Klarinet Archive - Posting 000395.txt from 2003/10

From: "Noel Taylor" <r.n.taylor@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] band directors
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 12:18:22 -0400

Oh dear, I think as a self-confessed "functionally illiterate" player =
who
mostly gets by playing by ear, I do have to make one or two points. It
probably is very "one-dimensional" to not know enough sight reading and
notation to follow a score, but that doesn't mean that the music an
improviser can produce is necessarily always going to be =
'one-dimensional'.
Indeed, I could just as easily, in return, regard someone who can't
improvise but is trained up to the eyeballs as musically limited. As it
happens, I don't really think like that - although it is an enormous =
mystery
to me how anyone can play an instrument with a high degree of skill and =
yet
freeze completely once the dots aren't there to read. I just can't
understand the process - and yet I've met so many people who say that's =
how
they are and nothing can be done about it.=20

As for players like myself being "stuck in their own little world" - =
it's
true, all true... but it's still quite a vast world out there, even so. =
I
also find the notion of notated jazz (without any passages of =
improvisation
at all) - ever so slightly weird. In defence of Mathew's remark about a
'jazz sound' - this is such a common linguistic construct that I see no
reason to quibble with it. Have you ever heard top opera singers trying =
to
sing jazz...? What an embarrassment! They (I'm sure there are some
honourable exceptions) sing all the notes correctly, but they get them =
all
wrong. It don't mean a thing, etc...

Noel Taylor=20

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buckman, Nancy [mailto:nebuckman@-----.edu]=20
> Sent: 13 October 2003 16:39
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] band directors
>=20
>=20
> Matthew,
>=20
> You don't need a special clarinet to make a jazz sound. Jazz=20
> isn't a sound at all. It's a style. I use the same set-up=20
> for my jazz ensemble playing that I use for my orchestral=20
> playing. I will grant that it is easier to bend notes on a=20
> mouthpiece that is more open at the tip. But with a minimum=20
> of practice, it can be learned on any mouthpiece. Even you=20
> could learn to play in the jazz style Matthew. I am no jazz=20
> player and still can't improvise on my own, but I know the=20
> style well enough, so that if the music is notated on paper,=20
> I can play "in the style" and you wouldn't know otherwise,=20
> that I am not fully literate as a jazz musician. There
>=20
> As for those people who only play by ear, there is something=20
> to be said for the fact that they do derive enjoyment of=20
> music. But there is so much that they are missing....kind of=20
> like the functionally illiterate. They can't notate anything=20
> they create or read anything that anyone else creates. They=20
> are stuck in their own little world, unless there is someone=20
> to help them write or read music - so one-dimensional. And=20
> when your ship band leader discusses chords and their=20
> progression or wants to begin rehearsal at bar "whatever",=20
> that clarinetist hasn't a clue about what is going on.
>=20
> Nancy
>=20
> Nancy E. Buckman, CPO, AFO, Technical Assistant
> School of Health Professions, Wellness and Physical Education=20
> Anne Arundel Community College Arnold, MD 21012-1895 USA=20
> Phone 410-777-2316 Fax 410-777-2233 E-mail nebuckman@-----.edu
>=20
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>=20
>=20

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