 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Simon
Date: 2011-02-10 00:25
Hello all
I have posted this on the Ethnic BB also
I play Macedonian music using Bb clarinet. I have been practising on and off for a number of years. I don't play in a band and the reason is that I can't seem to grasp the technique to improvise or also known as "taxims" in Turkish and Greek music.
Unfortunately in the Macedonian folklore music improvisation/taxims is very important, it is the very thing that adds colour to the music.
I play by ear but have the ability to read basic music as well.
I have read prior posts on this, I listen to all Macedonian clarinet artists perform and try to copy them, I try to come up with my own, I have had other people tell me just stay in the same key as the main piece, but I just can't seem to crack this. I am able to perfectly play the main piece but when it comes to the improvisation part it stops. It gets very depressing at times not being able to play the whole piece.
I would be very grateful if anyone out there would know of any exercises, or written music for that matter that I can use as building blocks to try and overcome what it seems a straight forward piece of music (at least for other players). Also if I can overcome this the folk at home will also be very grateful, you know what I mean.
Many thanks in advance.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ned
Date: 2011-02-10 01:12
I'm unfamiliar with Macedonian music, but improvisation is probably the same no matter what the genre.
I play jazz and I learnt (and am still learning) improvisation by firstly running up and down scales and arpeggios - this would be the first step for you I guess.
Perhaps then try triplets and octave jumps - that sort of thing. I'm probably not much help I suspect as I'm not a teacher, I'm a self taught player.
The best way to learn something worthwhile and interesting - notwithstanding the above - is to listen to others and copy what you hear. Perhaps you should invest in some software to slow down the recorded music you undoubtedly already own.
It'll eventually gel - it takes time though I should add.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Simon
Date: 2011-02-10 02:35
Alex,
Yes both I tend to play some of it and stop because I don't like it and play longer and still not satisfied with it.
And yes I do alot of listening and have invested in a micro recordder that slows down the music.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: davyd
Date: 2011-02-10 04:00
Your improvised solos won't be as complex as what you'll hear on a recording, simply because you're not used to doing it. A solo that is truly improvised can be anything you want it to be: you're under no obligation to copy anyone else's solo. As long as you stick to the chord changes, it's OK if you're playing 8ths instead of 16ths if that's what you feel like doing.
One strategy you might use: at first, stick to the melody, but with ornamentation: sliding from one note to another, playing double or half the note values, putting in trills, and turns, playing in a different octave, etc.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-02-10 04:41
Try this:
Play a note. No matter what happened, that note has just become the correct note to play. Your challenge now becomes to make that note make sense in context. If it sounded sensible, it's probably easy. If it sounded out of place, you'll need to find something else to make it sound in place... make it a passing tone, part of a trill, whatever. Maybe your next note makes things better, maybe it makes things worse. If, after a few notes, you find yourself digging an incredibly deep hole, cut your losses, rest a beat or so, regroup, and try again.
No matter what happens, though, treat each note that you played as if it was the right note, and you now just need to find out why.
Eventually, you'll start to build a library of techniques and get a feel of what works and when. Especially useful if you don't have perfect pitch, which I don't.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-02-10 05:25
I'll start with a disclaimer that I don't know anything about Macedonian music (You might hear that a lot). But given that, this might be helpful.
You have a computer and backing tracks are going to be a very good friend to you as you learn to improvise. You need to get some backing tracks that have the equivalent of drum and bass to mark out the tempo, the rhythm and the chord changes. Once you have these (at increasing tempos, don't be too shy to begin slowly) you should progress quite well. If you have a Mac then backing tracks are easy, if you use a pc then a program like Audacity (free) should help to develop backing tracks.
Learn the scales that the music uses. Does Macedonian music use maqams or some equivalent? If so, then you will have to know those. Ultimately you will be drawing from those scales for the different chords of the progression.
Start to play the chord changes over the progression. Begin with triads. Start to develop riffs that seem familiar to the music. Improvisation is composition but you can build your compositions from riffs. Another way to look at things is that improvisation is the novel use of cliche. Learn the cliches of the music and start to string them together in ways that seem exciting or fun. After you feel comfortable messing about with triads (in all inversions), then you can branch out into using scales. I'll stick to the major scale to make things simple. Instead of playing a triad over a chord in one bar, use the 1-2-3-5 of the scale. Then when you feel good with that use the upper part of the scale. Then mix it up. What is appropriate will depend on the musical milieu in which you are playing (and I have already admitted that I know nothing of that so if you are still reading then you clearly a very trusting person).
As well as practicing arpeggios and riffs over the backing tracks, you can record yourself playing melodies (they can be standard melodies from the repertoire or something that you have composed) over the tracks and then play them back and try to play around your own melody. Find countermelodies, find riffs that support or contrast with the melody, embellish the melody, you can really go to town with this once you have some backing tracks.
Your objective is to know the melody, know the changes and then be able to move between the two so that when your time to solo comes you remain within the feel of the whole group. This all applies to practicing at home. When you are playing with other people then the style of music will have protocols for soloing and improvising but at least you will feel that you have something that you can pull out of your hat when the bright light shines.
Good luck and I hope that this is useful.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ned
Date: 2011-02-10 06:08
davyd writes: ''.............you're under no obligation to copy anyone else's solo...............''
I suppose you were referring to my comment?
Fair enough...........but it's a start. Who (in the jazz world anyway) has not started this way? Most of us are not born with intuitive improvisational skills and modeling oneself on a better player is something I figured everyone would probably benefit from.
It's merely a means to an end.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kalakos
Date: 2011-02-10 07:45
The music of Greece and the Balkans is based on modes. There are two types of improvisations. One is the embellishments and "decorations" of the melody. Noone does this exactly the same to any song. Nor does a musician necessarily ever do it again in the same way. It may always be different.
Second is the solo improvisation which is based on the mode. In Greek music this is usually played at the end of a song, when the mood ("kefi") has grown strong. It is not done to a chord progression but to the notes of the mode (this is unlike jazz improvisation for the most part; it is not the chord progression of the melody). You need to know the modes, and there are several. Turkish and middle eastern musicians use different modes from the Greeks, although there are some similarities. The Greeks use a different approach from the Slavs, but they are similar in many ways. There are certain things that are commonly done, and you need to know what is traditional, and what is definitely NOT done.
So the way to learn is to immerse oneself in the culture. The music does not exist in a vacuum but is part of a whole culture. The context is everything. So, perhaps the best advice one can give is to listen, listen, listen, and observe how these things occur in the ethnic celebrations and occasions.
And remember, most folk musicians from these areas do not read music, but play by ear. Folk music, like all the genres of folklore, is handed down in a traditional manner and not learned from books or in academic type contexts. So the best way to learn it is as the "ethnics" do it. Immerse yourself in it and spend a lot of time with it.
Good luck and have fun.
Kalakos
Kalakos Music
http://www.TAdelphia.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Wes
Date: 2011-02-10 08:30
Hi Simon!
Could you start by playing some fairly long notes and not worry about complications or embellishments or how fast you can play.
In 4/4 music, try playing along with a record using 4 beat notes only, for a while. After you can do that, try two beat notes and, later, one note per beat. In modal music, just play modal notes, not worrying about whether or not they are the best notes. Don't play notes not in the mode or raga, however.
Also try playing some simple notes as above with rests between them. Be simple.
Try using headphones to help get the rhythm into your head.
Try playing softly so as not to cover up the sound of the record with your own playing. You do not have to project at this time.
Good luck!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Simon
Date: 2011-02-11 01:10
All comments above are excellent and I thank you for your advice. I certainly am very well conected to this type of music and love it, so I will just go back to practicing taking into account the advice given above.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Reedirect
Date: 2011-02-11 08:31
a bit late, but nevertheless...Kalakos has put it nicely together. The music is theoretically rather simple but requires a particular mood. Therefore just one additional suggestion to begin with. Try to use the harmonic minor scale with the distincitive minor third interval (between the minor sixth and the major seventh) of the respective key and decorate it with lots of ornamentations and trills. That may facilitate the first steps towards absorbing the mood, starting to play freely, and eventually improvise. There are some nice renditions around on YouTube played with a shawm (chalumeau), which is by the way nothing else than the predecessor of the clarinet played in the "chalumeau" register only.
Best
Jo
P.S. I myself play jazz but sometimes also find much pleasure in playing Klezmer, in which absorbing the particular "mood" is more important than to hasten elaborately through chord progressions and scales.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
