 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: locke9342
Date: 2015-01-31 10:59
What I mean by this is how do you make different styles of sound like: klezmer or old school jazz clarinet. I'm mainly interested in the old school jazz and I don't really know how to describe how it's different from classical, but this song exhibits it pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaK-F8YHPJk
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2015-01-31 18:04
Listen. Listen a lot.
Also experiment with different mouthpieces. Typically jazz, klezmer, and Balkan clarinetists play mouthpieces which have a larger tip opening. The Vandoren 5JB is the first one to try, although I have heard they now have one with an even larger tip opening. Use soft reeds with these mouthpieces (1.5-2).
Then experiment with different tongue positions. Usually for classical clarinet, the back of the tongue is high, as if saying "eeeee" (American pronunciation) or mimicking a cat's hiss. For other sounds, the back of the tongue is sometimes lower.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-01-31 18:31
Ok guys, I've been searching for different descriptions of what is going on with the embouchure and air to get some students from sounding like "pea shooters."
I have come up with the idea that in a straight-up classical situation we strive for about 66% air to 33% embouchure control. This amount of each varies CONSTANTLY over dynamics (ie louder you need more air, but also more embouchure control) as well as where on the horn the note is and the quality of sound you need to produce on that note.
Where am I going with this?
If you play a really loud note (let's say "G" sitting on the top of the staff), almost louder than you can play, you need to contain it with quite a bit more embouchure effort to keep it from getting wild. Now play that note as softly as you can. You then require far less embouchure energy to delicately balance keeping the orifice open vs. the amount of air you are using so that the sound doesn't pinch off or just sound "wheezy." To me, this seems to remain a constant ratio for the type of timbre you want out of each note (whatever the number of that ratio actually is).
So there you have it !!!! If you change this ratio significantly, let's say giving much less embouchure control to the really loud "G," then you get a wild, diffuse sounding note.
I would now (after all these years) therefore say the key to a "jazzier" sound is to allow your embouchure to relax MORE than it should (for standard clarinet playing) for the amount of air you are using for whatever the specific note/register is you are on. And if you think about it, this WOULD be much easier to do with a more open mouthpiece and weaker reed combination. However, you CAN get a quite satisfactory result with ANY mouthpiece/reed combo.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Exiawolf
Date: 2015-01-31 19:13
I think one of the things that contributes to a jazz sound is sounding FREE. That means a lot of things, but when I listen to jazz players, it's almost as if each note just speaks without any sort of struggle at all (I guess you could say the same about great classical players... However it is a different kind of easy speaking)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2015-01-31 22:32
Oooh! Paul! I like your description a whole bunch! When I advise people on this they usually don't make it past the description I use, and I do know that when I'm playing Roma style, my embouchure is much more relaxed. I also think I never noticed it before...
:)
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Author: brycon
Date: 2015-02-01 03:39
Listen and transcribe.
When I was in high school, I wanted to sound like Cannonball (Who doesn't want to sound like Cannonball?). My saxophone teacher showed me how altering the oral cavity, airstream, and embouchure could get me closer to that sound, but I never really got there. When my teacher had me start transcribing Cannonball's solos, however, I learned to copy his swing feel, articulations, and vibrato. And after hours of playing along with recordings, I also began to alter my tone (intuitively, that is) to match his.
What I learned is that swing feel, articulation, etc. are as much of what it is to sound like Cannonball as the basic tonal concept is. You may be able to sound like player x, y, or z on a single pitch (if you take out the player's characteristic vibrato, attack, taper, and so forth), but as soon as you play a couple of notes, you sound nothing like him or her.
So to start, narrow your field--"old school jazz clarinet" is hopelessly broad; Sidney Bechet sounds rather different than Artie Shaw, but they could both be described as old school. Which players do you like listening to? Start with them.
If you mess around with your embouchure, oral cavity, etc. without being able to play in the jazz style (or klezmer style or whatever other style you wish to play), you're just going to sound like a crappy classical clarinetist attempting to play jazz. So if you really want to sound like an old school jazz clarinetist, start transcribing.
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