Klarinet Archive - Posting 000416.txt from 2003/10

From: "Noel Taylor" <r.n.taylor@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] band directors
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 06:09:54 -0400

Nancy, I feel a bit guilty now, reading your email. I can make no claims =
to
being a great improviser myself, even although it's the main thing I =
rely
on. I have found in the past with improvisation that far better =
musicians
than myself sometimes have had the ability to make sense of what I play,
even although what I had played was nothing much at all. I admire
improvising virtuosity far less than I admire this ability to respond =
one
person's sounds to another. That is about listening not just to the =
other
musicians but to your own personality - just the same things that you =
would
monitor in any ensemble playing. In fact I personally find people who =
are
fluent with jazz standards sometimes lack this more simple ability and =
are
relying so much on regurgitating learned patterns that they may as well =
be
reading music. =20

I agree with Troy who said in his post "when I teach my students to =
start
improv, I make sound that simple and it works for them." Children can =
often
do this - it comes naturally. This is why another poster's (Sue) =
metaphor
about language works in exactly the opposite way for me than how she =
meant
it. Improvising is just a kind of speaking with instruments. I do =
recognise,
however, that someone with a highly developed musical sensibility (and =
this
could equally apply to pure improvisers) faces more complex barriers =
than a
child (or perhaps me!). It's like asking a Professor of Philosophy to
forsake the language of philosophy in order to explain complex concepts =
-
not impossible, but very, very difficult.

Noel =20

=20

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buckman, Nancy [mailto:nebuckman@-----.edu]=20
> Sent: 13 October 2003 19:14
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] band directors
>=20
>=20
> They (I'm sure there are some
> honourable exceptions) sing all the notes correctly, but they=20
> get them all wrong. It don't mean a thing, etc...
>=20
>=20
> Correct notes, wrong style. Every once in a while I come=20
> across something in jazz that makes sense and I will venture=20
> out on the limb and play lead alto. Most of the time though=20
> I stick to second, where I can follow the lead of my first=20
> player. It doesn't always make sense, but I go to rehearsal=20
> and make an effort to learn. And I know much more now than I=20
> did six years ago, when I came home from my first jazz=20
> rehearsal and cried for an hour. But I'm going to learn this=20
> style, even if it kills me. It will probably kill my=20
> audience first though.
>=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
>=20
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>=20
>=20

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