 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jenn
Date: 2001-05-17 14:08
I am a high school clarinetist and I've played a lot of classical music before, but very little jazz. I'll have some time on my hands this summer so I thought I could try a few jazz clarinet solo pieces. The only one I know of right now is Benny Goodman's "Clarinetitis." Does anyone know of some other pieces I could try?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-05-17 15:55
Jenn -
To play jazz, you have to "hear the changes" -- that is, recognize the underlying harmony, what it is and where it moves from one chord to the next. What you play has to fit the harmony, or, when you depart from it, to know that's what you're doing.
You can get transcriptions of jazz solos, but unless you understand what's happening, you can't play them right.
There are self-teaching courses to learn to do this, which will serve you better than simply playing through transcribed solos. I'm sure others on the board will tell you which ones are good and where to get them.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Robert Small
Date: 2001-05-17 17:16
Trancsribed solos with chord symbols above the music can be helpful in learning jazz harmony. A good example is the Charlie Parker Omnibook, a book of transcribed Charlie Parker solos. Many good examples of the Blues progression, "rhythm changes", ii-V7-I progressions, cycles, turnarounds, etc. Fun to play on clarinet, too.
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Author: jan
Date: 2001-05-17 19:16
just for the fun of it a few years ago i got a beginner jazz/blues book with accompaniment on a CD. I thought it would be easy and something fun to do for a break between hard practice sessions. I found out I was so used to classical i didnt know how to count jazz/blues very well. so it wasnt as easy as i thot, but it was fun and helped me learn another style of clarineting. you could try something like that...music minus one type thing.
jan
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-05-17 21:42
See if you can find some Jamey Abersold books. They have a CD and a lot of instruction. There are a ton of different ones in all sorts of jazz styles from easy to hard. If you want something hard, try the "Original Big Band Sounds" (I think that's the title) clarinet part. My band uses it. It's full of great solo transcriptions- Song of India, Don't Be That Way, Sing Sing Sing, Savoy, Moonlight Serenade, etc. I'm trying to learn Moonlight Serenade this summer.
Listen to lots of jazz from all eras. And find other people to play with! Enjoy.
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Author: Jenn
Date: 2001-05-17 22:19
Learning jazz music shouldn't be much of a problem as my sister is a talented jazz saxophone player, and I don't mind studying books, CDs, etc. The problem is that in my school, our jazz band does not allow clarinets, only saxophones, brass, percussion, and electric bass. So if I want to play jazz, I have to do it on my own (unless I could form a jazz clarinet choir, but I've never heard if that kind of thing exists). So, I was interested in something just for clarinet.
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Author: Jeff Forman
Date: 2001-05-18 00:23
Farrell Vernon did a couple of transcription books of Pete Fountain and Buddy DeFranco. They are both out of print, but Farrell has put some of them onto his site. The addres is:
http://www.geocities.com/farrell_vernon/clarinet_transc_menu.htm
Take a look at them, maybe you'll find something you like. And listen to Pete Fountain for some solid jazz clarinet foundation. There are faster and fancier players, but I, for one, think Pete Fountain is the best at knowing which notes not to play, which is as important in jazz as those notes you do play. Also, tyr listening to Andy Sherwood for some great ideas on jazz clarinet. You can find a feof his cuts at:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/76/andy_sherwood.html
Good luck.
Jeff
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Author: John Gould
Date: 2001-05-18 00:50
Thought I'd throw out some more sources/ways to learn to play jazz clarinet. By far the best is to find a teacher who can play as well as teach. Ken Shaw is right on the money when he says you have to "hear the changes". Once you can do that, you're already at another level. A book I recommend to get your feet wet, so to speak, is Jazz Conception by Jim Snidero, put out by advance music, order #14725.
And, learning to transcribe solos will help, too. A good tool for that is Reed Kotler's TR1000 digital music study recorder.
Some other thoughts:
Practice to your weaknesses. That's the only way it ever happens.
Work on fluidity in all keys.
Aebersold books are good.
It's better to (to quote Bill Evans) practice 1 tune for 24 hours than 24 tunes for 1 hour. Having said that, the quality of your practice is much more important than quantity.
I have found that learning things in small, frequent doses (at least at first) is effective.
Don't get discouraged. It's not an "easy sell" these days to play jazz on the clarinet. But, it's a WONDERFUL, flexible voice, and folks like Eddie D, Ken P, Don B, Alvin B, Benny G, etc (sorry if I've left anyone out) continually affirm its right to be heard. Good luck.
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Author: William
Date: 2001-05-18 01:07
Artie Shaws CONCERTO for CLARINET is a good example of a "swing era" solo written out. Fun to play!!!! And not too difficult. Also, all other advice above is "right on." Good luck!!!!!
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2001-05-18 07:29
I second John Gould's comments on learning and on suggested materials.
Let me also put in a plug for Benny Goodman as a source of improvisational learning. His playing is fabulous and the logic of his solos is easy to follow. (thus his popularity) Just cop some by ear off of the records--it gets easier and easier, and you learn a lot.
On learning the 'changes.' Jamey Aebersold Vol.1 is a good set, as is his video "Anyone Can Improvise." An even simpler way to learn to deal with chord changes is to learn your I/IV/V arpeggios in every key. My better students can accompany simple songs this way. I have simple worksheet that you can download from
http://allencole.tripod.com/examples/scale_hs.pdf
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) Transpose the examples into every key and practice until smooth and memorized. You will feel the power...
On school jazz band...most clarinetists join these groups by picking up a saxophone. Most schools have altos coming out of the woodwork, but perhaps they need a strong player on tenor or baritone. Most schools have tenors and baris available for student use. I play in a big band where three of the five saxes are actually clarinet players. Both of the sax players in my rock band are actually clarinet players. You'll find this everywhere you go. There's no reason why you have to sit on the sidelines.
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Author: beejay
Date: 2001-05-18 12:10
And still no one has put in a word for Acker Bilk. What's happened to all his supporters out there? Come on Aussies.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-05-18 14:32
I joined a big band to keep in practice reading music and performing between my one-month-a-year once a year orchestra position in Israel. To my surprise, the jazz and big band swing stuff was very difficult. I was reading everything "straight" like in the orchestra and all the guys around me were having a good time with my ignorance. I was humiliated--or rather, very humbled by the experience. They would say things like, "We're playing swing style--don't read the notes literally." I'd never listened to jazz or swing very much and didn't know any of the music. The counting was what got me. But, after 8 years of playing with them I've finally figured it out. And, guess what? The people I play with in Israel are professionals from various international backgrounds and they all have a hard time with the American jazz or swing music. It's the harmonics and counting. Ta-dah, ta-dah, ta-dah, ta-dah, ta-dah, ta-dah.
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