 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2015-06-22 13:43
Hey guys,
I've been listening to Pete Fountain quite a bit lately and have a question about something he does to separate notes. Of course he tongues like the rest of us, but sometimes he puts this weird "pop" or "bump" in a long note to separate it. I don't know how else to describe it. If you are familiar with his tunes, he does this quite often, especially in the track "Lady Be Good".
At the 1:10 mark in this video you can hear him do this. He may do it later in the video also; I don't remember. Anyway, here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGV0DjYXBLk&list=PLdUhSeydWW24srrEkp8PXUWKJOrzOfhfN
How is he doing this???
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-06-22 17:21
I can't be sure if it Pete's method, but it can be done simply by tonguing along one side of the reed further down from the tip (pseudo damping the vibration). So, you're right.....it's just a "bump."
...........Paul Aviles
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2015-06-22 17:23
Very soft, legato articulation, you don't hear the tongue stop the note, you just hear the release so it sounds like the note starts again, although it never stopped. Sort of like the "L" in vanilla. But it could be embouchure and air, too, he played a super open mouthpiece with a super soft reed and had lots of flexibility. I played a few pops shows where he was the guest artist, super nice guy, funny as hell,great show, audiences loved it. One time, he came back to the clarinet section at rehearsal break and gave each of us a box of his "personal" reeds. It was really nice of him,but they were, I think, Marca 1 1/2s.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-06-22 17:38
I somewhat resemble Pete Fountain physically, and at band practise one of the guys said "You know, Tony, if you'd just learn to play the clarinet you'd be just like Pete Fountain".
Tony F.
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Author: KenJarczyk
Date: 2015-06-22 18:08
That is a tounging technique that would be called "half-ghosting" fully dampening the note is "ghosting." Commonly used by reed players, perfected by Lester Young.
Ken Jarczyk
Woodwinds Specialist
Eb, C, Bb, A & Bass Clarinets
Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo
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Author: TomS
Date: 2015-06-22 23:43
Don't know what MP he played early and late in his career, but for a while he used a Vandoren A2 crystal ... which was a medium open facing. He may have played O'Brien MPs before he switched to Vandoren.
Does anyone know if he played "double lip"?
Tom
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-06-23 06:27
Pete Fountain learned this kind of soft edge, almost no tongue or "brush tongue," articulation from his first clarinet idol, Irving Fazola. If you listen to the original recording of the March of the Bobcats done by the Bob Crosby band, you will hear Fazola's mastery of this technique.
Fountain in the 1950s and early 60s tried to sound like Fazola, and in a fine YouTube performance of the March of the Bobcats done with a New Orleans band, probably (judging from the photo) in the 1950s Fountain plays the Fazola solo nearly note for note, with similar articulation and inflection. Before Fountain began to show much influence from Benny Goodman, he wanted a "fat Sicilian sound" (his words, I believe) and a soft articulation just like Faz. As a young man Fountain acquired one of Fazola's crystal mouthpieces. Evidently Faz liked garlic a lot, and both his clarinet and mouthpiece had a garlic aroma.
Fountain did not play a very open facing on his mouthpiece (open like the Tony Scott facing, for instance). His was always just medium open. I don't know if he used double lip, but he certainly used very little pressure--only just enough to get the job done.
Sorry I can't get the URL to come up, but you can hear Fountain play March of the Bobcats if you search YouTube for March of the Bobcats by Pete Fountain. You will see the album cover photo showing him as a young man (sans toupee, pre-Welk band days). His tone was less gutteral then--very smooth, round, and legato, flowing like a fountain, no less.
Post Edited (2015-06-23 06:44)
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