 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wookie001
Date: 2024-09-07 00:20
I have quite good experience improvising on the saxophone, but it’s rather difficult for me to transfer this to the clarinet, especially because of the register jump. It’s not as intuitive as on the saxophone for me.
How can I learn to improvise fluently on the clarinet? Can you recommend videos on YouTube or other learning material how to approach improvisation on the clarinet?
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2024-09-07 02:34
This will sound trite, and I don't mean it to be:
Play by ear...a lot.
It will get your fingers used to the sound/interval patterns. Be aware of your chord changes and be aware of the triads (play the basic chord in thirds if you need to just to get used to it). Also - it might be helpful to pop down an octave...meaning...If you've just played an E5 ![[E5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/e5.gif) , make your next tone an E4 ![[E4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/e4.gif) and continue the same melody you had been playing. A while later, jump up the octave again. Then, try the same things, but jump down like a 4th or 6th, etc.
I learned clarinet before I learned saxophone, but I learned improvisation the "school way" on saxophone in high school and college.
I threw all that out the window when I started improvising on clarinet after college. "Play by ear" is what finally broke through all the garbage I had been both taught, and self-inflicted before that.
I don't know your level, but if you know all the gnarly modern jazz stuff on sax - focus on the thirds (major and minor) and flatted 7ths...and jump back and forth across the bridge as often as possible.
If you aren't theory-minded - I'd suggest just picking a simple tune that you really enjoy and play it by ear. Then, start embelishing on that melody.
Another trick is to simply listen to some tune you really enjoy, then play harmonies with it, or fills, etc. (This is usually a little harder than playing embelishments off the melody, because when you're doing harmonies and fills, you gotta be pretty dead-on for the chords.)
The best way I can describe it - is that on clarinet (more so than on sax) there's a link for me between intervals and fingerings...it's the sound of the target interval that drives the fingers, and not the other way around.
I don't know if that helps at all, but it's all I have.
Hope you have loads of fun. Jazz on clarinet is a hoot.
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: brycon
Date: 2024-09-07 04:10
Really great advice from Fuzzy.
If you can improvise fluently on the saxophone, you can already improvise fluently on the clarinet: improvisation is all the same regardless of the instrument (perhaps excepting chordal instruments). So I'm a little confused why you would want/need clarinet-specific improvisational material. All you really need to do is play the lines you play on the saxophone on the clarinet, practice them in all the keys, and stay patient until you build a stronger connection between your mind, ears, and fingers.
If you're struggling, maybe your saxophone improvisation is relying pretty strongly on muscle memory? If that's the case, Fuzzy offers excellent suggestions.
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Author: Wookie001
Date: 2024-09-08 10:41
@Fuzzy
That’s good advice, thanks!
I think learning more chords and scales would be useful. so far, I’ve mainly improvised by ear, but this way of improvisation has limits. probably it only works partially on the clarinet because I can’t transfer the muscle memory from saxophone
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-09-13 01:24
Because of the clarinet's fingering system, it is considerably harder to improvise with than saxophone or flute. You simply need to spend more time with clarinet, especially on finger technique. I always recommend focussing on learning to play by ear with jazz, which means spending lots of time learning stuff directly from recordings, and not just from clarinetists. I prefer to use trumpet players in particular as basic models for jazz clarinet playing, aside from clarinetists.
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2024-09-13 01:37
I'm not in any way a great improviser, but can do OK if it's in an easy key. Try a lot of Blues in Bb (written C major) as a starter. Practice the blues scales on C scale then on F and G so you get used the lV and V chords of C major.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2024-09-16 07:03
Honestly, the same way you would on saxophone.
If you aren't comfortable with understanding what notes you are playing, it will be much harder. But the more you understand the clarinet, the easier it gets.
Start with some scales (pentatonic, blues, modes, etc.), and play something simple (like anything Blues, or modal like "So What"). Something where the chord changes are simple. Then work your way to something slightly more complicated until you feel comfortable with that.
Something that I tell a lot of people learning new instruments: Every instrument is different. Yes, woodwinds share some features, but it still is a different instrument. Just like violin and viola are different, so are sax and clarinet. The more you understand the instrument, the better you will be at playing anything on it.
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: Skimalodeon
Date: 2024-09-17 10:48
This may be too simple for you, but I'm doing the ABRSM jazz clarinet books. They have play along CDs, each track has a short improvised section. The tracks are only short so you can do them lots of times and have little bursts of improv but not get lost in it.
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The Clarinet Pages
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