Klarinet Archive - Posting 000355.txt from 1997/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Beats me what I did wrong (Leeson)
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 17:44:39 -0400

For some cockeyed reason, this message, destined for KLARINET got
sent by me to a biblical research group. You should all know
that two of the people suggested that Genesis and Deuteronomy
opposed improvisation, while Judges and Daniel (of course) agreed
with it.

===================================================================

Subject: Frank Garcia asks about classical improvisation

Frank, the biggest problem that arises when speaking about this
subject is that there is no useful, practical instructional
information about how to do it. In the absence of any guidelines
whatsoever, most players simply go nuts when given the opportunity
and what comes out is the Carnival of Venice variations with
triple-tonguing finale.

Bob Levin and I have been considering the possibility of creating
a college text on "The Art of Classical Improvisation" but it
would take five years before we could come out with it.

I am reminded of a movie made in the 1950s starring Kirk Douglass
and Doris Day, called "Young Man With a Horn" in which Douglass,
playing the legendary trumpeter, Bix Beiderbeck (sp. ?)watches
a New Orleans dixieland band when he is about 16.

Beiderbeck asks the trumpet player, "How do you do that?" meaning,
of course, how do you invent music spontaneously, based on a
known tune, though he does not articulate his question in any
way this specific.

The cornet player with the band smiles, and says, "Son. You
just got to feel it." At this point Beiderbeck must feel it
because he plays 48 straight choruses of Royal Garden Blues.

Now a scene like this encourages musicians to believe that
improvisation is not a learned skill, that somehow one is
born with an improvisation gene, and without one you are
doomed to failure.

Not so. There are books on baroque improvisation and jazz
improvisation, clear evidence that the skill can be acquired.
But in the absence of very much in the classic era (I know of
only two articles, one by Levin and one by me, and a chapter
in a book on Mozart piano concerti by Badura Skoda that tells
one exactly what to look for) willingness is not enough.

I can only tell you what I did to learn the style. I
studied all the Mozart piano concerti to see how he
ornamented his own music. True, that is written down
ornamentation, but after a while I got a pocket full
of ornaments that Mozart did on this or that occasion
and I began to use them. I would figure out 10 different
pickups for a certain passage, practice them all, and then,
during performance pick one out at the instant where
I had to play.

After a while, I wasn't preparing any longer, and I was
departing from the specific examples that Mozart had used.
Finally, I wasn't thinking about it any longer, just
doing it. And in my own defense, I never did it very
elegantly, just competently. You really need a kind
of imaginative talent that I did not have, but that
a guy like Levin did.

I once played a gig with Larry Combs and suggested
improvisation to him, and withing 5 seconds he had
mastered the style and was a whiz at imagining
good ornaments.

But the key element is knowledge. When I read about
someone talking about "the cadenzas" in K. 622, I
develop the belief that the person needs a much better
musical education in music of that period before s/he
is ready to even attempt the act.

=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================