly for a while during my own recovery, and I noticed the same thing happening with her. The great thing is, we could talk through it right away during lessons, because I had just been through the same challenge myself. I know I wouldn’t have been able to help her as much if I hadn’t had these life lessons.

This whole experience taught me a lot about myself and my resilience. I also learned how to ‘right-size’ problems and stressors. Problems that could feel like a big deal before have now become laughable compared to the bigger picture. People may have problems they overthink and obsess over; but once you are in a dire situation, you tend to realize that most of those problems may not matter so much after all. Some of my newer students find out about the experience I went through…and they see what I can and can’t do, range of motion-wise. I get a lot of “…AND YOU CAN PLAY BASS LIKE THAT?” comments. So it’s helped others see they can move past their limitations if they are committed to finding a solution.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blog.ladybassmusic.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladybassmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladybassmusicmusicianpage/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ladybassmusic/
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ladybassmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ladybassmusic
• Other: Etsy – https://www.etsy.com/shop/ladybassmusic

  NoTreble – https://www.notreble.com/buzz/contributors/brittany-frompovich/

  Bandcamp – https://ladybassmusic.bandcamp.com/

  Reverbnation – https://www.reverbnation.com/ladybassmusic

  Want to know even more? – https://dot.cards/ladybassmusic?a=user%2Fbowidagxedgexjnvf187f6nmn%2Fc%2Fr