 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jim
Date: 2002-08-04 00:42
While searching for music for clarinet I see a lot of reference to the term "Fake Book".
Would someone please explain this term for me?
Thanks
Jim
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Author: MeowerPower
Date: 2002-08-04 02:58
The following definition is from my fake book published by Hal Leonard. One thing I will point is that they refer to "he". But, of course, it should be noted as he/she IMHO.
When a musician is asked to play a song he's never played before, he "fakes" it. One of the most valuable possessions any musician can have is a fake book which contains the melodies, lyrics and chords for hundreds of songs that are contained in the book. With the access to the melody, lyrics and chords the musician can improvise his own arrangement of a song.
From my personal experience with various fake books, I like them since I can carry them easily and most often play songs right off the bat with surprising proficiency. For an amatuer play
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Author: nahya^^
Date: 2002-08-04 02:59
hmm.. i've seen them not from music for clarinets, but from guide books... something about the best fake book for woodwind instruments?
i thought it was like "faking" playing the instruments but i really have no idea.
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Author: MeowerPower
Date: 2002-08-04 02:59
The following definition is from my fake book published by Hal Leonard. One thing I will point is that they refer to "he". But, of course, it should be noted as he/she IMHO.
When a musician is asked to play a song he's never played before, he "fakes" it. One of the most valuable possessions any musician can have is a fake book which contains the melodies, lyrics and chords for hundreds of songs that are contained in the book. With the access to the melody, lyrics and chords the musician can improvise his own arrangement of a song.
From my personal experience with various fake books, I like them since I can carry them easily and most often play songs right off the bat with surprising proficiency. For this amatuer player, it gives me some added confidence :-}
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2002-08-04 04:49
"Fake book" is another term for "tune book". You get a melody line, also called a "lead sheet", I believe (that's lead as in leed, not as in led), and chords. Sometimes you get a second line in bass clef, if the book is for piano. If the book is for guitar, you get, in addition to the notes, tablature, simplified pictures of the guitar neck to show where to place the fingers for the chords. Avoid these two types of fake books unless you are playing these instruments; all this extra stuff means extra page turns.
If it's jazz, there's a big deal over whether the fake book is "official" or "unofficial", meaning, in the former case, all the copyrights have been acknowledged and royalties paid, and in the latter case, not, and so in the latter case, the book may eventually have to come off the market, and if you have a jazz teacher, he may not like you using it, because as a composer / arranger, it irritates him that other composer / arrangers aren't being paid for their work.
But in folk music (there are folk fake books, too), this problem is avoided by labeling the tunes "traditional", so nobody has to be paid. Traditional is really some guy way off in Ireland we don't know, who actually created the tune only 20 years ago, but we all pretend it's a hundred years old so we can screw him out of his money. Actually, many tunes are truly traditional (but that only means someone got cheated a hundred years ago, IMHO). And, many folk tunes were, in fact, created, not written, because their creators could not read or write music. This is a sure way to lose royalties. Anyway, in folk fake books, the tunes are transcribed from recordings and performances by those who play them by ear. So the big issue in folk fake books is accuracy, or at least having a version close enough to what everyone else is playing. Again, you get just a melody line and chords. The chords in folk fake books are the simplest possible, with the musicians expected to change them as per their skill level and taste, or as per the particular folk style in which they are playing.
There are also classical fake books, so you too can play Tchaikowski's greatest hits.
In jazz, and I think in classical (I don't own any classical fake books, yet), the books come coordinated for the different instrument keys. So the Bb version of the book will have the tunes pitched one step above the C version. Folk fake books only come in concert pitch; you have to transpose or buy a C instrument.
Fake books allow you to delve into many musical genres, if you are a good sight reader, but you never take them literally. They are a "jumping off" point. To hear that for yourself, pick out a fake book in a music store that contains some pop song you really know well, e.g., by a contemporary rock group if you are a young person, or a group that was contemporary when you were a young person. Go home and play it and hear how inauthentic it sounds.
I have loads of fake books.
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Author: tim k
Date: 2002-08-04 15:06
Now they seem to be called"real books", which I suppose means the copyright fees are paid.
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Author: William
Date: 2002-08-04 16:24
Real Books used to be "under the counter" only--meaning the use of the tunes was not authorized by the copyright owners. I got all of mine at a well-known Wisconsin jazz music camp where I also obtained a set of "The Book" used commonly for many years in the Chicago area. Both are essentially a collection jazz and swing tunes that players transpose and improvise from. The Real Books do have Bb and Eb versions that eliminate the need to transpose, but most guys that I play with, just use the C books. After a while, you really don't have to think about the tranposition process--it becomes natural. These books can make any group of "jazzer's" an instant "group" ready for any festival stage, wedding gig or backyard barbeque. Just introduce yourselves to each other and start blow'n. Just don't forget to give the bass and drummer an occasional solo. (but you might have to do a polka or two, especially in Wisconsin)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-08-04 18:06
"Just introduce yourselves to each other and start blow'n"
Rule #3 of playing gigs:
Never shake hands on the bandstand (people may think you never met each other). Let it be your little "secret"...GBK (alumni of the Catskill, NY hotels and bungalow colonies 1964-1971)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2002-08-04 18:18
There are at least two versions of the "real book" that I've seen. One seems to be sold legally while the other is still an under counter item, sold in three keys, and two different books.
In the Los Angeles area, many jazz sessions are based on the jazz tunes in the under counter real book and you can generally survive with only that book. The tunes are still somewhat contemporary, such as Miles Davis' tunes. It's downside is that about 20 per cent of the tunes are ones that no one ever plays, that there are many errors in the notation, and that they did a very poor job of copying. It's still worth the $35 or so that they ask per book for it. It seems to be defining the local jazz repetoire. Good luck!
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Author: William
Date: 2002-08-05 02:28
"Rule #3 of playing gigs": GBK--I know that!!! Just trying a litle of my (sometimes not so) humor. :>)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-08-05 03:19
William...Just my (little) attempt at humor as well. I knew you know the "rules".
My favorite "band leader rule" is actually #1 which states:
"You should never say anything to a sideman that even remotely sounds like a compliment unless you are prepared to pay double scale"...GBK (been there, done that)
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2002-08-05 14:09
someone said they are easy to carry around."
i don't think so...........mine goes in at about 55 lbs. It takes 3 men and a boy to carry one.
have a great week.
bob
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Author: William
Date: 2002-08-05 14:41
Rule (our) #1: "Show Us the Money" before the last set--or there is no last set!!!
Another combo gig pet peeve is requests--like just after we've finish playing "Proud Mary" (for about the millionth time), someone (usually the cousin of the bride) comes up and requests "Roll"n Down the River" (OK--A1 n A2...Unh)
Or, "How about a polka?" OK, and then they wait to get on the dance floor until the second time through the last strain--and then say, "Keep it going--one more time!!!!"
Or, after we've played our embouchures to the teeth for four + hours, the chant starts, "Oh come on--one more tune!!!"
Or, the Dad bringing his small child up to the band stand to show him the instruments--and he grabs your Mark VI Tenor off its stand (the kid). True story, more than once!!!!
Or, New Years Eve at (well, I wont go there now :>)
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Author: John Kelly - Australia
Date: 2002-08-06 03:38
Did a job once where a person came up to the bandstand and gave a rousing speech to all the assembled members of the footy club the day they won the premiership - had to use our microphone you see!!
He was molly the monk and insisted on standing on a chair to address the throng. It would have been nice of him to warn me that he was going to topple over backwards and fall on the clarinet and banjo though - banjo OK, clarinet busted unfortunately!
Moral of story - always insist that drunks make speeches in a corner somewhere - preferably outside!!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-08-06 16:42
Played local dance gig once, nice country club setting - salesmen's convention type affair. Very nice folks all dressed up and having a good time. No rowdies yet. We were just getting warmed up. I remember Vern, the pianist, always had a couple of fake books - just in case. One couple, whirling on the dance floor, stumble, fall... lady gets up -- guy doesn't get up right away. Wait. Doesn't get up; doesn't move. So, some guys cart him off to the kitchen where someone determines after awhile that the gentleman is quite dead :| It was not his wife he was dancing with (no next of kin present; remember, it's a 'convention'), so now nobody knows what to do. We pack up and head for somewhere else - home or whatever. No one feels much like 'doing anything' any more this night. Shortest gig any of us had ever played.
We got paid, but after that we insisted on modifying Rule #1 to "Show us the money Before the first set"... just in case....
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