Question about reading Klezmer Lead Sheets

[DuckCallDan]

I'm an amateur player who volunteered to play in a small pick-up Klezmer band at the end of the week. We will be given a stack of lead sheets to play from. The other players are pros so there will only be a short run-through before the gig.

My plan is to oom-pah everything by looking at the chord and playing the root for the "oom" and the 5th for the "pah".

Looking at an example lead sheet I see the chords are stacked and many chords are in parentheses.

Dm(E7)
Fm(G7)

Sometimes the chords in parentheses are by themselves without a set of chords before them. I understand that the bottom chord is the "Bass" note and the one I should play for the "oom". But what are the chords in parentheses?

I also assume that the "pah" should be a 5th up from the bass note (F) and not the D, right?

Any other hints comments or suggestions for playing a better performance are welcome.

[Paul Tkachenko]

Hi,

If you can wait until Wednesday, I'll email you a guide to playing Klezmer bass lines.

I've put one together as I teach the bass class at KlezFest London.

Listen to early Kapelye stuff or Frank London's Klezmer brass all stars for good examples of Klezmer tuba lines.

Paul

[rocksanddirt]

typically in leadsheet/fakebook arrangements, the note in parenthesis after the cord is what someone's idea of a good bass note is. so, if you stick to chord roots and the parethesis note, throwing in a 5th, and the occasional leading # or b when heading back to I, you'll be fine, and maybe more than fine.

[Art Hovey]

I don't know about Klezmer lead sheets, but I have seen parenthetical chord symbols on old lead sheets to help the reader who is trying to transpose for a singer or for a guitarist using a capo. My suggestion would be to find out what key (concert) the band is playing in, and pray that it's the same key as the printed chords. If so, use them. If a chord does not seem to fit what the rest of the band is doing on the first time around then try the parenthetical chord on the repeat.
You may find that a lot of the music goes by too fast for much thinking and reading; just try to remember as much of the tune as you can as soon as you can. By the second or third time around you should know it pretty well if you are listening

[DuckCallDan]

OK I have attached a small sample lead sheet using the same style notation.

leadsheet.gif

Obviously the top chord is the the capo cord. I'm still scratching my head over the chords in parentheses.

[Dean E]

I naively thought that I could Google and hit on a simple explanation. What I did find is perhaps a Rosetta stone of lead sheets.

Here is the link to Philip Tagg's "Lead sheet chords." Some of the html character fonts may not have been in the original text:
http://www.tagg.org/articles/epmow/leadsheetchords.html" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Tagg writes: "Since there are probably as many variants of lead sheet chord shorthand in current circulation as there are musicians, it is impossible to provide a definitive overview of the system. However, although a few of these variants diverge from the codification practices described below (see §3.1, below), most variants follow by and large the principles expounded here. . . ."

Bass lines have an interesting situation for inverted chords. "2.7 Inversions. Since inversions (see chord) tend mainly to occur in popular music in passing-note patterns or anacruses created by the bass player without reference to notation, no standard lead sheet codification exists for such practices. This lacuna in the system obstructs efficient indication of chord sequences for music in the classical vein. One way of indicating inversions is, however, to write the relevant bass note by interval number or note name following the rest of the chord’s symbols and a forward slash, for example C7/3 or C7/e for a C seven chord with its third, e, in the bass (see also table 2: 11a:-g). . . ."

The page summarizes and provides examples of these topics (but with no Klezmer examples):
1. Basic rationale.
2. Symbol components: note name; triad type; type of seventh; ninths, elevenths and thirteenths; altered fifths; additional symbols (omitted notes, added notes, suspensions, inversions).
3. Anomalies: flat, sharp, plus, minus; enharmonic spelling; non-tertial chords.

[Paul Tkachenko]

The ones in parenthesis are alternative chords. We just played it both ways in our klezmer band to see.

[eupher61]

to be nitpicky... the 'pah' is usually considered the upbeat. you should be playing OOMs only, by most thinking. Except for the frailach!
Paul, please tell us more about your band!!!

[imperialbari]

The lead sheet sample makes things more obvious. I hadn’t imagined the capo element from the original context, but that matter becomes clear from the real-life notation. As I wrote on one of the horn lists, many list members think it is their privilege to define the basis of information on which they ask their questions. It isn’t so! If people were able to define the situation from where they ask, then they wouldn’t need to ask their questions. When asking always provide all information available at once, then the competent people will sort it.

The alternative chords also were a surprise to me until I saw the melody notation. Normally a minor subdominant wouldn’t be replaceable by a major dominant, but in this context I see it could be done. I guess that real Klezmer connoisseurs would be able to define the geographical origins of the specific style by which chords were chosen.

I have worked with arranging jazz and there one will find the term of substitution chords: G7 => Db7b5 is a sample. Playing a D7 over a Cmaj7 would be called polytonality by some. I rather consider the top chord creating an upper-tension-triad.

Klaus

[Paul Tkachenko]

Hi,

The band is called Shekoykh and I've just started playing with them, and on accordion, although I played tuba on one track on their latest album. I'm playing double bass on the youtube clip on their mySpace.

I freelance with lots of klezmer bands in London though.

I play a bit of tuba with members of Shekoykh here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9BPduXI7Ls" target="_blank

[DuckCallDan]

I talked to the piano player for the group about the chords in parentheses. She reads from these types of lead sheets daily.

She said she had no idea what they were, she always just ignores them in favor of the non-parentheses chord.

I asked her if she thought it could be an alternate chord or perhaps an inverted chord. Her guess is that it might be a destination chord in case the guitar player wanted to "walk".

[imperialbari]

Hi,

The band is called Shekoykh and I've just started playing with them, and on accordion, although I played tuba on one track on their latest album. I'm playing double bass on the youtube clip on their mySpace.

I freelance with lots of klezmer bands in London though.

I play a bit of tuba with members of Shekoykh here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9BPduXI7Ls" target="_blank" target="_blank

That clarinet girl has some high level of energy. The tuba didn’t come out lazy either.

Klaus

[David Richoux]

Hi,

If you can wait until Wednesday, I'll email you a guide to playing Klezmer bass lines.

I've put one together as I teach the bass class at KlezFest London.

Listen to early Kapelye stuff or Frank London's Klezmer brass all stars for good examples of Klezmer tuba lines.

Paul

Great thread!
Another group that features tuba and gives good examples of a variety of Klez styles was the San Francisco region band simply called "The Klezmorim" - they recorded several LPs on Arhoolie with Don Thornton on tuba from 1988 to 1993.

The problems of notating bass lines in Klez music is similar to Trad Jazz (or Balkan Brass )- it is much more of an experience/example/mimic thing with a lot of expressive freedom left to the individual. When I am playing Trad, all I usually have available are the Banjo or Piano chord progression sheets, if anything.

I would also be interested in seeing your guide to playing Klezmer bass lines.

Dave RIchoux

[Paul Tkachenko]

Hi,

I can now email my little guide to klezmer bass playing, if anyone wants a copy.

regards,

Paul

[DuckCallDan]

As a Klezmer beginner, to prepare for my gig I have been looking at as many Frailach's that I can find with bass and/or piano parts. Here is what I found.

- Almost always play the chord root and the chord 5th as quarter notes. In some pieces that is all that is written for the bass line.

- It doesn't happen too often but by reading the melody line it is usually very obvious when to play something other then a quarter note. Perhaps it is off-beat eight notes, an accented dotted half note at the end of a phrase or a common rest.

- D minor is by far the most common chord. If the start of a phrase is Dm I have noticed many songs (even if they have different key signatures) using the exact same eight-note progression to lead-up to the next phrase.
D (or A natural), A natural, B natural, C sharp. I have posted an example below.

DminorExample.gif

Questions and comments welcome.

[Paul Tkachenko]

Hi everyone,

Not sure why, but some people had trouble opening the pdf in the first email I sent out.

Here it is as a weblink:

http://www.tkachenko.co.uk/introtoklezm ... chenko.pdf" target="_blank

This should work fine. Let me know if there are any problems viewing it.

Regards,

Paul

[imperialbari]

Thank you very much!

Klaus