how to "fall"

trumpetgeek · Regular Member Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Posts: 15

how do you do a fall in jazz? i've heard something about partially depressing the valves and liping the note. can someone tell me in detail? also, how do you practice it? do you play it really slow and try to hit every pitch on the way down? thanks

jhatpro · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 3:16 pm Post subject:

Here's a link to a site that explains how to do falls, doits, shakes, etc.

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2788/index.html
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
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1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

elbobogrande · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 3:22 pm Post subject:

I'd practice this by just playing it in context. I wouldn't slow it down. Just half-valve the note and then slide down the harmonic series. This is similar to a glissando (squiggly line after the gliss, curved, slur-like line after the fall) but different in that the glissando is actually quickly fingered downward either chromatically, or diatonically.
I'm sure others can give better descriptions than I can.
John

elbobogrande · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 3:28 pm Post subject:

Another thing... I think it's hard to separate the fall from some of the the other similar jazz ornaments (long fall, doit, glisses up and down, plop, bend, slides, flips). I'd start to learn them all at the same time.
John

[ This Message was edited by: elbobogrande on 2003-04-13 19:05 ]

RGale · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Dec 2002 Posts: 2818

One important point- in a fall make sure the fall fades out and does not end on any specific pitch.
In a doit, this also applies- just going up instead of down.

JazzCatDRP · Regular Member Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 89

Here's a link to a site that explains how to do falls, doits, shakes, etc.

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2788/index.html

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Woah, that's weird. I made that webpage when I was a sophomore in high school (five years ago) and shortly thereafter forgot about it. Now I'm on the Herald, and people are linking to it! That's crazy...who woulda thought it'd still exist. A word of warning to anyone who goes there, I made that page when I was very new to jazz, so I don't know if the "techniques" are very accurate.

trumpetgeek · Regular Member Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Posts: 15

thats for all the input. i just had another question: should you lip the pitch down while half-valving? thanks again

trumpetgeek · Regular Member Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Posts: 15

wait, elbobogrande, so you dont go down chromatically? how do you make it sound smooth then?

dwm1129 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:02 pm Post subject:

The fall like all other things will take practice to get it to sound smooth. What I think works best is to just depress the second and third valve very slightly till you hit the sweet spot in it, with the second slightly above the third... like stairs. Just push the valves down very slightly though to ensure you get maximum power, sound and smoothness in the fall.
Also for a different type of fall just depress all three valves so you hit all the partials on the way down.
The above works the same for doits and glissandos too.

elbobogrande · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:34 pm Post subject:

dwm1129 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 8:37 pm Post subject:

elbobogrande,
I misspoke or mistyped I guess is how you would say it.
You're right though.

Prof Zep · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:14 am Post subject:

Hi, I would beg to differ from many people here in terms of how to play a fall. I think if you are the only trumpet who is doing the fall then you should just play the fall however you want (half valve, open, chromatic...etc.). However, if you are playing in a big band I would say to play the fall with whatever valve position the note is which you are falling from (i.e. falling from an A, keep valves 12 down for the whole fall). That way as a section, all of the trumpets who are doing the fall will match up more harmonically and it will be clearer sounding, IMO.