 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C@p
Date: 2002-03-02 15:28
Can anyone direct me to a web site or other resource or share some wisdom on the theory of clarineting in dixieland music?
C@p
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Author: C@p
Date: 2002-03-02 15:35
Whoops! I should have checked the archives before I posted. But, of anyone has anything else to add, please do.
I thought I had abouit 13 seconds of otes for Saints Go Marhing In but others have said I could do more (if I knew how) and the concert is on the 10th of March, next Sunday.
So, if there are any short cuts or clues to a better quicker understanding and where to get them, please let me know.
C@p
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-02 16:28
Dear C&p -
Hmm, ten days (eight, now). I hope you've been practicing/rehearsing a bit before you wrote your post Eight days is not a lot of time. But, you CAN do it
The best 'short cut' I can share is to Concentrate as you practice. If you're not concentrating, you're just flexing your muscles.
'Theory of clarineting', Dixieland or other, is the same. Music theory applies to music, clarinet theory applies to clarineting, whatever style it is. You play, the best you're able, in the style you're presenting to your audience.
It boils down to study and practice. Listen to recordings of artists you like (preferably in a style similar to the group you'll be performing with) to get some ideas. Practice memorizing your scales and arpeggios etc. Know your music (the piece), know your role, blend with the group and you'll be fine. Go get 'em!
:]
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-03-02 19:38
Improvisation is not a requirement to play Dixieland-style Jazz. Red Nichols wanted his group to play everything from a chart, and as far as I know, they did. It would likely take you more than a week or so to learn how to do it (some have taken many years), but how to play it is not nearly so hard if cou're "copycatting" a recording by someone else. Play along with the recorded music that you like, each player individually, then all together. It'll probably sound quite okay.
Good luck and regards,
John
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Author: Don
Date: 2002-03-02 20:14
Interesting question.
I can't offer much theory, but here's a few practical observations from forty years of playing, much of which includes experience with dixieland.
If you're a dixieland clarinet player:
- Your job is to play a moving part or sometimes to play in thirds above the trumpet's melody. Much of what you play will be upper-register stuff; it has to be or you won't get heard. When you're learning, play a bass line as you improvise. Get the harmonies down first, then add more notes as you become comfortable.
- You'll often play the first solo. I don't know where this comes from, but it's the norm.
- You'll sound best if you keep trills to a minimum. Whether playing two-beat or four-beat style, you should remain percussive. You're not part of the rhythm section, but you're not swinging if your trilling. Save your trills for Mozart.
- You must listen. Always. Your first job in ensemble playing is to compliment what the trumpet does, not to compete. Try laying back at the beginning of a phrase, then emulate the rhythmic pattern you hear from the trumpet.
Now, for the record, here's an editorial.
Many of us who have pursued the New Orleans genre seriously prefer not dixieland but, rather, traditional jazz (or simply "trad" as insiders describe it). We recognize that there's a difference between two styles of music. I offer this because understanding the difference between dixieland and traditional jazz may inform how a clarinet player (there are no clarinetists in either kind of music) approaches his or her playing. If you detect a bias in the comparison I offer below, you're right. I love traditional jazz; I tolerate dixieland. Let me add too that I've generalized to make a few points so interpret the statements accordingly.
Dixieland is about straw hats, red vests, beer chugging trombone players, and cliched tunes. (If I never hear Muskrat Ramble again I'll die a happy man.) Dixieland conjures the sound of clarinet arpegios and trombone glissandos - tailgate it's called, a style named, I suppose, for the back of the wagon where trombone players positioned themselves so their slides would have someplace to go. For a reed player, it's the stuff of syncopated polkas. Dixieland can be good, but too often it is presented racehorse style, That's A Plenty over-and-over at breakneck speed, without regard for musicality.
Traditional jazz is about breathing new life into forgotton melodies, many of which have harmonic depth, surprising turns, and frankly, require chops to play. (Listen to Jelly Roll Morton's Shreveport Stomp; master it on clarinet and you've arrived). Even the simple tunes (Algier's Strut, for example, a song named for a town across the river from New Orleans) have richness.
Trad places emphasis on ensemble playing. Dixieland is one chorus in, solos all around, and one or two choruses out. Playing ensemble style, with few cues except your ears to guide you, is a skill - no, it's an art.
Trad includes an appreciation for dynamics, that is, understanding that soft is the opposite of loud and that contrasts are good. Dixieland is fortissimo.
Now, have fun. Make music. If you play dixieland, trad, or any thing resembling them, you're part of a tradition of American music that deserves your time and attention!
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Author: David Stringer
Date: 2002-03-02 23:39
Wow Don! I played piano in a New Orleans style band on and off for 30 years. I have often thought what you just said, but never had the nerve to say it out loud, even though I would do an internal burn when friends and family always called my groups "Dixieland". So I second the motion.
BTW, I'm here beacuse I just took up the clarinet at the age of 52. I have just graduated from "awful" to "beginner". I think the clarinet frightens people on several levels, that's why I like it so much!
David
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-03 02:05
Don -
You say it so well I hesitate to respond again (but I can't contain myself).
In this area I am about as biased as they come. I consider Trad a musician's music form. Dixieland is not. I don't mean at all that Dixieland is something 'Bad' I really don't. I mean, you've no doubt heard the term, "musician's musician?" Musician's musicians play traditional jazz. Interaction, ensemble, an occasional solo. In my estimation it comes about as close to ensemble chamber music as any aural art form can be. They're kissin' cousins, so to speak.
The ersatz takeoff, Dixieland, is, to me anyway, synthetic frills and trills, straw hats and squealy tricks. Novices play Dixieland.
I know C&p can get through the performance... 'most anyone of us can. C$p's question was, What can be done in eight days? I meant to imply, Not a whole lot but have fun with it. I just hope it will spark an interest to delve a little deeper afterward.
I wrote something like this to a post some time back and recieved a lot of criticism. Well, that's how I feel.
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Author: Ken
Date: 2002-03-03 20:20
Reference these links for info on the basic concept, artists, groups, discography and historical background of the idiom:
http://members.tripod.com/GeoffBoxell/jazz.htm
http://cpcug.org/user/sklein/jazzfaq.html
http://www.nfo.net/.WWW/JO.html#JO
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Author: C@p
Date: 2002-03-08 02:58
Thanks to all for the suggestions.
I have listend to the Dukes of Dixieland and I purchased a Pete Foutain CD on which he plays a version of the saints.
The song has been expanded so we get to to the dixieland part twice. For the first part I am going to try to stay in harmony. The part sounds somewhat like "How Dry I Am" when played alone. When we do the encore, I will do a call and answer for the first two phrases and then run around the upper and altissimo register with a tune that sounds somewhat like the melody but still somewhat off the beaten path so as to complement and stand out at the same time.
Again, I appreciate the help.
C@p
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Author: clr_new
Date: 2002-04-22 06:13
Just in support of dixieland, music is music and just as long as it's entertaining and fun to play, why not?
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