Klarinet Archive - Posting 000446.txt from 2010/09

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Improvising in Mozart's clarinet music
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:34:39 -0400

One way to begin is to study Jazz improvisation. Larry Combs, who is a
fantastic jazz player, uses the same skill to improvise in Mozart
performances.

Next, get a score of any Mozart piano concerto that Levin has recorded and
study the score while listening to him play until you eyeballs hurt. You
need to become very familiar with what Mozart wrote and how you can present
the same material without wandering off into cyberspace. Keep it simple. If
someone who knows the composition well recognizes that you have improvised,
you have done too much. Less is more.

Third, examine the third and fourth measure of the clarinet solo in K. 622.
That is where the clarinetist enters for the first time after the
orchestra's long introduction. The third measure consists of two notes,
which are repeated: f-d, f-d. The question you want to face is, "How can I
play the second of the f-d pair in a way that is different from the first"?
Find 25 ways to play the second f-d that makes it different from the first.
This is the "wax on, wax off" method of learning how to improvise. You will
say, "what does this have to do with improvisation?" and I say, "wax on, wax
off."

Now consider the next measure of the clarinet solo. It is nothing more than
a "c" followed by a "b." Find 25 different ways to get from the c to the b.
Reject all that are too busy, and replace them with very simple ways. For
example: c-edcb. How about c-dcdb. In both cases, figure out a rhythm that
works with this suggestion. And you can't use these two in the 25 you are
trying to invent. I own them. They are copyrighted.

Finally this: whenever you come to the end of a phrase, find some an
interesting way to come to the end of the phrase differently than simply
arriving there as suggested by the composer.

It is not simple. We clarinetists are trained to play what is written and
are given very little opportunity encourage to move away from that dictum.

Dan Leeson.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Thompson" <wthompson7274@-----.net>
To: "clarinet" <klarinet@-----.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 1:27 PM
Subject: [kl] Improvising in Mozart's clarinet music

Dan wrote,
"I have often spoken about how performances of Mozart's clarinet music (and
Beethoven's and Schubert's and others) are invariably well-played but frozen
and
unchanged from performance to performance, from player to player......
etc.."

Dan, double check your You Tube addresses. They don't seem to work.

You've mentioned this before, Dan. I wonder if you know of, or if anyone
else
has opinions on schools or teachers that teach improvisation. Where can a
student go to learn?

Wayne Thompson
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