 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: much2bored
Date: 2011-09-01 05:57
I really want to join jazz band at my school, but there's a couple problems:
1. I play clarinet
2. Our jazz band doesn't take clarinets
If I can prove to my director that I'm good enough (superb), he'll consider letting me join (I don't have very high hopes). I'm learning other instruments with the hopes that I can get proficient enough by winter, but I'd much rather play clarinet. Even if I can't join, I still want to play jazz clarinet for my own enjoyment.
So, I guess I'm asking:
How does one play clarinet in jazz?
My biggest thing right now is the tone. How do I accomplish that? It continues to elude me.
Post Edited (2011-09-01 06:10)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-09-01 06:58
I don't have a lot to say on tone beyond the advice that Sidney Bechet once gave (but not to me) - take a note and see how many ways you can play it, or something along those lines.
But for the earlier question, I can recommend Jerry Coker's "Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improviser". It's a book and 2 CD set and it covers what he believes to be the 18 (?) things that are common to an enormous range of jazz improvised solos.
Jerry Bergonzi's 'Inside Improvisation' series is good, too.
Play along with anything that swings. Practice blues progessions until they are a little closer to you than second nature (as Sonny Boy Williamson said, 'like white on rice'). Rhythm is all. Play by ear. Listen to great players on all instruments but make sure you get through the great jazz clarinet players: Pee Wee Russell, Artie Shaw, Sidney Bechet, etc.
The advice is clichéd but these are some of the tried and true methods.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2011-09-01 10:16
I have one wacky suggestion.
I have seen (at least in one example) a clarinet player who PREFERRED clarinet get away with playing bass clarinet as the second tenor.
The problem with modern jazz charts is that the preponderance of timbre IS the sax section. Clarinet, and flute (though typical doubles for saxophonists) are seen as an occasional utility instrument rather than a staple.
Of course if you could convince the director to try the "Glenn Miller" sound of tight harmony with the clarinet on top............
................Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kilo
Date: 2011-09-01 12:01
As Paul Aviles points out, playing clarinet in a school jazz band is an endemic problem for clarinet students because nearly all the stage band arrangements call for a woodwind section based on a pretty standard array of saxes. If you read the tenor parts you'll be an octave high, plus the tonality will be wrong for the mix. Transposing the alto parts might put you in a better range but you'll still have a problem blending — the sounds of the two instruments are distinctly different. There are some arrangements which call for a sax player to double on the clarinet but they aren't all that common anymore.
As far as just playing jazz on a clarinet, no problem. It's supple versatility and extended range make it a great instrument for expression. I'd concentrate on the feel and the rhythm first, and learning how jazz works, rather than trying to get a 'jazz tone'. First get the 'jazz attitude' and the tone will come easier.
Listen to jazz clarinetists — I like Ken Peplowski a lot — and transcribe some of their licks. The Charlie Parker Omnibook is also really useful and the clarinet can play all the notes in the Bb version which are written too low to be played on the tenor. That book will help you learn phrasing and a lot about the blues.
I hope your director finds a place for you in the band, but if not, learning the sax is a useful double.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-01 12:53
One solution to the problem of jazz band is to make yourself a desired option as a 'featured soloist.' Because standard jazz band arrangements over the past several generations have neglected the clarinet, your challenge will be to show that you belong by your soloing ability.
You are right to concentrate on sound. If you go in sounding like a very prim and proper player, ready to bust out the Saint Saens sonata, you'll be missing the boat.
To get "the sound" you must--
1. Immerse yourself in the music.
2. Be willing to make changes in your playing approach to acheive the timbral language necessary.
3. Learn your "jazz language" by practicing your scales, blues scales, and transcribing the solos of other great jazz players.
Essential listening (to develop your ear and to begin to recognize the timbral range of the instrument from a jazz perspective):
--Any of the Benny Goodman small group recordings from the 1935 sessions, but especially 'Body & Soul', 'After You've Gone', 'Vibraphone Blues', 'Who?'.
--Benny Goodman 1938 Canegie Hall Concert or any of the live Madhattan Room broadcasts.
--Johnny Dodds 'The Lonesome Blues' with Louis Armstrong. Try to mimic the flexibility of his short solo from the beginning. Also any other Dodds you can get your hands on.
--Any Artie Shaw you can get your hands on, but especially his 'Last Recordings' from 1954, plus 'Begin the Beguine', 'Concerto for Clarinet', 'Star Dust'. Many of these are on Youtube. By working on something like the Shaw 'Concerto' you'll learn a ton about sound and flexibility that work with a big band format.
--Pete Fountain 'St James Infirmary' (and anything else).
--Sidney Bechet 'Blue Horizon' (and anything else).
--Edmond Hall 'Live from Club Hangover in San Francisco, 1954'
--Anything you can get of Raymond Burke, Jimmy Noone, George Lewis, et al.
By listening to these, you'll hear a vaste array of timbres and possibilities for the clarinet, far beyond the 'acceptable' classical timbres.
While doing this, experiment with your playing as you transcribe and learn tunes--hold the clarinet at different angles (usually out farther), try different reeds (usually softer), relax more and "get into" the sound. Talk through the horn.
Enjoy, and realize that if you love jazz clarinet this is the beginning of a journey that will far surpass any difficulties of ensembles and proving yourself--it's something you'll carry with you the rest of your life.
*One caveat--some instruments are better than others for jazz. Many of the players listed above played Albert system horns or old, large bored Selmers, and their sounds will be impossible to replicate on a modern French-style horn. But there are various things you can do nonetheless, and as you progress you can make your own decisions about equipment--there are plenty of options out there these days to help you get the sound you want.
GOOD LUCK!
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2011-09-01 13:41
My favorite Goodman is the sextet of '45. The album "Slipped Disc" is as good as it gets for jazz clarinet.
.................Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-01 14:06
I love that '45 sextet, Paul.....and the much underrated 1950 BG sextet that recorded 'Lullaby of the Leaves'....man that was beautiful stuff.
There's something about the range of timbres that BG got from 1935-1940, though, that makes me recommend a young player really get familiar with those. It was before Benny's back surgery in 1940 ('Slipped Disc'...heh...cool that he could joke about it), and before he studied with Reginald Kell.
Check out the different timbres between 'Vibraphone Blues', 'More than you know', and 'Body & Soul' from those c. 1935-37 sessions. That PLUS you get Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa (though you never lack for great players in any era of BG's small groups). The social significance of that 1935 group, aside from the masterpieces they cracked out side after side, make it essential listening.
You really can't go wrong with any of those eras, though. Benny always maintained a very personal sound, always worth checking out.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Leanne E.
Date: 2011-09-01 14:27
These jazz bands without clarinets in them. It doesn't bother me until they play a song made famous by a clarinet player without a clarinet solo!
In April, I convinced my director to add a clarinet to the swing band.
My ability to double on alto when needed has helped, but I've got the director campaigning to the board to get us more music with clarinet parts. It's been a blast! Be nice when asking, not whiny. No one wants the clarinet player to squeak as much as the instrument.
Good luck!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-01 14:41
Another point to make clear:
Transcribing is essential. Start with something easy, like the Benny Goodman ballads ('Body & Soul', 'More than you know', 'Moonglow') and work up gradually to more technically challenging material.
Transcribing will stretch and train your ears, get you used to working without music paper in front of you, and help you learn the timbral, melodic, and harmonic language of jazz from the inside.
KEEP SWINGING and GOOD LUCK!
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2011-09-01 15:48
1. form a dixieland band....rhythm section, trpt, trom,clar 2. Don't lump all jazz together.....ie bebop, swing,dixieland, 3. learn some standard dixieland tunes 4. learn to improvise on these simple changes by practicing exercises.....outlining chords, parts of scales eg. 1,2,3,4, then alternate scale and arpeggio approach. 5. practice improvising at a slow tempo eg quarter at 60 and use prethought out rhythms eg quarters, eighths. Keep track of where you are in the bar. ie play one bar and then end up on beat one of the next bar. " When the Saints Go Marching In" might be a good tune to start with. 6. Play along recordings of dixieland material. 7. Buy some books with dixieland tunes in it. Dont worry about tone too much. There are two basic parts to tone...... you and the reed. Study with someone how to form a good embouchure and blow well. Look and listen to Jazz clarinetists. They can approach embouchure in a different way...eg Kenny Davern...watch his videos...he does some contorting with the mouth and its great. Learn to play with vibrato . The other part of the equation is the reed . Learn how to adjust reeds....ATG system for example is easy to use. good luck ps. learn to play saxophone for the jazz band. You might try tenor as it's Bb like clarinet and the chord changes are the same for improvisation.
Freelance woodwind performer
Post Edited (2011-09-01 15:50)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-09-01 16:50
When I was a sophomore in high school, we started a stage band. I wanted to be in it but I didn't yet play sax. After some pleading on my part, the band director decided to let me double the 4th tenor parts (stage band numbering: 1st alto, 2nd tenor, 3rd alto, 4th tenor, 5th bari). It probably didn't hurt that I had been taking private lessons from him for 5 years. On standards and swing tunes, I usually played the music as written, adding a different voice to the blend. On more contemporary pieces, I played down an octave.
You could suggest doing something similar. After all, you can play softly or lay out, if necessary. And occasionally a solo comes up that sounds just as good, if not better, on clarinet, giving the band an opportunity to show some versatility.
BTW, it turned out better than the band director probably expected. When we started competing, we learned that the band director couldn't conduct us. We needed a "front man" to introduce each number and kick off the tempos. Since I was superfluous as a player, I could go up to the mike, announce the number, kick off the tempo and stroll leisurely back to my place and join in at a convenient place. As we neared the end of a number, I could get up, go out front and cut the band off. It worked very well.
Best regards,
jnk
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2011-09-01 16:59
Thanks guys for those comments as I have been pondering the jazz thing myself. I joined a jazz band only to find there are no parts written for clarinet so ended up playing the tenor sax parts but its just not the same. I dropped
out since it wasnt really "doing it" for me. I do occasionally join in with a small
group with my marching band while standing around waiting for our next gig
and being a shy player the others will coax me to just jump in. I listen to see
what key they are playing in and start my soloing. I have a lot of Benny
Goodman music and play along with those quite often as I love his sound.
Oh btw I only dropped out for a little while, to give me time to pull my alto
sax out and get my chops back in shape as I havent played it since college
Post Edited (2011-09-01 20:18)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2011-09-01 18:05
my advice, simply, is learn to play the sax--starting on the alto is easiest. in this business of "performing artist" versatility is a real advantage--the more instruments you have in your "tool box" the more useful you become to your jazz band. learning a variety of musical styles is also a big plus--not just "jazz clarinet". sax playing is fun and will broaden your musical experiance. it may also be good to note that all of the great jazz clarinetists--goodman, shaw, etc--played saxophone quite well.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: RyanD
Date: 2011-09-01 21:13
You might want to buy a jazz clarinet. Hansons makes them and from what i read they are vary good.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: davyd
Date: 2011-09-02 02:19
There are some big band charts with clarinet parts: various tunes from the Goodman, Shaw, Herman, and Ellington books. But there's not enough of them to keep someone fully occupied in that capacity, and since they tend to have only 4 sax parts, one sax player or another would be idled.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-09-02 02:43
"You might want to buy a jazz clarinet. Hansons makes them and from what i read they are vary good."
What is a jazz clarinet?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: much2bored
Date: 2011-09-02 07:25
I'm learning trombone (I've always wanted to play brass, but not as much as clarinet), and if that doesn't work out, I've been playing piano for about a decade, and I've played guitar for a couple years.
It seems there's a lot more to jazz than I thought. Oh well. It's totally worth the effort.
Thank you all for the help and the music!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: RyanD
Date: 2011-09-02 11:40
Im not quite sure. But it has a diffrent bore and undercutting than a french style one.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2011-09-02 12:26
Benny Goodman played top of the line Selmers.
Therefore Selmers are jazz clarinets (they do have undercut tone holes).
........................Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-02 12:53
"What is a jazz clarinet?"
The short answer:
A jazz clarinet is a clarinet played by a jazz musician.
The longer answer:
A jazz clarinet needs to enable the player a range of textures, flexibility, and volume needed to perform jazz.
This is not so easy to find as it might sound, especially as most manufacturers these days are making instruments to suit an increasingly homogenous classical scene.
Some facts:
Benny Goodman played Selmer BTs in the 1930s, then the Selmer CT (or at least he endorsed them), then Buffet R13s once he'd gone into semi-retirement and was playing both classical and jazz gigs more evenly.
Artie Shaw played Selmers with his big band. He endorsed and possibly played Conns as well. He played Buffet for his Gramercy Five sessions as well (but what model, I don't know).
Pete Fountain played his own model developed by Leblanc, later renamed the "Big Easy" and then discontinued after a thirty or so year run. It was a large bore Boehm system that he said was based on the Albert system horn of Irving Fazola (though I think it might have been closely related to the Dynamic H model that preceded it).
Edmond Hall played a German System Hammerschmidt, the first of the American jazzmen to "Go German".
Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Omar Simeon, Jimmy Noone, Barney Bigard, Raymond Burke, and Jimmy Hamilton (early in his career) played various Albert system horns (often Selmers). You'll note that this list contains many of the great New Orleans players--the NOLA sound is dominantly Albert system, and it's telling that Edmond Hall turned to Hammerschmidt when he wanted to devlop that tradition further.
Dr. Michael White, who continues the New Orleans jazz clarinet tradition, plays a Wurlitzer Reform-Boehm (in the past he's played various Selmers, Leblancs, and Rossi).
Albert Nicholas was one of the NOLA Albert system players to switch to Boehm system, though his early work was on Albert. The recordings he made with Sidney Bechet are a fascinating study in timbre.
Today's players play an array of instruments, by many makers.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
Post Edited (2012-08-20 03:36)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarin-ed
Date: 2011-09-02 15:18
My suggestion would be to just learn sax. It's really not that hard of an instrument; the fingerings are very similar to the clarinet, and the embouchure is pretty easy to get. I ran into the same situation as you roughly 5 years ago when I learned that my band director didn't accept clarinets in the jazz band. I learned tenor sax, and I still play it regularly today.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: RyanD
Date: 2011-09-02 20:54
Are you sure theres no way for you to play clarinet in jazz band. I played it in mine and just used the tenor parts
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2011-09-02 22:21
Learn to play the saxophone, join the jazz band and be all you can be--not just a *jazz* clarinetist. Anyone with half a brain will become much too bored if restricted to one venue of music forever. The saxphone is easy to play adequaltely for doubling and is a lot of fun. Besides, it is rumored by some of my friends, sax players get the cutiest girls.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-02 22:42
I tend to agree that EVENTUALLY you will want to double on sax. It's good to have the diversity, and it even helps you to re-approach the clarinet at times.
BUT.....we do lose a lot of talented people to the sax--kids who switch before they can develop a deep personal voice on jazz clarinet.
To me there's no such thing as *just* jazz clarinet. You can spend a lifetime listening to all the players mentioned in this thread, and never get bored. Ours is an extremely flexible and personal sounding instrument, but it takes a lot of dedication to get there. I like to encourage a young player who seems to have that determination. Maybe we'll get one more beautiful voice.
Best of luck, whatever path you take!
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2011-09-03 00:58
No one has mentioned Buddy deFranco???? What's wrong with you people?
Seriously, he's a wonderful player with a style that bridges traditional jazz and bebop, probably more interesting to listen to (and maybe emulate) for a younger player that the older traditional/Dixieland/swing (etc.) players.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: brycon
Date: 2011-09-03 01:20
Love Buddy Defranco- he is one of the few jazz clarinet players I enjoy listening to. The big band, swing style of clarinet playing never appealed to me. I would much rather listen to and transcribe the greats- Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Bird, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Coltrane, et cetera- than listen to clarinet players.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bill G
Date: 2011-09-03 02:38
Ron Odrich is a great contemporary jazz clarinetest who deserves more mention on this Board, and he has some transcribed solos and play-along recordings commercially available.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-03 02:46
Buddy DeFranco was a great player, no doubt, and well worth listening to. I love those old time bop players, too--I even learned tenor to transcribe Sonny Rollins and Trane. Most of those guys were from my grandparents' generation.
Count me out when it comes to putting a lot of sax stuff on a clarinet, though--especially when it turns into nothing but sax style superimposed. It sounds second hand and weak to me--especially when the player obviously lacks the altissimo of Shaw, the tonal depth of Benny, or the colors of Hall. (You start to wonder if the clarinet isn't just a novelty for them, or a gimmicky way to distinguish themselves from the other sax guys--turning the clarinet into the viola joke of the jazz world). Bop is impressive, especially technically, but the range of expression of the swing players hits me much deeper--and much of the style was clarinet-driven, just as bop was so strongly sax driven.
As for younger folks--heck, ALL those players are of a bygone era to today's teenager. Charlie Parker died shortly after Artie Shaw's last recording sessions. If they're into this music at all, I'd hope it wouldn't be with the cultural biases of Baby Boomers or even Gen Xers my age. In fact, it's kind of nice to think they get to approach it without as much of the generational baggage. This is when the dust gets a chance to settle and the real merits of the music get to be evaluated.
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: brycon
Date: 2011-09-03 03:40
Eric,
What is "sax-style?"
Bird, Rollins, Trane, et al are the sound of modern jazz. Their approach to the music reaches beyond the realm of saxophone players. It is the same vocabularly, phrasing, et cetera that pianists, guitarists, bassists, and trumpeters employ. If someone digs dixieland or swing, great for them, but I actually enjoy hearing clarinet players move beyond the music of 1940. Personal opinion, of course.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kilo
Date: 2011-09-03 12:07
Quote:
Dr. Michael White, who continues the New Orleans jazz clarinet tradition, plays a Wurlitzer Reform-Boehm, which is gaining a new appreciation here in America.
When I met him last year he was playing a Luis Rossi instrument.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-03 12:22
Brycon,
Enjoy what you want: no crime in that. I like hearing clarinet players do all sorts of things, and see no reason to get hung up in the 1950s and 60s (which were well before my time anyhow).
I don't know how much sax you play, but one of the practical aspects of bop is that it takes advantage of the saxophone's timbre, tone size (which is considerably larger than a clarinet), and natural range (which is considerably less than that of a clarinet). A good way to quickly gain some understanding is to do this little demonstration: play the Charlie Parker omnibook on an alto, then play it on a clarinet. After this, play the Artie Shaw concerto on a clarinet, then attempt it on a sax. Pretty soon you'll understand why clarinetists weren't as popular in the bop era, and why alto men generally didn't lead big bands.
When you compare the way jazz language developed on the clarinet between 1935 and 1954 to the way it developed on the saxophone between those same dates, you gain an appreciation for what the instruments could do, and what instrumental limitations sometimes contributed to various eras.
I think knowing bop language is great--it is useful and interesting. But I'll take what for me is the more lyrical and emotionally varied music of the jazz clarinetists from 1935-54 as my foundation. They were the reason I picked up a clarinet in the first place, and they remain my favorites.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-09-03 13:10
I'm enjoying this thread and a couple of things have come up that make me want to respond: the ideas of different styles and the idea of a jazz language.
British reed player, Alan Barnes, makes the point somewhere that it really isn't possible to cover all styles of jazz clarinet to the same degree (he suggests that Tony Coe might be able to do it). His suggestion to those learning jazz clarinet is that they pick a style that aligns with someone or some period that they like and explore that in depth. I think the implication is that eventually that assists in playing all styles/periods more than becoming a jack-of-all-trades from the beginning. That is the implication that I take from it. And it seems hard to disagree with that but at the same time it is hard to hear a contemporary jazz clarinet sound because it is such a minority instrument. I think bass clarinetists have the more recent example of Eric Dolphy's distinctive playing. I know there are lots of players around and it would be silly not to mention Eddie Daniels (I'm sure lots of others will chip in with their contemporary favourites) but the niche character of contemporary jazz means that we tend to go back to bop as the last time that jazz had a distinctive public presence. And, amongst those players, Buddy de Franco and Tony Scott stand out. Young classical players have a repertoire and a pedagogy that is current and powerful. Young jazz players have to find their own way, I think, and have to look to the past for guiding lights. You might not want to play traditional jazz but it would be silly not to listen to the New Orleans players, irrespective of style, instrument and a hundred other factors, and see what you wanted to take from there.
Which brings me to the second point, the jazz language. Why stop at listening to the past masters of jazz clarinet? I've always wanted to sound like Lester Young, but on clarinet (I assure you that I don't but I'm sure that you had guessed that). Not Lester Young on clarinet but on tenor. I wouldn't mind being able to work in a bit of Clifford Brown as well. I really enjoy the way that blues harmonica players combine rhythm and lead playing at the same time. It isn't the instrument so much as what they are playing, notwithstanding differences of timbre and execution, and that is the jazz language. To the OP, I repeat my earlier nod towards the Jerry Coker, "Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improviser" book and 2xCD set. The nice thing about this is the first CD. The book has a very large number of examples of what he considers to be the essential aspects of the jazz language (running changes, digital and scalar patterns, 7-3 resolution, 3-b9 resolution, harmonic generalisation and other things) and they are duly notated. The first CD has these lots of examples played across a variety of instruments. The benefit is twofold. You get used to hearing what they sound like and it becomes easier to find your way through other recorded solos because of that. And you get used to doing that across instruments so it becomes easier to realise what you might hear in, say, a pianist's right hand on your own instrument. And it's jazz, where would it be without that sort of happy theft? A strange sort of not listened to but extensively taught music some people might say.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2011-09-03 13:45
Smart comments, Tony.
Cross-pollination is good. Shaw is on record as saying he transcribed Louis Armstrong more than other clarinet players. You wanted to sound like Lester. As a kid, I transcribed Wynton Marsalis (though I did it on clarinet).
Good advice on the Coker books too.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: elmo lewis
Date: 2011-09-04 14:44
Much2, tell your director about James Kirk, a member of the Ohio Band Directors Hall of Fame. Kirk believed that every student should have a chance to play in a jazz band so he had two bands. One had the standard instrumentation and featured the best players. The second was open to anyone no matter what instrument they played. He would transpose the parts to fit the instrument, flutes played trumpet parts, french horns played sax parts, etc. Many years, between 40 to 50 students particpated in the second band. It may have sounded kind of strange but every kid who wanted to got a chance to play.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: UnruhLEE
Date: 2012-10-25 20:14
I love this thread!
No one mentioned Gilad Atzmon, an amazing contemporary jazz clarinetist. So I will. He's integrating elements of Arab music into jazz. Arab and Turkish makam have so many more tonal possibilities, 52 tones where we have twelve in Turkish makam anyway. And this sort of thing adds a lot of expressive possibility into jazz.
Here's one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2vyBod_zeI&feature=related
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: old999
Date: 2012-10-26 14:27
Perhaps you could form your own group. I took up clarinet, then sax when I retired 7 years ago. After a few years of lessons I asked my teacher if we could form a sax quartet with him instructing and leading us. He agreed, though we couldn't get a complete quartet together. Instead he gave me and another younger student combined lessons as a trio. Eventually we put on some performances in the community - nursing homes, a book shop, a bank, a trolley museum, etc. For gigs we added my wife on bongos and the other student's friend on bass.
In the process, since I was retired and had more time, I became the librarian, booking agent and arranger. If you have ambitions of playing professionally some day, this kind of thing would be great experience.
Our group is on hold for the moment for a variety of reasons, so I'm using the opportunity to get back up to speed with the clarinet. I expect to add this capability to the trio.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sowilson
Date: 2012-10-26 20:40
My daughter (clarinet and bass clarinet) entered 9th grade this year and the high school has three jazz bands. 9th and 10th graders are usually in the third jazz band. Yesterday was their first rehersal and my daughter is the 2nd tenor (she started learning tenor this summer) and the bari player is another clarinetist. So just take the time and learn sax. My daughter took private lessons this summer from a guy who majored in clarinet, plays clarinet and bass clarinet in a jazz combo, as well as alto and tenor saxophone. He's been a great resource for my daughter as he can teach her the differences and similarities between the clarinet and saxophone and drill her on those things that might be an issue (emprochure and certain fingerings if I recall correctly). The director is letting the clarinet/sax players look through the music archives to find tunes they might be able to double on.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
