Sound of the Blues

Ever wonder what it could be like if you were able to sound like another musician you admire?Ever dream of your sound being the "baby" of two superstar musicians you love?

Lately, I have spent a lot of time lately trying to recreate the sounds of Bessie Smith and Mark O'Connor.

I have learned that one musician can never truly sound like another. Each person has their own unique sound; however, we can learn many lessons from those we admire. We can become familiar with their techniques and qualities use them to better our own playing.

This exploration of sound modeling began at my lesson two weeks ago:

"This is going to be awesome! You sound like a Blues violinist!" 

my teacher, Brian Lewis, exclaimed. I had just played an improvisation solo I transcribed, by Mark O'Connor. I was still feeling doubtful about my improvisations and transcriptions, so I responded, "Do you really think I can get this done in time for my recital?" He reassured me that I could because he was encouraged by the sound I was making.

 

Mark O'Connor's "In the Cluster Blues' improvisation solo

I thought to myself, "But, you haven't heard me play my own solos and they don't sound like this . . ." I had learned every pitch bend, glissando, vibrato and bowing in Mark's improvisation, and it sounded authentic (not exactly like Mark, but like my interpretation of him). I had not stopped to consider whether my solos had a similar sound to his. A breakthrough happened - I needed to make my solos sound more Bluesy. I needed to add pitch bending, wild vibrato to accentuate some notes, less vibrato to the normal line, and ditch my straightforward, clear, classical sound.

Since Monday, we began studying the Blues in my improvisation class. The first thing we talked about was sound. There should be pitch bending and glissandos. Also, the third of the scale should be played flatter than usual. This reinforcement has helped out my Blues sound monumentally.

Below are two examples of changing a tune from more Classical to more Blues. The first time I play the tune is how I used to play it before I began thinking about Jazz sound, and the second time is how I began to practice it after I realized what I needed to change.

From my my friends who are experts in Jazz and Blues, I have learned much about the aural tradition. To learn Jazz is to listen to great Jazz artists. It is important to play directly afterwards to compare your sound to theirs: how is it similar, how is it different, what aspects help create the style and what aspects hurt it?