 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Johnny Galaga
Date: 2018-04-21 03:27
Our instrument is hardly used in pop / rock songs which is unfortunate. Would anyone be interested in a book of pop songs transcribed for Bb clarinet so you can play along to famous songs? Are there any books like this now that are any good? Would be a lot of work, but maybe enjoyable to play.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2018-04-21 03:40
There are many clarinet play along books of popular songs/ show tunes/ jazz standards/ etc... with CD's.
Go to Amazon and search "Clarinet play along CD"
You can also try "Tenor sax play along CD"
...GBK
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Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-04-21 04:52
You can certainly find a book called Play Along 20/20 Easy Pop Hits for Clarinet. Googling "Pop Songs for Clarinet" will yield many results in the "Shopping" tab.
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2018-04-21 06:03
I find it fun to listen to songs I like and try to learn them mentally. It's impossible (or at least very difficult) to write down every minor detail of how the singer sings a particular song. For example, Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" would sound very different if you just play exactly the notes on a sheet music compared to if you actually learned how Ed Sheeran sings it with him bending pitches and more.
Plus it's a good skill for your ears to develop as well
-- Ray Zhang
Post Edited (2018-04-21 07:19)
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Author: jordan.1210
Date: 2018-04-23 13:53
Often for fun, I will play one of my clarinets while listening to pop music and play by ear, trying to pick up on the nuances in the piece and reflect them in my playing, which I imagine would be hard to reflect in written music. Maybe it's the musician in me but I find myself not caring for a large majority of today's pop music because of how simplistic it is, but things like Ed Sheeran and Pentatonix are fun for me.
@zhangray4, funny that you would mention Perfect. I did an arrangement of it for my clarinet quintet and it was interesting to go through and try to transcribe all the ornamentation that he does in the song to sheet music. Funny enough, it's one of the pieces we've been practicing most lately.
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2018-04-24 03:03
Interesting to hear, Jordan! I didn't listen to any pop music until somewhat recently, so I don't know much about the subject. Two girls in my band were trying to play "Perfect" on the piano, so I searched it up and tried learning it since it sounded nice, and perhaps because I wanted to show off . I agree it's hard to transcribe Ed Sheeran completely perfect (pun intended), so that's why I prefer learning by ear.
I remember I tried to transcribe "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" exactly how Frankie Valli sings it a while back. The rhythm isn't as simple as you may think. For example the first 3 words ("You're just too") is not exactly a quarter note triplet, it's actually much more complicated. So I gave up on it eventually haha.
-- Ray Zhang
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2018-04-24 04:09
Ray,
I think you struck on an important point (for folks coming from written music)...vocalist parts on some songs are very difficult to accurately put to paper (at least in a way that "makes sense" or "looks pretty"). This is true especially in pop and jazz...which is one of many reasons folks in pop and jazz don't rely nearly as much (if at all) on written music. Good vocalists rarely sing what is written, and usually scoop, slur, growl, elongate, shorten, stretch meter, etc. This is true way back, in pop music at least as early as 1910, and possibly earlier.
Evan Christopher has some nice videos on YouTube where he suggests trying to emulate the voice's nuances when playing jazz/pop tunes on the clarinet. Here's one of his most basic videos where he briefly touches on that topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JnXC3xxtww His videos about Louis Armstrong are great too.
Don't know if the above will interest you, but wanted to share it, just in case.
(If you do like it, here's another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpwAo-Wpiq0 )
Fuzzy
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Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-04-25 00:32
I always come back to that Evan Christopher video. Him and his Albert system are so charming and expressive. He's right though, if possible, find the "skeleton" of the melody, usually stated right on the beginning within the first verse and/or chorus. Learn that well, and learn to sing through your instrument on those phrases, then add the ornaments and embelishments.
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Author: zhangray4
Date: 2018-04-25 06:04
Thanks for the videos, Fuzzy! Enjoyed them a lot. I probably watched them before, but didn't pay that much attention to what they were saying and just skipped to the playing most likely.
-- Ray Zhang
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2018-04-26 23:40
The Guest Spot series of 'Playalong for Clarinet' are good and they come with a backing track CD which is of good quality which is not just a piano backing but a full band backing.
Skyfacer
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Author: saxlite
Date: 2018-04-30 23:26
Playing along with recorded pop music is the way I learned to play the saxophone. It's a very good way to develop what musicians call an "ear" for music- the ability to play what you hear without written music.
Music stores all sell what is called a "fake book" which is a collection of tunes written with a simplified melody line plus the chord name over each bar. Professional (and amatuer ) musicians use these books to be able to play many hundreds of songs upon request- even tunes they have never performed or even heard themselves before. Many of these fake books are also transposed to Bb or Eb to make it easy for clarinet and sax players to play along with pianos.
Of course, the musician doesn't play the notes precisely as written, but uses what he sees as a framework to improvise rhythm and melody around, giving his "sound" or interpretation to the notes he sees.
Music Minus One CD's provide a "fake book" plus a CD with the appropriate backing band and are a great teaching aid.
Unfortunately, most of today's music does not have the strong melodic content ( and sensible words ) that the music of the '30-50's did. Nontheless, books of current tunes are available, and it is a great idea to play using them, or, as I did, play along with the radio or MMO.
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