 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2006-04-06 00:26
I play at dixie sessions. We are told "chord books are available." So last Sunday one was put on the music stand for the front line. It looked like a very large crossword puzzle with the name of the song at the top. I am used to reading music pages and didn't know what to do with the chord book.
Are they set up by the musical bar, or how are they set up? It seems the banjo players are the ones that really use these the most.
Thanks!
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Author: David Stringer
Date: 2006-04-06 02:01
Hi Carol,
The chord books that I've used are very simple in layout. Each bar is marked with the chord. They usually chart the whole song from start to finish without using fancy navagation like repeats or codas. Intros are often not written, and tags only if part of the song. In other words, they're bare-bones.
I think that even the time signature is not noted, you have to know whether the song is 3/4 4/4, etc.
If a bar has a repetative symbol like a percent sign, it just means to hold the previous chord. They are dirt simple to follow for the banjo and piano, but improvising melody over the chords on the clarinet takes more brain-work, at least for me! I played piano in a New Orleans style band for a lot longer than I've played the clarinet, and I often sit in (piano) on songs I've never heard before with just the book as a guide.
I'm not yet good enough on the clarinet to play in a jazz band.
David
David
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2006-04-06 04:02
Carol, are you familiar with basic harmony? Much of jazz is "faked", but ironically a practical knowledge of harmony theory makes it possible to fake a tune you've never heard, even as it's being played.
The chords are your guide for playing a line that's compatible with the tune. It's certainly better to have the familiarity that comes from hearing the tune many times. But if it's new to you, and you need to contribute something besides unison melody with the rest of the front line, a chord chart is just the ticket.
Consider also that a chord chart can be written out in a few minutes with a felt pen, and is also quick to transpose.
Typically charts are one box to the bar. There are a few alternate symbols for modifiers (minor, major, diminished etc.), but you'll pick those up right away.
John Morton
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Author: William
Date: 2006-04-06 15:21
Also, most chord books are in C so you will have to transpose everthing up a whole step for your Bb clarinet. Ex. an F7 maj chord needs to be read as a G7 maj for clarinet. Also if the C-book it is written in roman numerals, you must remember to transpose the key signiture of the called tune up a whole step. Ex. for a tune called in the key of F, the V7 chord is C7--but for your clarinet, you will need to play in the key of G where the V7 chord is D7.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-04-06 15:29
"an F7 maj chord needs to be read as a G7 maj for clarinet"
Maybe you spell chords differently where you are form but this was confusing. Did you mean F7 or Fmaj7?
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-04-07 08:03
If you're really into doing jazz, it is helpful to know which scale to play "over" which chord. There are certain scales and modes that if played over a chord make it impossible for you to play a "clam" or wrong note. There is a book called "scales over chords" by savidge and vradenburg that is written for guitarists. The training manual "Basic Music" from the Navy Music program goes over this in much more depth.....you used to be able to get this on line but I'm not sure if the government has eased up on restriction to training manuals due to the gulf war.
Incidentally, playing a transposing instrument can make some things easier. For example, if you see a min7 chord, you generally play the dorian mode over it. If you see a Cmin7 in a C part, you would play a C dorian scale, which has the same key signature as Bb major. If you happen to be playing clarinet and reading the C part, you would see a Cmin7, transpose up a step to D dorian, which has the same key signature as C major.
Some other scales to play over chords:
maj6, maj7, sus: major scale, pentatonic major
min6, min/maj7: asc. melodic minor, pentatonic minor
dominant 7 (written as G7): mixolydian if resolving to tonic, or lydian with a flat 7
min7:dorian or pentatonic minor
min7b5: Locrian.....go with God
aug: whole tone
dim: diminished scale
-Randy
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Author: William
Date: 2006-04-07 14:07
Gmaj7 same as G7 maj or G7+ (to me, anyhow). But what I really do, in practice on the gig, is ignore the chord charts altogether and just play the tune by ear.
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2006-04-07 14:59
"Gmaj7 same as G7 maj or G7+ (to me, anyhow). But what I really do, in practice on the gig, is ignore the chord charts altogether and just play the tune by ear."
G7+ connotes a dominant seventh chord with an augmented 5th.
It would spell out: G B D# F
There was an excellent book put out in the 80's on standardized chord symbol notation.
There are a number of regional variants to deal with, and the author hoped to come up with a single agreed upon convention. The use of computerized notation has helped whittle down the choices a bit.
One of the common spins you see here in Toronto is a circled 7 to indicate a major 7th chord. Same thing can be used on a 9th or 13th.
I like maj7, since it's pretty clear. I remember a whole trend towards capitals for major (M7) versus lower case for minor (m7), but given the variations in handwriting, it never really worked well.
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-04-07 17:12
And reading a real book in a dark venue with lots of other stuff going on (and possibly a beer or two....let's be honest), m7 just doesn't look that much different than M7.
-Randy
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-04-07 17:23
"m7 just doesn't look that much different than M7."
That's why it is spelled maj7 or with the small triangle 99% of the times.
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2006-04-07 20:46
Thanks all!
Your information was VERY helpful to me and I printed it out for future reference. I felt like DUH when I posted the question initially!
I have not had much music theory as you have guessed! I play by ear usually on dixie gigs and have many jazz music books for clarinet if I get stuck. But, I think it would be a good thing to know how to read a chord book and it will be a project for me to learn this over the next few months.
Then if somebody tosses one out in front of me again I'll at least look like I've met one before.
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Author: Ken Mills
Date: 2006-04-07 23:20
Carol; Chords come in clusters that are diatonic to one tonality or a primary scale, and then another cluster and so on. So use a pencil to put a bracket over groups of chords that belong together in each tonality and label its root. Do not play the primary scale with the emphasis on its tonic mode all the time but go all over the place with different harmonic resolutions that people will hear as belonging to the key of the whole tune. If you are in the key of C major, say, there will be chord clusters from other scales that may sound like a temporary key change or not. For instance, the Blues in C seems to make a temporary key change on that F7 chord that you can hear, a distinguishing feature. Give us a tune to diagram, Ken
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Author: ned
Date: 2006-04-08 01:53
Right then Carol............chord books are how it's generally done in NO/Dixie/Trad (pick one) bands.
I don't think this style of jazz is enhanced by reading dots really - it's folk music which is generally learned by absorption, that is, listening to others play and listening and playing to recordings. Being folk music is part of its charm and mystery, it's altogether far removed from the world of classical music.
Chord books are a simplified versions of fake books in reality, in that they offer a road map of chords and no melody line - it is assumed that you know the melody already......or that you are capable of learning the melody as the number progresses.
This is not as hard as you might suppose. Many tunes from the NO repertoire are reasonably straightforward and consist of blues (8, 12, 16 bars) standards from tin pan alley and ballads generally of 32 bar duration. With experience, a capable player can anticipate changes and, melodies can be learnt too, on the job, after a couple of choruses, in many instances - just make sure you don't get the first solo.
You will also come across spirituals, multi-theme rags and other assorted pieces of varying length which can be difficult to play without some rehearsal though.
Chord books are set up for the rhythm players benefit principally, and as a quick reference or reminder for the front line player before kick-off. The chords will be written out in ''concert'' so to speak - when a tune is called it is always with reference to the piano/banjo/guitar tuning - it's just something you will have to get used to. So, for example........if ''The Saints'' is called in Bb......that's the piano reference, not the clarinet.....you would be calling it C.
With this in mind, it would be useful for you to get the assistance of a chord player to practice or maybe purchase a keyboard. It would be beneficial to train yourself to think ''piano'' possibly, with respect to keys and chords, and also commit changes to memory and not necessarily even refer to chord books, after a while.
I use an electronic programmable keyboard to practice scales, arpeggios and any number of inversions. I set the keyboard to play a chord (say Bb which equals your C) and work away at some particular part until I 'm aware of some measure of improvement. I'm currently looking to expand this facility to enable the programming of a complete set of chords which will play automatically and...........having a tempo option on my machine too, will allow me to ''work up'' to tempo, as is appropriate.
This is generally how the traditional jazz fraternity does it - certainly it's how the people in my circle operate.
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2006-04-08 02:03
I do have a portable keyboard that I can use for this. Thanks for the suggestion. I really appreciate all the input.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2006-04-09 16:26
The crossword reference is likely what is called tablature. It shows the guitarist how to finger the given chord. You can ignore the crossword puzzles.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: ned
Date: 2006-04-09 22:19
''The crossword reference is likely what is called tablature. It shows the guitarist how to finger the given chord. You can ignore the crossword puzzles. ''
I think you are referring to a guitar fingering chart - the issue in question though, refers to a set of alphabetic type chord symbols (ie Ab7, Bb-, C etc) written in block fashion across a page in cell format, something like a spreadsheet with grid lines.
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