 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2006-12-16 20:11
So basically, I've got plenty of time on my hands lately. And I've been dying to work up my jazz. Well, I was talking to the jazz clarinet player in our band (OUTSTANDING jazz player on clarinet and tenor) and he gave me a very nice compliment as he said he's overheard me practicing and he says that I definitely have the technique and finger work to play some good dixieland/jazz, but I just need to work on improving and fitting it into the music. Meaning he heard me practicing some solos, etudes, etc. and knows that the dexterity and base is there.
Done some reading on the board and asking some other jazz players in my band, and I've come up with two different starting points.
(A) Listen to whatever recordings I have of jazz clarinet, and try to learn the solos by ear. The general consensus behind THIS one was that it will help you to get some licks under your fingers, as well as improve your playing by ear and translating what you hear and what you WANT to come out, well, to come out on the first try.
From a few jazzers in the band I've heard the following idea
(B) We have a recording of Jamey Aebersold's cd which basically plays one key for about five minutes. Five minutes of each major and minor key (C, D, E, F, G, etc. each on a seperate track). Listen to that, and the first day start with the first note of the scale. Any octave, but just the first note. So basically starting on the C recording, and playing octaves of C. The second day, at the second. So I can now use C and D. The third day, E, etc. etc. At the end of a week, I have a full scale. The consensus behind THIS is it will force me to come up with some interesting rhythms (to keep the solos SEMI interesting with one or two notes) in the earlier of the week, while allowing me to expand melodically throughout the week with whatever interesting rhythms I've come up with. And at the end of the week, hopefully feel more comfortable in that key.
Which would be a better method? I can see the value in the second method to get you to come up with interesting rhythms and melodic lines, but for practical purposes, I'm thinking the first method would be better to simply play what I hear as with the second method, I think it'd be ok, but what happens when a tune CHANGES it's key (as most every song I know isn't in one consistent key). I would think that the first method would be better to learn how to play the notes that I hear in my head.
Alexi
PS - by "plenty of time" I mean that I can easily devote two hours a day to getting jazz chops and still have time to work on my classical stuff.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-12-16 22:39
Hi Alexi,
One of the first things to consider is that learning to play jazz can not be just a mechanical thing (I'll play these exercises every day and then I'll...). Listening to others and seeing what they do with a melody line is an important thing. Aside from that, the "style" that someone plays is IMHO, the key point. And don't just listen to clarinet players.
For example, read the biography on Paul Desmond. Desmond did so very much with so few notes. When I was young, I did not care for his or Chet Baker's playing. Now, I wonder how I could have been so deaf/blind (and I heard both of them live when they were in their prime).
You need to know where you want to go before you can proceed. Do you want to play a lot of notes or be a sensitive and creative musician or can you combine both? Listening and pondering about what you hear are a must. Getting the chops is OK but if you do not have the ears... and the heart... and the sensitivity...
Start with a 12 bar blues progression and play what comes to mind. If you can't do that, being a jazz player might be pretty tough. Good luck.
HRL
PS And then there was Count Basie; talk about a master of understated playing.
Post Edited (2006-12-17 10:03)
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Author: seafaris
Date: 2006-12-17 15:01
Hank is 100% right. I am also trying to learn jazz, and I mosly listen to jazz 24/7. One of the jazz stations on Sirius always says, "if you don't live it it won't come out of your horn". I have a lot of jazz clarinet music, but listen A Lot to Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane for ideas, and Gerlad Albright is fantastic. I listen to Pete Fountain for Dixeland type jazz. You can't go wrong with the Jamie Abersold cd's for help.
Best of liuck!
...Jim
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Author: Mike Blinn
Date: 2006-12-17 15:55
Hi Alexi,
Listening to what others have done in the past is a good way to start. A favorite CD of mine, (which has been mentioned on this board before), is one called Clarinet Marmalade (ASV Mono).
It is a collection of songs by 25 great jazz clarinetists from the first half of the 20th century. Some you will probably never have heard of: Matty Matlock, Omer Simeon, Eddie Miller; some you are familiar with: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Sidney Bechet; and others are better known for playing other instruments: Lester Young, Benny Carter, Jimmy Dorsey.
I can't recommend this CD enough for anyone interested in the history of our favorite instrument.
Mike Blinn
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-12-17 16:32
I've got the same interest in learning Jazz, but without the luxury of 2-hours/day (although, in your case, hard earned).
I really like the idea of augmenting your ear training by playing along with the CD in various keys (Plan B). Wouldn't you working out in the key of C tby adding notes in the C arpeggio (or C jazz scale): C, CE, CEG, maybe add the "D" on day 4 as a C7 chord, CEGD. Next, for the key of D: D, DF#, DF#A;, ...
Bob Phillips
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2006-12-17 16:51
Sounds good. I'll try that. Maybe I'll throw in a flat 7 too.
US Army Japan Band
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