Baton-Wielding Facilitator: I appreciate you coming in this afternoon to talk about your male offspring Jeremy. (Holding up a bottle of water.) Would you like a portable lifestyle beverage before we start?
    Parental Unit: No, thank you. I was unsure I would be able to come. I barely found someone to take my place at work. I’m a Learner Redistribution Specialist for the district.
    BWF: I didn’t know that. How long have you been driving an education transport module?
    PU: Going on five years now.
    BWF: That’s great. I appreciate your service. I asked for this conference because I have several concerns with Jeremy that we need to address. Last week we had a celebration of knowledge, and Jeremy was assessed at 49 percent. In fact, his needs assessments in most classes are suboptimal.
    PU: Is that why he had an E on his report card? What does that mean?
    BWF: Don’t worry, he is not failing, but it does mean that he is academically fragile. The E indicates he is emerging.
    PU: He told me he had all As and Bs.
    BWF: And that brings me to my second point. I must say that Jeremy has had several inadvertent disclosures of misinformation.
    PU: Are you calling my son a liar?
    BWF: Not a liar, exactly. It’s just that he likes to create a fiction from time to time. 
    PU: About what?
    BWF: Yesterday morning, several learners observed him going through the desk in my office. I noticed later that afternoon that I had some inventory shrinkage.
    PU: Are you calling my son a thief?
    BWF: He said he was never in my office, but when we showed him the learner surveillance camera footage of him entering my office, he had no option but to admit it.
    PU: That doesn’t mean he took anything.
    BWF: We later found the temporarily displaced inventory at his individual learning station.
    PU: What did he take?
    BWF: My mucus recovery system and several portable handheld communication inscribers. He also took some peanut-free confectioneries we are selling in our latest program enhancement.
    PU: There must be some kind of mistake!
    BWF: The surveillance footage does not augment reality, and I can assure that the problem here is carbon-based. Also, I know this is difficult, but I do need to address Jeremy’s negative attention-getting in band class. He is constantly picking his teeth with a wooden interdental stimulator and then poking others in the class with it. This created much semantic violence and a collective indiscipline for the whole class. It was during this time that he made the ill-advised comment to Susie McCorkle that she exceeded the odor threshold. When class was over, the wooden interdental stimulators were all over the floor. He did not pick them up like I told him.
    PU: What do we suggest we do about this?
    BWF: I would suggest we enroll him in the schools Supplementary Behavioral Enhancement Program for a couple of weeks. It would be a great learning opportunity. He could work with our utensil maintenance professional in the cafeteria and our custodial engineer every afternoon for two weeks.
    PU: What? If you want to know the truth, I don’t understand half of what you’ve said today, but it’s more than clear that you just don’t like my son. I’m going to go see the principal right now. I’m going to get you fired! 
    BWF: You may have to make an appointment with his administrative professional if you want to get me involuntarily leisured.
    PU: Harrumph! (Stands. Exits angrily with audible verbal self-reinforcement.)
    BWF: (Thinking to himself.) I think she has Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder. 

    I hope this dystopian view of the future doesn’t scare you too badly, but remember that faculty members everywhere are one weeklong administrator workshop away from a mind-numbing barrage of new terms. You must stand strong to prevent this vocabulary enhancement from happening.    

 
* * *

A Selective Glossary

Academically fragile: failing.
Administrative professional: secretary.
Assessment: test.
Audible verbal self-reinforcement: talking to oneself.
Augment reality: lie.
Baton-wielding facilitator: band director.
Carbon-based: human.
Celebration of knowledge: test.
Collective indiscipline: riot.
Confectioneries: candy.
Create a fiction: lie.
Custodial engineer: janitor.
Education transport module: school bus.
Emerging: failing.
Exceed the odor threshold: stink.
Have disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: is grouchy.
Inadvertent disclosure of misinformation: lie.
Individual learning station: desk.
Inventory shrinkage: theft.
Ill-advised: dumb.
Involuntarily leisured: fired.
Learner redistribution specialist: bus driver.
Learning opportunity: something students will hate.
Mucus recovery system: tissues.
Needs assessment: testing.
Negative attention-getting: misbehavior.
Portable handheld communication inscriber: pencil.
Program enhancement: fundraiser.
Semantic violence: shouting.
Suboptimal: lousy.
Supplementary behavioral enhancement program: in-school suspension.
Temporarily displaced inventory: stolen goods.
Utensil maintenance professional: dishwasher.
Wooden interdental stimulator: toothpick.

The post The Battle Against Vocabulary Enhancement appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    “At rehearsals I am never the last person to enter the band room, but wait on the podium saying ‘Come on, clock, come on.’ I never start a rehearsal late; if we are scheduled to start at 3:30, when the clock hits 3:30, boom, we’re off.

    “Every time I go into a rehearsal I know exactly how many minutes I will spend on each tune. I use my watch because if I didn’t, I would probably lose track of things. I pace myself, and I pace rehearsals. If I have four pieces at various levels of difficulty, I would not start or end with the toughest. I don’t subscribe to the view that kids should leave the room singing and happy. Sometimes I would rather they leave concerned.

    “I don’t tape the first day of rehearsals because I can remember where the problems are for a few days without being reminded by a tape recorder. After a rehearsal I think about what happened. The secret to efficient rehearsing is to plan your work and work your plan. This is one of the hardest things for student teachers to learn. They may plan their work, but they don’t know how to work their plan. One of the big things about a rehearsal is what you do after it is over. I sit in my office with my yellow notepad and recall all the things that went wrong.

    “When we get closer to a concert, I throw on the tape recorder in my band library at night and sit there with my yellow notepad and headphones, feeling unhappy. I make notations; I am my own adjudicator. In rehearsal I may have been oblivious to the timpani while concentrating on other things, but with the tape I notice that the timpani didn’t come in. Some directors don’t need a tape recorder, but that’s what works for me.”

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    One of the things I try to pass on to younger players is the fact that jazz by its very nature is a restless music. You can’t just put it in a corner and say, “Now be quiet and don’t say anything.” It won’t allow that. It must evolve; it must reach out and explore. When Dizzy and Bird came on the scene there was a hue and cry, ‘What is this crazy music called bebop?’ Obviously, it prevailed. I think it will always be that way….
    One of my favorite stories that I pass along to young students is about my time with Basie, sitting next to Dickie Wells, who was the lead trombonist of the band at that time. He was a tall, rangy, handsome man who could have been a movie star. Somehow, when he stood up to play his solos, he seemed to tower over the orchestra. Of course, this is magnified by the fact that I was in awe of him.
    I was a kid from Indianapolis sitting next to this monster trombone player who did not play a lot of notes, did not play pyrotechnics or play into the stratosphere. He just played a few well-chosen notes with great feeling and great depth of emotion. He played very few notes, but it was the inflection that he put on those notes that made his playing so outstanding. 
    Kids nowadays are obsessed with a thousand notes and playing faster and higher, so to find out that I was in awe of someone who didn’t play a lot of notes gives them something to think about….
    I’m sure all of us first begin by emulating the people who we idolize. I guess personalizing my playing began during practicing. At first you practice the customary scales and long tones and arpeggios. Somewhere along the line, you begin to incorporate some of yourself into the routine. 
– James M. Rohner, Publisher

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    Early in my career as a conductor I remember feeling somehow cheated if the group before me was poorly balanced or lacking in the needed instrumentation. I continually looked for bigger forces to command, for that Utopia where all chairs would be filled with competent players, eager to be led to the heights of artistic satisfaction.
    Sound familiar? Enough of my intimate colleagues have voiced the same thoughts to make me realize that many young conductors probably share this common longing. Perhaps our attitudes are to be expected. As students we were encouraged to reach for the stars, and after all, young musicians tend to see only the glamour of the professional music world beckoning to them like a siren on the rocks. We studied our scores, hearing the smooth, well-balanced sound of a Chicago Symphony, not the struggling, asthmatic efforts of a school orchestra. And then reality struck! We took a position with a 30-piece school or community orchestra, and those dreams were lost in frustration and disillusionment.
    There are several typical reactions to this situation. Some directors plow through the pages of a score, conducting as though they were indeed facing a great orchestra. They simply ignore what it really sounds like, indulging their private Walter Mitty fantasies – and they often put on a heck of a show on the podium! Others prefer to take it out on the players through barbed criticism and sarcasm. Such conductors let it be known that they resent working with a less-than-perfect ensemble. They see themselves as unfortunate victims of a cruel fate who have a right to be nasty because their orchestras don’t deserve them (well, at least they’re right about the last part).
    Then there is the martyr’s approach. Throughout the rehearsal these conductors lament, “If only we had more violins, oboes, horns, basses, etc., it would sound good.” This attitude passes along the conductor’s personal sense of disappointment to everyone in the orchestra and eventually generates despondency and a sense of hopelessness among the players. The group feels defeated – and they play like losers.
    However, now and then one encounters a conductor who sees a so-called hopeless situation as a challenge and approaches the problem with enthusiasm. For these imaginative men and women, music doesn’t make them, they make music. Sure, it’s more exhilarating to lead a fine professional orchestra. The musical rewards are built in. But there are also rewards in taking a feeble, unbalanced ensemble and creating something musically worthwhile with it, and in good conscience, we do want the members of our orchestras to have satisfying experiences. It is not their fault that instruments are missing. So we must do the best we can with what we have, no matter how scrappy and illogical our instrumentation may be. Even poor instrumentation can be made to sound good.

Seating
    As conformists (and competitors) we want our groups to at least look like the big time, so we seat them in the conventional 19th-century orchestra   tradition, but this standard formation often puts an unbalanced group at an even greater disadvantage. Second violins are strung out so that they sit somewhere in the vicinity of the horns or percussion, the brass face forward so that their sounds strike the audience (and the backs of the heads of most of the orchestra’s mid-section) with full force. Our semicircles look great in the annual photograph, but the actual sound can be garbled and few players can hear themselves, or anyone else, very well. What a difference when we seat a small string section in a semicircle around the podium, each member facing forward! Woodwinds also benefit from curved seating patterns rather than the usual platoon-style rows, and brass will not be so overpowering if placed at the sides of the orchestra, facing inward. These seating arrangements will greatly aid the players in relating to one another and in hearing themselves. Also, smaller sections won’t feel so intimidated.
    For example, let’s say you have six violins, one viola, three cellos, two basses, two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, four trumpets, three trombones, piano, and full percussion. To make the group sound good try an arrangement like the one shown at the top of the next page. Depending upon the relative strengths and weaknesses of your players, there are several possible arrangements to try.

Doublings & Substitutions
    You can double weak parts effectively with other instruments, without losing the intrinsic character of the orchestration. Here are some possibilities.

Flutes
    Trumpet with cup mute
    Eb clarinet, played pianissimo

Oboes
    Trumpet with straight or shastock mute
    Solo violin or viola, perhaps con sordino
    Eb clarinet
    Soprano saxophone
    Guitar

Clarinets
    Soprano saxophone
    Violas
    Trumpet with shastock or cup mute

Bassoons
    Trombone with solo-tone mute
    Cellos
    Tenor saxophone
    Three clarinets in unison, in low register
    Euphonium or upper-register tuba, played piano
    Bass clarinet
    Horns in lower register, played slightly staccato and pianissimo

Horns
    Trumpets played into stands or with hat mute
    Trombones with hat mute
    Cellos, especially if they divide, arco and pizzicato, to resemble tonguing attack
    Clarinets behind a baffle or into a box
    Bass clarinet
    English horn
    Saxophones playing pianissimo, without vibrato

Trumpets
    Oboe, preferably two in unison 
    Clarinet and oboe doubled
    Soprano saxophone
    Viola in upper register
    English horn in upper register, played staccato

Trombones
    Cellos
    Bass clarinet
    Euphonium
    Bassoon, preferably doubled
    String basses, dividing arco and pizzicato
    Horn in lower register, played slightly open

Tuba
    String bass
    Two bassoons in unison
    Contrabassoon or contrabass clarinet
    Baritone or bass saxophone
    Piano playing octaves at bottom of keyboard

Violins
    Any woodwind instrument, phrased and articulated to correspond with the printed violin bowings
    Trumpet, legato with straight or harmon mute

Violas
    Two or three clarinets, in middle or low register
    Trombone in shastock mute
    Horn stopped or muted
    Alto saxophone played pianissimo

Cellos
    Euphonium
    Trombone with cup or hat mute 
    Bassoon, preferably two in unison, playing piano and legato
    Bass clarinet, preferably two
    Basses
    Tuba, possibly with mute
    Bassoon, preferably two or three in unison or doubled with bass clarinet
    Contrabassoon or contrabass clarinet played staccato
    Bass trombone with cup or hat mute
    Piano playing octaves in lowest register

Harp
    Autoharp
    Piano with pedal down, played piano
    Marimba
    Clarinets, pianissimo, doubled with pizzicato in strings
    Guitar
    Bass clarinet, marcato, doubled with pizzicato in cellos
    Piccolo, played piano and staccato in lower or middle register, doubled with bells, played with very soft mallets

    The important thing to remember when doubling and substituting instruments is that the effect results as much from the dynamic level and style of playing as from the instruments used.

Choosing Music
    Much of our traditional orchestra music gives the hard stuff to the higher instruments, while other members of the group accompany with simple chords or after-beats. The poor first violins work themselves into a lather while the lower strings and winds huff and puff on dull, uninteresting harmonic figures. Pieces that have long, simple melodic lines on top and put more active harmonies and rhythmic patterns underneath are harder to find but they enable student orchestras to sound better. Ron Nelson’s Jubilee and Ippolitov-Ivanov’s Procession of the Sardar are two good examples of such pieces. The brass parts supply wonderful rhythmic underpinning, the woodwinds function as fillers, doublers, or soloists, while the strings perform easy, soaring melodies and sound great.

Rewriting String Parts
    Because most of the music we play originated before wind instruments became such versatile orchestra members, we find ourselves severely taxing the strings much of the time, while allowing the winds to develop dry rot. Traditionally, demands on string players are heavy, and few student string sections have the technical ability to fully meet the challenge. It takes a bit of work, but the smart director can alleviate this problem. Passages can be rewritten so that the strings play in unison or octave sustained notes while the winds take care of the harmony and counterpoint. Let the winds do more of the tough virtuoso work while the strings sustain the harmonic base, if your players’ techniques call for it. The charts of today’s pop songs and film scores demonstrate how effective easy string parts can be. It is better to have less flourish and more solidarity than a ragged, failure-prone string section trying to play beyond their capabilities. Give the poor kids a chance to sound good once in a while!
    Even very young string players sound good playing pizzicato. Rearrange some passages so that solo wind instruments or sections play legato while the strings play pizzicato and you’ll clean up many messy problems. Bowed repeated notes played in a rhythm that mixes eighth and sixteenth notes are easy, and sound a lot more virtuosic than they really are.

Better Use of Brass
    Brass players can play softly, but we seldom take full advantage of this stunning effect in our school orchestras. Look for places to add sustained pianissimo brass chords, especially in low registers where the sound is rich and won’t cover up the thinner strings. Crisp brass articulation (good staccato) will allow the string quality to come through, while sluggish attacks obliterate everything and cause the orchestral texture to be heavy and dull. For more subtle color changes, trumpets and trombones can play into their stands.

The “Wire Band”
    Nothing hurts the orchestra director quite so much as the comment “Sounds like a band,” but anemic strings are all but lost when challenged by a full wind section accustomed to the loud dynamics they play in the school band. Since band arrangers have done so well by pilfering orchestral literature, why shouldn’t orchestra directors go to good band literature for their repertoire? Band pieces are less linear, are generally less difficult, and usually transcribe nicely. Besides, much of it is good music. The winds would then have enough to play and the strings could play enhancing parts full of unison and pizzicato passages, in lower, safer, richer ranges. The resulting sound is full, flattering, and quite orchestral.

Percussion Color
    How sad it is that we neglect those eager supernumeraries of the orchestra. We wouldn’t feel that percussionists are extras if we understood and used the many colors they can bring to the orchestra. Adding bell tones, mallet passages (played piano or pianissimo), and batterie accents; reinforcing melodic accents with the incredible variety of instruments and beaters available; or even using the wonderful sounds you can make from junk all contribute to the color spectrum of your ensemble. If you have a scarcity of the usual color instruments (oboe, English horn, bass clarinet, viola,   harp, etc.), make up for them through the use of color percussion. It can be just as effective.

Piano and Organ
    The piano is usually looked upon as an orchestral cop-out, a last resort to fill out the harmony or replace missing parts. Well, it is a cop-out if the pianist continually plays a drab mezzo-forte, semi-legato, without giving a thought to the varied color possibilities on the instrument. Imaginative use of pedals, different articulations, and exploration of double and triple octaves are but three very obvious nuances available. When doubling a line in the orchestra, the pianist should strive for interesting sounds to complement, rather than intrude upon, the orchestral texture. Plucking the strings with the fingers for certain notes can highlight a passage the way a harp can, and depressing the sostenuto pedal can serve as an acoustical reinforcer for the entire orchestral sound.
    The electronic organ is widely advertised as a synthetic orchestra, and while we may still hear vast differences between the real thing and an organ stop, there are some interesting combinations possible that can enhance the orchestral texture. Carefully controlled use of an organ can inobtru-sively round-out the sound of the orchestra and add thrilling new colors, expecially at climax points. Again, watch the dynamic levels; the organ needn’t remind you of the Easter service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Amplification
    Never, you say? Not kosher? What about professional recording studios? They make excellent use of microphones, not just to increase the amplitude of sound, but to create fine balance and texture, and even add reverberation. In fact, miking and mixing can even produce some sounds that are not possible with ordinary doubling. There are so many fantastic electronic devices available today that we owe it to ourselves and our players to investigate every possibility. Better amplifiers don’t distort; they have superb quality, can help improve balance, and can produce some beautiful effects by feeding the source through mixing channels. Contact mics are available for all instruments, and synthesizers can imitate many instruments with uncanny realism as well as produce new and exciting sounds of their own. Let’s not overlook these technological possibilities for school groups.
    Imaginative directors of course will think of many additional ways to make their groups sound better. The instrumentation that you have been complaining about is really not as much of a stumbling block as you may think. What is important is planning it so your group is capable of sounding good even before they start to play.

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Tone and Embouchure
    As with any instrument, the first step to producing a good tone is knowing how the instrument is supposed to sound. Although it is often scored in conjunction with the flute or piccolo, the Eb clarinet is still a member of the clarinet family, and Eb clarinet players should aim for the same tonal qualities that are desired on the clarinet: centered sound, roundness, balance of overtones, and a lack of edge or spread. One reason for a spread or unfocused sound is improper tongue placement, typically because the performer anticipates the pitch that would come out of the Bb clarinet, which is a fourth lower. Transposing a passage for Eb clarinet up a perfect fourth and playing it on Bb clarinet helps to position the tongue properly for the Eb clarinet. Jorge Montilla, Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Iowa, prescribes that the back of the tongue should be a bit lower when playing the Eb clarinet, similar to playing in the altissimo register on the Bb clarinet, to allow the tone to resonate properly.
    Several potential obstacles in producing a desirable tone come from misconceptions regarding the Eb clarinet’s size. The smaller reed and mouthpiece of the Eb clarinet often leads clarinetists to take less mouthpiece and reed than on Bb clarinet. However, the lengths of the facing curves on Eb and Bb clarinet mouthpieces are usually quite similar, meaning the overall amount of reed and mouthpiece taken into the em­bou­chure should be comparable. In fact, close examination of my  mouthpieces reveals that the length of the facing curve is virtually identical between the two.
    Students can quickly identify the length of the facing curve on any clarinet mouthpiece by gently inserting a piece of paper between the reed and the mouthpiece until the paper stops. The point at which the paper stops indicates where the mouthpiece curvature breaks away from the reed; this is the ideal place for the lower lip to contact the reed. A small piece of electrical tape can then be placed on the reed where the paper stopped. Students can then play on the reed (the tape does not impede the reed’s vibration), using the tape as a tactile indicator of where the lower lip should contact the reed.

Comparison of author’s Eb (L) and Bb (R) clarinet mouthpieces. The length of the facing curve is indicated by electrical tape on the reed.

    A desirable tone on the Eb clarinet also requires adequate air support. Too often, performers unfamiliar with the  Eb clarinet believe that the instrument requires less air because it is smaller. However, the opposite is actually true; the narrower bore of the Eb clarinet produces greater resistance, necessitating more air. Students should be encouraged to play with enough air support to produce a tone that resonates and blends properly. I find it helpful to focus on expansion along the ribcage (noticeable by placing one hand on the stomach and the other on the lower back) during inhalation and expelling air in an intense, compacted airstream. Another beneficial exercise is to hold a small piece of paper (approximately 3 inches by 5 inches) against a wall and keep the paper pinned against the wall via blowing at the paper. A sufficiently rapid and focused airstream will hold the paper in place even after the hand releases the paper.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, iii, mm. 139-142. Originally for Eb clarinet, also transposed to Bb clarinet for voicing practice. 

Intonation
    It may be tempting to immediately scrutinize intonation in a poor Eb clarinet performance, but I instead refer to John E. Williamson, Director of Bands at Central Michigan University, who said, “intonation can only be considered when the students have a clear, characteristic tone.” Many of the previous remedies for poor tone on the Eb clarinet will also go a long way toward correcting intonation problems as well.
    Beyond the means for modifying tone described earlier, students should spend a considerable amount of time with a tuner prior to entering the ensemble, checking the pitch of each note on the instrument. Although variance exists between individual instruments, there are some general intonation tendencies that students should be cognizant of when playing the Eb clarinet. Some of these inclinations are shared between the Bb and Eb clarinets, such as a proclivity for sharpness in the upper clarion register (G5-C6). However, some intonation deficiencies on the Eb clarinet actually oppose the tendencies of the Bb clarinet. While throat tones on the Bb clarinet tend to be sharp, the same written pitches (G4-Bb4) are more likely to be flat on the Eb clarinet.

General intonation tendencies of the Eb clarinet.

    The altissimo register is of particular concern for the Eb clarinetist, as parts for the instrument generally highlight this upper tessitura. If students are flat in this register (C#6 and above), two likely culprits are insufficient pressure from the lower lip and too light a reed. Many students find a heavier reed more conducive to producing the altissimo pitches with good tone and intonation.
    The inherent sharpness of the upper clarion register can often be remedied by omitting the register key, thereby overblowing the fundamental register and lowering the pitch of the sounding tone. This is particularly helpful when playing in soft dynamics. However, omitting the register key only works for A5-C6 in the clarion register and requires careful voicing to avoid an undertone or grunt. In addition, the intonation of D6 can be performed by overblowing G4 in the throat register; the traditional fingering is often quite sharp on Eb clarinets.

Equipment
    As is the case with any instrument, specific equipment is secondary in importance to diligent practice and excellent instruction. That being said, certain choices of Eb clarinet equipment can ease the initial playing experience just as particular styles of mouthpiece and reed facilitate more immediate success when beginning the clarinet.
    A fruitful and cost-effective way to improve Eb clarinet performance is to upgrade from the stock mouthpiece, particularly when the instrument is not of professional quality. As the performer’s most direct interaction is with the mouthpiece, its design heavily affects the performer’s experience. In addition, a new mouthpiece can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a new instrument. I find a narrow tip opening on the Eb clarinet mouthpiece allows for the use of heavier reeds, which help to produce a centered tone in the altissimo register. Richard Hawkins’s S model, Clark W. Fobes’s San Francisco mouthpiece, and Bradford Behn’s Zinner mouthpiece all exemplify this design and are known for yielding a darker tone and a free-blowing playing experience.
    Careful selection of reeds may also facilitate improved performance on the Eb clarinet. While there are a multitude of commercial Eb clarinet reeds available from Vandoren and D’Addario, many Eb clarinet players find greater success using reeds designed for Bb clarinet because of the thicker heel and longer vamp of a Bb reed. However, this requires the performer to trim the heel of the Bb reed in order for the reed to fit on the mouthpiece; an unaltered Bb clarinet reed will not fit on the Eb clarinet mouthpiece. I recommend using an ordinary pair of pruning shears to clip the heel of the Bb reed, followed by smoothing the rough edge with fine grit sandpaper.
    Some performers may experience slight discomfort due to the wider Bb reed hanging over the side rails of the mouthpiece; this can be alleviated by sanding the sides of the Bb reed with fine grit sandpaper. This final step can be avoided by purchasing German-cut Bb clarinet reeds, which are narrower than the French cut used in most of the United States. Vandoren’s White Master reeds and Peter Leuthner’s German cut reeds are two of the more popular options available for purchase.

Marking where the Bb clarinet reed should be trimmed.

    If intonation is still problematic after implementing the recommendations discussed earlier, or if the instrument has an even scale but is consistently above or below pitch, a new barrel may solve the problem. Three of the most prominent manufacturers of aftermarket Eb clarinet barrels are Bradford Behn, Backun Musical Services, and Clark W. Forbes. Backun’s and Behn’s products both feature a cutout on the back allowing for a Bb clarinet reed to be used without needing to trim the heel. Barrels from each of these makers can also help to darken the overall timbre of the Eb clarinet and are available for less than $200.

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Spring Rounds. Omitting register key pitches A5 and above improves intonation.

Selecting Students
    When determining who should play Eb clarinet, look for students with a clear and round tone in the upper clarion and altissimo registers of the Bb clarinet; this suggests a properly developed embouchure that will translate well to the Eb clarinet. Good intonation in those same registers shows great attention to pitch, which is a necessity for playing the Eb clarinet. I also suggest seeking out students with a certain sense of confidence or assertiveness in their playing. The nature of Eb clarinet parts often places the instrument an octave above the Bb clarinets or as the only member of the clarinet family playing with the flutes. These common settings require students to be self-sufficient when playing the instrument and to play without fear of sticking out from the ensemble.

Healthy Practicing
    When practicing music on the Eb clarinet, I recommend that students avoid prolonged repetition in the higher register of the instrument to prevent hearing damage or em­bou­chure fatigue. Extended periods of mental practicing, such as saying note names out loud while fingering, can help preserve the embouchure muscles. Similarly, students can play Eb parts on the Bb clarinet to gain familiarity with specific technical passages. Diligent use of earplugs is also of utmost importance in protecting the performer’s hearing. When combined with effective practice techniques, these suggestions go a long way toward preserving the health and wellness of aspiring Eb clarinetists.

Conclusion
    The Eb clarinet is a valuable presence in any ensemble, be it a symphony orchestra or a clarinet quartet. These suggestions will assist students in reaching a higher level of Eb clarinet performance, leading to a richer and more substantial student experience.

The post Mastering The Eb Clarinet appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Group Identity
    Early on we decided that a big mission of the Cape Elizabeth jazz program would be teaching jazz standards. Our top group does a mix of standards and more contemporary pieces. Our second band is called the Repertory Jazz Ensemble, and it focuses on historically important jazz literature. Not In the Mood, but pieces such as Moten Swing, Taking a Chance on Love, and Travelin’ Light.
    Part of our philosophy is to teach literature that has historical value. That doesn’t mean that every piece should be a museum piece (and it shouldn’t), but teaching music that has a true Kansas City connection means you can teach Kansas City, including Tom Pendergast, the Great Depression, and racial relations. Teach Ellington and you can teach 1920s Harlem.
    Much of what is out there today is ephemeral – music written to make school groups sound good. There is value to this music, but a steady diet of it compromises a key part of our educational mission, which is history. With the exception of bebop heads (which in themselves have become standards) it becomes more difficult to teach history through contrafacts. The good news is that some publishers are really getting this. An increasing number of jazz standards are being published, particularly for younger groups. The writing is often skillful; writers such as Rich De Rosa, Rick Stitzel, Rich Sigler, and Michael Sweeney write beautifully for young band.

Know Your Ensemble
    This starts with a realistic look at strengths and weaknesses, including instrumentation, ranges of brass players, and strength of soloists. You can take advantage of incomplete instrumentation. If you have only two trombones, consider Ellington’s Black and Tan Fantasy or some 1950s Maynard Ferguson. For ensembles with limited brass tessitura possibilities but a good sax section, Benny Carter’s music, much of which is published, is an answer.
    If your soloist options are limited but you have an all-state concert band player in your band, have something crafted for that player. At one point we had an all-state level trumpet player whose trumpet playing was ahead of his improvising. For a modest fee we commissioned a piece based on a Clifford Brown with Strings cut. We were able to put our best player out there in a setting in which he and the band could be successful. There are many writers who would be eager to write for your band for a reasonable fee. All it takes is the courage to pick up the phone.

Troubleshooting
    A common programming problem is a mismatch between the ensemble ability and the maturity of soloists. The solution is to program from the inside out. If your soloists are in the formative stages, pick tunes based on the accessibility of the changes. Some have tried to skirt this by having the original solos transcribed and memorized. There can be value to this, but educationally this approach is limited, and unfortunate for students.
    If there is a tune that you feel you absolutely must do. look carefully at the chord changes. Often these can be simplified. Writers will often reharmonize a standard tune to put their stamp on it. You are then left with what are called arranger’s changes. It is entirely acceptable to revert to the original changes for the solo section.
    A great example of this is a tune commonly played in festivals. Bill Potts’s Big Swing Face. It is a blues, but with altered changes. I recall one director telling me, “My soloists are really struggling with the changes,” to which I responded that the piece was a blues, and it was okay to change the changes. Sharp judges won’t penalize a band for this; they will credit you and your group for knowing what you are doing.
    You can also take a standard tune and solo over just the A section, meaning the soloists would not have to solo over the bridge. A common arranging trick for young bands is to have the soloists blow over the A section (which is usually in one key), while the bridge (with a variety of modulations) becomes an ensemble interlude. With one pentatonic scale you can get many students soloing with success.
    Another common problem is charts that are long to the point that the ensemble loses steam at the end of the program. This is especially true in charts written for professional or for college ensembles. Look for places in which shout choruses can be edited. A second or third run through the form is often a great show of compositional virtuosity, but not necessarily a great programming strategy. As Dave Sporny, a great jazz educator from the University of Massachusetts puts it, “Rig it for yourself.” 

***

Problem-Solver Pieces
Ideas for Ensembles with Non-Standard Instrumentation

Few or Inexperienced Trombones
    At the grade 2 level, many charts are written with only one trombone part, and this is often doubled by tenor saxophone. One great source for bands with less than ideal instrumentation is the Kendor Konvertibles series by Doug Beach and George Shutack.
    For grades 3-4, 1920s Duke Ellington tunes, such as Black and Tan Fantasy by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington (Alfred) work well as a solution to this problem. Whisper Not (by Benny Golson and arranged by Mike Abene (Sierra), recorded by Maynard Ferguson, is an example of a substantial chart written for reduced instrumentation. Another is Blues for Kapp by Marty Paich (Sierra). In­stru­men­tation is 4-4-2-3.

Strong Saxes, Weak Brass
    Kansas City Suite by Benny Carter (Sierra) is ten movements of excellent music in various styles recorded by Count Basie in the early 1960s. A very good Basie-style chart with modest brass ranges is Basie Eyes by Shorty Rogers (Sierra).

Strong Brass, Weak Saxes
    Moten Swing by Eddie Durham, arranged by Ernie Wilkins (Sierra). This classic Bennie Moten band piece gives brass the opportunity to play strong, achievable tuttis and has modest saxophone demands.

Surplus Percussionists
    Latin charts are a great way to use rhythm sections with more than one drummer. Limbo Jazz by Duke Ellington (Alfred) is a great chart of modest technical demands that lends itself well to auxiliary percussion.

Featuring Flutes
    Flute Salad by Oliver Nelson (Sierra). The piece features flute and bass clarinet, but you can substitute saxes as needed.

Solos for Multiple Instruments
    Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael, arranged by Big Holman (Sierra). For vibes, flute, and soprano sax.

Bari Sax Feature
    Moanin’ by Charles Mingus, arranged by Mark Taylor (Hal Leonard). Jalen publishes a chart by Dave Mills on this piece at a similar difficulty level.

The post Programming Tips for Jazz Band appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    A bit that I often use in my classes here at the Lamont School of Music at The University of Denver is that the world of the arts in the 21st century can best be described using the famous Dickensian line “The best of times and worst of times.” It is the best of times because technology has created an even playing field where artists are no longer under the thumb of corporate masters. It is the worst of times because technology has created an even playing field where artists are no longer under the thumb of corporate masters.
    Yes, we as performers, composers, educators, and entertainers (more on that later) can get our music directly to the public without a record label or producer dictating our artistic direction. The little snag with that glorious fact is that the masses have decided that music should be free of charge. Amazingly, recorded music as a revenue stream is now virtually dead. Conversely, this frightening fact seems to be jump-starting a new era of entrepreneurship and diverse creativity that I believe can be described as a Renaissance in jazz itself that reflects the current state of the entire art community – a true example of a phoenix rising from the ashes.
    As a person who began his career in the latter part of the 20th century, I of course bemoan the loss of the comfortable infrastructure of yore: that of the artist rep who would sign a promising performer or writer to a robust successful label and then develop and nurture every aspect of their career by actually selling product. Indeed, in those days, there was even a budget provided for this endeavor because the record companies could make money from it. This is not the case anymore; it is all gone and not coming back. So, what does this mean for jazz specifically and the arts in general?
    I think this means we all need to become entrepreneurs, great marketing people, and genius business minds. In truth, I would rather just write music and play trombone, but there is tremendous potential in this brave new world by embracing the various technologies and learning to market yourself. 
    I see evidence of the benefit of ubiquitous technology first hand with the huge numbers of incredibly well-prepared young students that are pouring into our universities. Thanks to YouTube (the same entity that has so successfully destroyed our recorded music revenue stream), students of jazz can dial up a video of a J.J. Johnson concert and learn not only his vocabulary, but also his body language and how he approaches air efficiency and technique, as well. You can hear this in the best young players coming up these days – a startling early assimilation of the great bebop tradition via learned vocabulary. Many would point out that this does not represent true creativity, but instead is merely an efficient rote method of mimicry. I counter that thought with a quote from one of the masters:

    “You need to work a long time before you can sound like yourself.”
    –Miles Davis

    I would also point to the time-honored mantra of the great Clark Terry: “Emulate, assimilate, innovate.” CT used this catchy phrase to describe the process of spontaneous composition in our music. Emulate the vocabulary, time, sound, and nuance of the great masters, assimilate it into your playing by hitting the shed, and you will eventually equip and free yourself to innovate with your distinct voice. Using these wise words from the great man as a measuring device as well as a call to action, I believe that our young artists are well on their way towards innovation – but how?
    Here at Lamont, I am regularly told about new musical groups from our talented students. In almost every case, I’ve never heard of these ensembles.

    Me: “What a fresh groove! Where did you get that from?”
    Student: “From the Crooked Fence Rooster Critters.”
    Me: “The who?”
    Student: “The Critters man! They are heavily influenced by Invalid Porpoise, surely you are hip to the Porpoise?”
    Me: “Uh . . . nope.”
    Student: “Wow.”

    At this point – my street cred temporarily diminished – I go to YouTube and find twenty unbelievably hip and professionally rendered videos by whatever flavor-of-the-week group the student has suggested, each with more than 300,000 views. This is 21st century marketing and entrepreneurship in action. Plus, perhaps most importantly, these groups often combine aspects of multiple genres across the entire spectrum of music. Best of all (for me anyway), I learn something new from each viewing and steal it for my stuff.
    That brings us to one of the most exciting aspects of what I see going on right now in our art community. All styles of music are on the table. The better and more diverse the education a young artist has, the more they are using that wide-ranging palette in their music. Just ask any young monster performers who they are into, and you will hear about some new group or artist that will improve your day.
    Of course, there are the downsides to today’s fast and infinite delivery of free music. Few students get the luxury of reading liner notes and getting to know the complete personnel in each band like we denizens of the 20th century got to do, but this is where a college education comes into play. What a joy to turn some burning young freshman on to Dizzy Gillespie’s Sonny Side Up or Dexter Gordon’s A Day in Copenhagen.
    As for the obvious downside of the fiscal death of recorded music, incredibly, there are upsides to that as well. The most exciting development that I have seen is that the demand for live music seems to be on the rise. With myriad other technologies in the business realm, young talents are booking their own tours and getting out on the road. CDs and even LPs are still being made, but these days they are only sold at performances for the most part. As for these live events. I hear everything from small groups that are deep into emulating Miles Davis’s Live at the Plugged Nickel to hybrid ensembles of all kinds of variations – with and without vocalists – lyrics or no lyrics, all playing interesting, catchy and creative music that defies category.
    Now we return to being an entertainer. I believe that involving your audience in your performance could be the most important thing to teach and emphasize as we prepare students for a career in this new age. If you are going to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to have an engaging product. You can present some of the most technically proficient and arcane genius-level stuff to a crowd and bore them (and yourself) to tears. You can also give an audience a heartfelt killer groove that is simple but sticky and bring down the house. Why not do both? That is what I hear from many of today’s successful artists – a thorough understanding of the vocabulary and tradition of jazz along with entertaining, fun, and hip elements of many, many other styles of music all rolled up into one enjoyable package. For me, Troy Andrews (AKA Trombone Shorty) exemplifies this new wide-open spirit that comes from firm roots in the tradition while assimilating favorite aspects of other styles.
    I am adopting this approach into my writing and playing. While continuing to assimilate the vocabulary and rhythmic-harmonic persona of my favorite masters in jazz as a trombonist, I have created a dream all-star ensemble that – while being informed by multiple elements of jazz – can best be described as a modern rock-pop-funk horn band. Called Vinyl Hampdin, this band gives me a chance to channel my inner Jimmy Pankow from the rock group Chicago while incorporating exciting new elements of modern pop and rock and mixing the whole thing together with killer jazz-derived horn lines. Lisa Dodd, a stellar vocalist from Canada tops off this all-star assemblage of Grammy and Juno-winning musicians. I am having a blast with it.
    At the end of the day, jazz artists and educators have nothing to fear from the 21st century. Indeed, if we allow ourselves to be, we are all part of an exciting new era that combines the tradition, heart and soul of our music with wonderfully diverse elements from all across the globe. I think that the secret is to be honest to your own heart, work incredibly hard, and play well with others while also being hip to what I once heard the master of masters Dizzy Gillespie say: “The more I learn, the more I learn there is to learn!” Another way that I describe all of this at Lamont is to survive and thrive, defined thusly:

    Survive: become a great business and marketing person and devise methods to make enough money to support your chosen lifestyle responsibly.
    Thrive: always remember to take care of your artistic-creative heart.

That said, I amend my earlier Dickens quote to say we now find ourselves in the best of times!  

The post The Shape of Jazz to Come: Moving Forward in the 21st Century appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Establishing Swing Time and Feel
    This is the main concern with many young groups. I have always felt that a band will sound good with a unified rhythm section, even if the wind players are less experienced. A rhythm section that plays with good time goes a long way toward helping the rest of the band sound great. When I have worked with groups where the time feel is ragged, the first thing to teach them is that less is more. I have drummers focus only on the ride cymbal, because that is the main time keeper and what will lock in with the bass and guitar.
    In clinics, I often notice that the bass player, guitarist, and drummer not only cannot see each other very well, but aren’t even looking. I have the guitarist turn around and play his part with just the drummer, instructing the drummer to watch the guitarist’s strumming and the guitarist to watch the drummer hit the ride cymbal. While they are watching, they suddenly lock in. Then, I do the same thing with the bassist and drummer, and the bassist and guitarist. Once that feels good, I include the hi-hat on beats two and four because it adds the back beat. Working on this helps students focus their listening on the attacks and sounds they are creating. This goes a long way toward helping the time feel better.

Ride Cymbal Patterns
    When a big band is swinging along, varying the pattern is an unwise idea, because you don’t want to confuse the written phrasing. In a more intimate setting, a good soloist will occasionally play through a phrase. In other words, the soloist may start a rhythmic pattern or harmonic sequence a bar before the end of the phrase and continue playing it through to the second or third bar of the next phrase, eliding the phrase. A quick equivalent of that for the drummer is to start a hemiola pattern of some kind and play it across the phrase with the soloist. The typical ride cymbal pattern in four is 

During these bars, play in three: 

Every fourth set of three beats, the cycle resets. As long as the drummer knows in advance how long a pattern lasts and can plan it out so it ends at the right spot, this will work.
    If there is something on beat two of the next measure, the drummer can figure out how to lead to beat two in a way that doesn’t emphasize beat one. A drummer can help mask or elide a phrase to make a more horizontal connection and create a longer idea or connect two ideas. The ride cymbal is one of the best tools for this because you can quickly change from two to three or three to two, whether at the quarter note pulse or the swing pulse. 
    Another way to vary the pattern is to tie across beats.

Hi-Hat Technique
    There are different schools of thought about the hi-hat. Younger players gravitate toward heel down, meaning the hi-hat starts open and the toe comes down to close it. I teach students heel up. In this position, the ball of the foot rests on the pedal, and the hi-hat starts closed. Drummers use the weight of the leg to come down on the hi-hat so it produces a crisp, loud chick sound. When students try this for the first time, they immediately want to increase the distance between the two hi-hat cymbals because they need more distance for the cymbal to create the right sound. Young drummers often have these cymbals too close together.

Using Bass Drum
    The drummer should support the sound of the bass player. If the bassist is playing in four, the drummer should play a felt-but-not-heard four beats with the bass drum. An inexperienced drummer can leave this out.
    A common mistake I hear is that if the bassist is playing on all four beats, the drummer plays on one and three. If the bassist is in two, the drummer plays four bass drum beats. The bass drum should match what the bassist does to the extent this is possible. If the bassist plays an unusually complex bass line, have the drummer hit the bass drum on the important notes.

    Use the part as a starting point if it’s accurate, and otherwise listen to the bassist and follow that player with the bass drum.

Fast Swing
    There comes a point in fast swing when the swing triplet feel straightens out, and the swing feel comes more from how players accent and phrase the eighth notes. I tell young drummers to play quarter notes on the ride and not worry about the standard swing pattern. If they want to, they can insert an eighth note pattern every so often, but the priority is to avoid dragging or rushing.

Learning Patterns
    When I taught jazz studies, I had a learning matrix:

There are only so many ways you can combine your four limbs. As an example, a basic two-part pattern would be one in which the right foot and right hand are playing quarter notes while the left foot and left hand are hitting on two and four. This matrix is a way for students to visualize a pattern and helps students who are struggling to figure out which part of the pattern is causing difficulty. You can break any pattern down and rebuild it again using the matrix.
    What I’ve found when teaching a drummer a new pattern is that 80% of the time a drummer will first look at the ride cymbal pattern and play that, then keep adding the other parts until the whole pattern is learned. However, every so often, a drummer will look at the pattern and play whatever is written on the first beat. Then, they will play whatever is written on the second beat. These students look at the pattern vertically. At this point the don’t care how it sounds; they are looking to see what plays when. Gradually, they will speed it up, and suddenly there is a magical moment where drummers who learn patterns vertically switch from practicing one beat at a time to playing the full pattern correctly. When I have drummers who learn one part at a time (horizontally), I ask them to try learning it the other way. I likewise ask drummers who learn patterns vertically to try one part at a time. Getting students to look at something a different way often sheds a little light on how they are trying to learn.

Using a Metronome
    Once a drummer has figured out the pattern, he should turn on a metronome to a speed he can handle and work toward consistency. As confidence grows, they can increase the speed on the metronome.
    I always have my metronome next to me in the bands I play in. When a tune is called, the first thing I do is imagine what I believe the tempo will be. I then set the metronome to the given tempo marking and let it play for a couple beats to see how close my memory is. When the director counts it off, I know whether it is a little fast or a little slow and can adjust accordingly.
    If a student is playing something from the Basie Straight Ahead album, have him put a metronome on the recording and figure out the original tempo. Then go to YouTube and with the metronome figure the tempo of a few other recordings of the same tune. When listening, if the tune is faster or slower, ask the student if he likes the changed tempo and why. This will give students the understanding that some tunes work across a wide range of tempos, while some only feel the best at a more specific tempo.
    The other interesting thing to do with recordings is to put the metronome on at the beginning to get the tempo and again at the end to see if it remained the same. New music today is often recorded with a click track, but older jazz recordings were not. That is not to say a subtle, unplanned tempo change is right or wrong. It is possible that during an exciting solo, the feel changes, and the tempo may pick up a bit.
    A metronome is meant to keep a drummer honest about how good a timekeeper he is, not to be a crutch. I like to set the metronome at half speed so it clicks on beats two and four and play any back beat style with that.

Tone Quality
    I’ve been playing lately with a trio, and our performance space is so small that I am limited on what I can bring. Every time I find myself with less equipment, the more fun I have, because I can explore all the different sounds you can get out of the instrument beyond the things people expect.
    Don Owens, Coordinator Emeritus of the Jazz Studies and Pedagogy Program at Northwestern University talked to drummers about how the drumset was like a whole choir and to think about his playing in that regard. He would ask drummers to play the highest sound they could, at which point, students would almost invariably hit a cymbal. Owens would then ask students to hit the cymbal in a higher-sounding place, and students would hit the bell. The aim was to get drummers thinking about what the highest sound he could actually make was, and the lowest. Hitting the rim of the highest drum is also a high sound. The cymbal is all metallic, but the rim of a drum will have a different sound. There are numerous options.
    Duration is also a factor. Most young drummers are just trying to make things happen at the right time and not thinking about the phrasing implications. The result of this is a failure to consider filling the space between the sounds, because all drummers have is an attack followed by an immediate decay. However, a snare, tom, ride cymbal, and crash cymbal all decay at different rates. I have drummers think of them as wet and dry sounds. Playing a ride cymbal creates a wash of sound over the ensemble; I call that a wet sound. Comparatively, hitting a snare or a closed hi-hat is a succinct, dry attack.
    Mallets make a difference. Sticks are just one of numerous options. Brushes, bundled dowel rod sticks, yarn mallets (either end), or even hands can all be valid choices. In high school, I was asked to play for a choir and had to play much softer than I was used to playing with wind instruments. A pair of bundled dowel rod sticks let me play with the force and energy and arm movement I was used to, but the volume was cut in half. I am glad that happened early on, because it made me think about the volume level I played at and taught me that there was a whole other palette of sounds I could use.

Big Band versus Combo Style
    The drummer is always the style leader. The differences between big band and combo playing are best viewed as one spectrum rather than two different styles. In any given big band tune, there will be some level of either of those going on.
    There are elements of both kinds of playing that will work in both situations. Sometimes a drummer can be too busy when the big band is playing. There is already a lot going on; if the drummer is too involved in all of that, that can be a problem. On the other hand, if all the drummer does is keep straight time with no phrasing or interaction during a solo, that could be equally uninteresting.
    The drummer’s focus in full band passages should be on driving the ensemble. In solo sections or more interactive moments, playing should be more combo-like, where the rhythm section becomes more a part of the conversation that’s being led by the soloist.
    If a tune has lyrics, everyone should learn them. Someone said this to me when I started learning standards, and this got me interested in the great singers. When I listen to the lyrics of My Funny Valentine, I play a little more sensitively because I’m thinking about those lyrics as I play.

Building a Vocabulary
    There are only so many ways to play eighth notes in a 44 measure. I liken it to studying vocabulary in an English class. You learn 15-20 words per week and are expected to be able to spell and define them. Here are just a couple of extremely common rhythms in jazz charts.

    Drummers have to build a toolbox of rhythms and learn how to apply them across the drums in independent ways and different musical settings. Once they feel comfortable playing common rhythms, getting them correct becomes automatic.

Dynamics
    In a one-on-a-part setting like a big band or combo, knowing the extremes of how soft and loud you can play is important, because one of the drummer’s responsibilities is to be the volume leader. If a drummer is playing the same dynamic all the time it will negate what the rest of the band does. Most drummers, if you try to get them to play with dynamics, you start to hear a little bit of difference, but not much. I get them to play only quarter notes on the hi-hat as softly as they can and help them realize just how softly they can play. What usually happens is that the rest of the rhythm section follows. If they don’t, ask them to.
    There are times when the drummer should punch and kick things louder, but one of my favorite things to do is play softly enough that I can hear the rhythm guitar. I play in a couple of bands with great rhythm guitarists who use acoustic, Freddie Green-style instruments. I’m almost listening to that more than the bass in terms of timing my attacks.

Chart Reading
    Most drumset charts contain section figures and ensemble figures. When the drummer plays ensemble figures, it is important both to help those and to keep the time solid. With section figures, the time is almost more important than the figure. A section figure is there to show what is being played over the time. If drummers want to use it to help with the patterns they play on the snare drum, this is fine, but the time must keep going. Often, younger drummers see the section figures and overplay them, causing the ensemble to lose the groove.
    Figures written into the chart, whether they are section figures or ensemble figures, are there so the drummer knows how to lead into them for the rest of the band. It is especially noticeable when the band is playing and the horn players are hesitant to come in on a particular figure because the drummer plays it with them rather than setting it up. If this is on the drummer’s chart:

the drummer could play 

or some similar lead in figure so the band feels comfortable coming in on the and of the beat. The general rule of thumb is that the longer the note you’re leading up to, the longer your lead-in can be. If you are leading into a dotted half note, then the drummer can start three beats before it. This isn’t always the best choice, but it is a general rule of thumb and tends to work.

Playing with a Soloist
    When comping for a soloist, a drummer’s role is to be complementary, interact, and support. Wherever the soloist goes, the drummer’s job is to figure out how to complement it, whether by following or contrasting.
Drummers have options to spur on a soloist. Dynamically, a drummer could drop the volume to almost nothing at the beginning of a solo, either to get out of the way so the soloist starts with a clear palette or as a suggestion to start soft and gradually build. Over the solo section, the drummer could gradually increase the volume and help create a dynamic direction.
    Stop time is another option. The drummer and bassist could hit on beat one and lay out entirely for two bars to let the soloist have open space.There are many options for a drummer, but you want to be careful not to overstep your bounds with the soloist. There is a great deal of give and take to this. 
    If a soloist is just going to play loud, high, and fast, that opens up a drummer’s opportunity to do the same. The drummer can be more rhythmic to fill the space or just play time and let the soloist show off. With every soloist there is an opportunity for creating a unique accompaniment.     

Useful Resources
    Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin.
    The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley.
    Studio and Big Band Drumming by Steve Houghton.

 

The post Jazz Drumset appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Improvising Without Fear
    Improvising can be scary, and we should dispel the myth that someone might not have the ability to improvise. One way to do that is to put students in a situation where they start out playing just on a scale. They need to develop confidence. The reason for the emphasis on practicing scales and chords, as well as learning melodies like Perdido or Satin Doll and numerous blues in the keys of Bb and F is that these are part of the basic jazz repertoire. Everybody has to do this sooner or later. If you wait until later, that probably means that you wasted a lot of time earlier just beating around in the bush and trying to find something that sounded good or impressed others.
    If all students were taught to improvise as they come up through school, I guarantee that musical instrument companies would love it. People would graduate from school and continue to play their instruments and not retire them because they know how to improvise. They could play anywhere just for the enjoyment. Some do continue, but I would bet that the 98% who did not learn to improvise, never play music anymore after graduation. They listen to it, but they don’t play it. That’s sad.
    The ego plays a part in this, too. It does not want you to sound bad. Once you start improvising the ego does not want you to play wrong notes, get lost, and stop at the wrong time. Nothing could be worse. The ego will discourage people from signing up for jazz band due to the unknown.

Learning How to Listen
    People who want to learn jazz have to listen to jazz. Many people listen to big band music, but the soloing is limited and the backgrounds can be busy and complex. I strongly suggest listening to combos instead.
    Ear training is also important. I was recently at a college and played a blues on my saxophone. I went slowly and outlined the key notes so anyone who had listened to jazz would know within four or five measures that I was playing a blues. I didn’t play a melody, I just improvised. Nobody raised their hand that they recognized the blues.
    Ear training has to be coupled with application, but that is often overlooked. People may practice the scales and chords, but when they start to improvise they don’t get the relationship of the roots, thirds, fifths, and sevenths and how important they are for both players and listener. Many people rely on bass, guitar, and piano to lay down the harmony, and then they play seemingly randomly. They would never speak that way because their sentences would make no sense. When we talk, we are always communicating. In jazz, it has gone on way too long that someone picks up their instrument and solos for 12 bars, having no musical relationship to the piano, bass, guitar, and drums. This is sad, but it can go back to their teachers lack of information and training.

Training Every Teacher
    If a teacher does not have someone to help them learn about improvisation or they don’t seek outside instruction about how to teach it, this can result in choosing big band charts with no solo space. If there is no improvisation, it’s not really jazz. I don’t feel colleges and universities have caught up with what is needed for band directors to go out and teach jazz band or have a combo in a high school or middle school that meets every day. Few colleges have a required course on teaching jazz that includes learning what materials to buy and how to teach students to improvise. Long ago I thought this would eventually be covered at the college level and there would be no future need for our Summer Jazz Workshops.
    If every college student might end up in a job with a jazz band or a combo, we should not let them out of college unless they can improvise a decent blues solo, play two or three tunes, describe the tunes harmonically and rhythmically, and list what they might expect from a beginning jazz band starting on this blues. All college music graduates should be required to take at least two semesters of jazz combo/theory/ear training before graduation. This would help raise music ed standards and give these new teachers the confidence they need to approach their new jobs with enthusiasm. Too many band directors learn on the spot, which is unfortunate.
    I taught an improv class for 12 years at the University of Louisville. Every music education major had to take my class. I had violins, trombones, vibraphones, and everything else. They learned a great deal in one semester’s time. That doesn’t mean that they ended up being improvisers, but they at least knew what to do if they got a job. They had some basis to start.
    I have always thought it was important to study with a jazz teacher. You may also be studying with a classical teacher on sound, articulation, and how to read, but it is great if that person is interested in jazz. I have noticed over the last 20 or 30 years that the jazz players who have become educators are really well-equipped. Once you can do something yourself it is easier to teach it. When you haven’t been shown how to do it and your job is to teach it, this can be nervewracking.

The Initial Breakthrough
    When I was a 21-year-old teacher in Seymour, Indiana, I had a flute player with a great sound and great technique. One day we had ten minutes left in her lesson, so I asked her to improvise on a D minor scale over two octaves. There was a little piano in the practice room, so I played a walking bass line and chords in that key and told her to play whatever she wanted to play. I had never asked anybody to do this before. Right away I realized she was playing nice two-bar phrases, which she was imagining in her head. We did that for a couple of minutes, and I stopped and said, “let’s go up a half step.” We went to Eb dorian. I had her play the scale two octaves, then we tried improv again, and she did just great. We came back down to D minor and played it again, this time with the chord progression from So What. That’s what got me started – a young girl who could improvise with nice phrases without ever having done it before. She didn’t have a stack of records like jazz players do and hadn’t heard jazz before. That made me wonder if everyone could do this.

The Sounds in Your Head
    I discovered that if I sit at the piano and slowly play a random but logically flowing chord progression, anyone can sing a solo to go along with it. The voice is a magical instrument, and the mind can sing great solos if the tempo is not too fast and the chord progression is not difficult. I have done this many times and that’s where my “Anyone Can Improvise” words came from.
    Once I was giving a clinic in New Hampshire. I asked for a volunteer to come up with their saxophone and try to play along with me while I played some random chords on the piano. The volunteer sounded awful. Then I asked him to grab the microphone and sing for me instead, and he sounded great. He included notes that with diligent practice might take three years to play on his instrument. It was very musical but he had no knowledge of scales or chords or jazz in general but his musical mind knew. All of the other students applauded because it sounded like music. Unless someone is nervous, nine times out of ten people will sing a good solo. It made me a true believer in our inner musical mind. It’s the instrument that holds us back. An instrument cannot match what a person hears in the mind. While in the early stages of learning improvisation, that is just enough to make someone give up. The ego says, “I told you that you couldn’t do it.” However, the ego lies.

Conclusion
    To create a desire to improvise, you have to listen. Unfortunately, jazz and the Great American Songbook of standards have been uncommon in the home for many years now. Everything came to a gradual halt starting with Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and country and western music. As Wynton Marsalis has noted, before about 1960, there was no such thing as teen music or top 40. We weren’t keeping track of who was the biggest seller.
    There is a satisfaction in playing a solo that you just can’t get any other way in music. To play a solo by yourself with a rhythm section and be in control of every note is like talking on a subject. You don’t get lost or lose your place. You feel confident, and people enjoy it and applaud. There’s just nothing better.

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