It’s what he’s about.

And when he is playing, he’s only concentrating on the task at hand, and he’s not worrying about other things.

There is no time.

For Singleton, performing also alleviates any stress.

While on upright bass, Todd Singleton is rehearsing his parts.

“Performance helps alleviate that (stress) from people. They have their moments, but not as frequent or fulfilling as the musicians themselves,” Singleton said.

And he strives to be a better musician and bassist.

But it wasn’t always that way.

The Warren, Pa. native was first exposed to music early in life, and in elementary school he took up the trombone, and while in ninth grade, he eventually earned a spot in the Warren High Area High School jazz ensemble. He wouldn’t switch to bass until after college.

“I remember in grade school distinctly, 1310 AM (WNAE) was the radio on in the kitchen,” Singleton said. “I had an AM radio on my bicycle. I listened to a lot of radio.”

Currently, Singleton is the bassist for Pearl City Jazz, and loves the experience.

He said the role of a bass player is, with other members of the rhythm section, to provide a foundation, the backbone for the other members of the band.

“And without that (the foundation), the rest of the band will be kind of lost. And when that (the foundation) is together, everyone else can kind of lock in,” Singleton said.

When playing bass, he is aware of others in the band.

“When I hear my tone with everybody else – people are in tune and locked in – that’s where the magic happens,” Singleton said.

Besides learning the trombone, Singleton also took guitar lessons when he was in fifth or sixth grade, and didn’t care for the experience as it didn’t click for him. He said his instructor was demanding, but looking back, he said he should have been.

“I took guitar lessons, and I really disliked it because I didn’t like to practice. I never showed up prepared,” Singleton said. “I didn’t dislike the instrument. I disliked the process.”

Full disclosure, I experienced a similar situation. When I was in first grade, I took guitar lessons. I had an acoustic guitar, and I never practiced. I just couldn’t get the feel. Also my teacher said my hands were big enough for the fretboard. So I stopped taking lessons. Fast forward to the fall of my sophomore year at Jamestown High School. I began electric bass lessons ironically from the same teacher who said my hands were too small to play the guitar. At some point I want to learn guitar, but I tell people I play bass because my hands are way too big to play guitar.

Singleton added that his musical journey was bass centered and still is. He first got introduced to the instrument while his children were taking Suzuki violin lessons with Nina Karbacka.

“They all had their mini violins, and then my mother-in-law decided she wanted to take cello (lessons) in Suzuki.”

According to suzukiassociation.org the Suzuki Method has several components. One component is that music is taught “based on how young people learn language.” Dr. Shinichi Suzuki called this the mother-tongue approach, the site said.

“My wife played viola, so I was pretty much the equipment manager,” Singleton said.

So on a trip to Rochester, he decided to take bass lessons through Suzuki, and made it “a family thing.”

Because he already was exposed to the bass clef by reading trombone music, he was ahead in the process.

While Singleton was honing his skills on upright, Karbacka asked him to play in the community orchestra, and that’s where he met Ralph “Razz” Rassmusson, and developed a jazz music relationship with him. Razz’s bass player was having medical issues, and ultimately Razz asked him to play in Pearl City Jazz.

“I sat in on a rehearsal, and just kind of read the music as everybody else was playing to see if I could maybe give it a shot,” Singleton said.

He gave it a shot.

“That was a good learning process, you know, just have a constant weekly challenge,” Singleton said.

And playing with Razz has led Singleton to venture to other bass gigs. When not playing with Pearl City Jazz, he is providing another foundation for area keyboard player Deena Winters as they play as a duo in different establishments.