 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2007-02-28 23:16
I just started improvising (with lead sheets and mp3s)...
Is it better to learn improvisation in original tonality (so you have to transpose everything up a major second... in your head)... or to transpose the songs one step down and follow the lead sheet?
I guess it would somewhat be useful to be a "step-higher expert", but since they are also fake books for Bb instruments...
Is it worth learning to improvise in original key or no?
Post Edited (2007-02-28 23:16)
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2007-03-01 00:49
Learn to transpose the C part one step up at sight (in your head). After that, you should learn a whole lot of other transpositions and clefs as well (all in your head). Being able to do that is an important developemnt task for all jazz musicians.
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Author: Wicked Good ★2017
Date: 2007-03-01 00:54
Do you ever plan to gig? Suppose someone in the band walks into the gig with a lead sheet to a song they've just written, or to a song that for some reason you just don't know?
That happens all the time, and those sheets aren't likely to be transposed for you. Improvising musicians are expected to transpose on sight. So I'd say, yes, by all means learn to improvise in the original keys. And, in as many other keys as possible.
<real-life anectdote> You never know when someone's going to call "Joy Spring" in an ungodly key at an insane tempo. That'll get your attention quickly! </real-life anecdote>
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Author: Mike Clarinet
Date: 2007-03-01 07:57
Learning to transpose by sight is a skill that in my opinion, teachers of ALL transposing instruments should treach. I have been involved in a number of groups where "I need the part transposing" rings out from somewhere. To make matters worse, said individuals then expexted ME to write it out for them, rather than saying "I'll take the part away & write it out & bring it back next week". I taught myself to transpose by sight on clarinet & alto sax, simply by having a go & practicing. I soon got good, but have not needed to do it for several years, so will have probably lost the knack. It was a skill that became useful if the singer said "stick it up/down a tone" when playing piano.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2007-03-01 11:24
Just this past Monday evening during the rehearsal of a college/community wind ensemble I play in, the director asked the entire group to transpose one step up on an arrangement of big bad tunes. The intent was to feature the drummer on a couple of choruses of solo and then bring the entire band back in for the last chorus but in the new key. Everyone did very well but these are pretty experienced players. OK, a few with no piano background had a few clams but in a few minutes, things sounded very good.
I have found piano players that will insist on playing in a certain standard key no matter what the lead sheet you have says. And then there is the vocalist issue that was pointed out above.
I played Anything Goes recently and the oboe part was just not quite right so the director said "play it on soprano sax." Quick transposition and no problem; and I have gotten another call for a summer show already.
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2007-03-01 11:43
Even if I'm new to improvising?
I'm not so bad to transpose, but chords sybols, scales, etc. are something else!
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-03-01 12:09
It depends a lot on what you want to do. Many commented about transposing written music. That's different, but still something that is very good to know. I remember one time I played with a singer and the scale was a little too low for her (I think Bb maj concert pitch), so the arranger said to play half step higher. I just had to do it.
Improvising is different. In general I really can't recommend playing a gig with a real book. You should really know the tunes so well, that you know them by heart. 95% of the time jazz standards will be played at the normal (original?) scale. Some tunes (most don't) have two (or more?) normal scales. You should know the normal scales (i.e. whole tone higher on clarinet) as a defult and transpose when necessary.
To be able to play in different scales and transpose of course you also need to be able to improvise in all scales. I practiced this mostly by playing tunes that already have a lot of different scales in them, like some of Coltrane's tunes, etc.
Although I'm a jazz player, I rarely play jazz standards, but I still think that parciticing everything mentioned above helped a lot.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-03-01 19:45
Christian -
It doesn't matter much which way you start. To perform acceptably, and to get to where other people want you to perform with them, you need to learn to play in the original tonality and also to move the changes to another key.
To take a very simple example, even a beginner can learn to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in C, with the music in C in front of them. But it doesn't take much more experience to play Twinkle Twinkle in G. You know the tune, and you know the G scale. You just start on a different note.
Most people learn first to read as it is on the page, but it doesn't take long until you can play beginning on any note you choose, or someone else chooses.
Jump in and learn them both. Everybody does it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-01 20:36
While the piano player who is only comfortable in one key has always been with us (Irving Berlin was one of these - his comfort zone was in Cb major, if I recall it correctly), a good musician should be able to make the adjustment without too much difficulty.
Vocalist are another kettle of fish altogether. Their "instrument" has a pitch set by the configuration of their body, and it is not unusual to find that one just cannot sing a tune as written simply because their range has not been developed that far south or north.
The only viable solution there is to start shifting things up or down. For one or two numbers, I might say "Take it up a minor second". But, if a vocalist is not comfortable with everything (because she's a mezzo, and your arrangements were written for Julie London), then the only practical solution is to get them set in the right key (or find a new vocalist).
Some transposition is acceptable, but putting everyone in transposition mode all of the time will make for sloppy sounds overall. Expecting a pianist and bass player to get it right consistently is one thing; multiply that by sixteen-fold and you have quite a different problem.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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