 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: EBS
Date: 2000-01-20 01:13
if tricks are what you're looking for,
you'll find plenty out there.
but playing solos in jazz bands isn't
the begining or the end for improvising.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mario
Date: 2000-01-20 20:42
There is no "trick" to improvising. It requires work and commitment. It used to be that a musician with a keen ear and quite a lot of talent could get by with a minimum of formal understanding of what was going in around him. But nowadays, if you want your improvisation to sound relatively fresh and modern, a good technical and theoretical fundation about harmony, chords, progressions is very useful.
And technique, technique, technique... There are a few good CD with a combo out there that you can use to get a feel of what the masters do. For instance, Daniels and Peplowsky came up with excellent stuff that is very difficult to play. You can easily spend a year mastering the material with style and fludity. So much for fast trick. There ain't any, except sweat and blood.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HIROSHI
Date: 2000-01-21 01:40
1.There is a good book for that.
"The Jazz Method for Clarinet with CD" by John O'Neil published Schott Educational publication, London.
I have a Trumpet book. The tricks are repetition and riff.
Here are:"A key word to remember when improvising is repetition. Many beginner improvisers make the mistake of simply running up and down the scale rather aimlessly. Repetition of single notes in interedting rythms is a good way of breaking this habit. Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis provide masterly examples of how effective note repetition can be in a jazz solo. Equally important is the use of riffs." You know the meaning of the jazz word 'riff'.
2.On what scale improvise? There are many choices.
My book's CD shows how to make improvisaions in a succession of improvisations of different modes.T he theme is "Little Sunflower" made in the mode of E Dorian-Scale of D major starting E. First,E Dorian,then F Lydian, E major,and E Dorian, then fade away.
3.Transcribe:
Many people considers 'improvisation" is made on the sopt.
This seems wrong. Here is a good article on internet:
<A HREF=http://www.v-zone.com/tpo/buselli.html>Transcribe</A>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mario
Date: 2000-01-21 18:02
This could be the start of an interesting thread. I agree with Hiroshi.
Real-time jazz (except at the extreme top level, and even there) tends to played out of the musician internal database of well reheased patterns. There are patterns for modes, transitions, scales and context. Riffs are crucial.
A jazz performance by a well-prepared musician is actually the actualisation of a well-reheased assembly of fragments. There is actually much less "real-time" creativity that what is often thought.
In jazz, creativity is more often a non-real-time aesthetic issue (the tone of the player, his way of going about in the music, his approach to rythm, the musical concept explored in the performance). Most of it originates in the practice studio and is developped not very differently than, say, a classical composer will develop his/her own style. Great jazzmen are great because they brought something new and valuable to the style (which became the style of their real-time improvisations). They worked these ideas through away from an audience.
When we think of jazz, we focus too much on the "perceived" real-time creation of music as the core of jazz. This is wrong, especially since many other forms of music (including
classical music where improvisation used to be the norm - think of Mozart) use improvisation extensively.
The essence of jazz is aesthetic. It is a question of style. We, the audience, call "jazz" music with some stylistic properties and conventions. As our definition evolves, what is jazz and what is not evolve also. Mozart actually played jazz (yes he did!).
In the context of the original question on this post, and in line with many comments about the topic of improvisation on this board, here is a perspective: If a young musician wants to play in the school jazz band, it is much more important to absorb the aesthetic of jazz first than to learn to improvise. I know some fabulous section players who had an incredible sense of style and swing, could drive a section red hot, but could not improvise very well. By the same token, I know people who could blow great stuff in real-time but who could not really play in the jazz style (think about fiddlers in Irish music, clarinetists in hungarian music, citharist in Hindu music, etc.).
So, as with everything in life, choice have to be made: Do you want to learn to play jazz first, or to improvise first.
If improvising in the jazz style is the goal, then playing in the jazz style first is a must.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-21 19:17
As a guy who once made a partial living out of jazz bass playing ...
I agree/disagree with Hiroshi & Mario. While we (the band) worked on phrasing, riffs, changes, patterns, etc. at rehearsals, the final outcome in front of an audience was spontaneous in the sense that we didn't know until that evening what or how we'd end up putting it all together. The audience influenced the outcome a lot more than most audience members realized - a supportive audience would have us taking risks that we wouldn't normally take in front of a "tight" audience - there wasn't a "fear of failure." We'd laugh off the screw-ups and keep playing (and going back to what we _knew_ would work - the practice really helps out then!) Having a good percussion/bass section really helps out in a jazz band - we were normally the section that brought back the other members when they strayed too far afield. Experimenting with rhythms in front of an audience can be a heady experience, too ... and only done when the band is having a real "together" night (you'll know those nights when they happen - I literally stopped playing one night to hear myself stop - I felt that I had lost conscious control of my fingers and that someone else was playing bass - my fingers were doing what I wanted without my thinking about them - but that only happened after many years of practicing with & without a band. I wish that experience on everyone - it is an epiphany.)
Improvisation doesn't mean lack of practice or rehearsal; indeed, for a band to play & improvise well together requires the exact opposite.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: michael
Date: 2000-01-22 00:04
Mark Charette wrote:
As a guy who once made a partial living out of jazz bass playing ...<snip>...
Experimenting with rhythms in front of an audience can be a heady experience, too ... and only done when the band is having a real "together" night (you'll know those nights when they happen - I literally stopped playing one night to hear myself stop - I felt that I had lost conscious control of my fingers and that someone else was playing bass - my fingers were doing what I wanted without my thinking about them - but that only happened after many years of practicing with & without a band. I wish that experience on everyone - it is an epiphany.)...
------------------------------------------------------------
Mark, you made that sound like magic. I was married to a rock musician for ten years, and her band would sometimes venture into "Texas blues". I had a great time watching the audience watch the band. Now it's my turn. I want to get good enough to retire from medicine and play music--not too likely to happen, but I can dream.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-22 01:06
michael wrote:
-------------------------------
Mark, you made that sound like magic.
--------
It is. Believe me. It's what makes it all worth it in the end.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
