Really Easy Jazzin' About: Fun Pieces for Clarinet: Clarinet Book

Wedgwood's jazz pieces strike a rare balance: they introduce authentic jazz vocabulary and feel without overwhelming early-level players. Your clarinetists will sound good immediately, which matters enormously for motivation, while learning swing rhythms, blues changes, and ensemble listening skills that typically demand much higher technical chops.

The pieces sparkle with humor and personality. You'll encounter swinging grooves, playful melodies, and moments of genuine sophistication tucked into straightforward rhythmic frameworks. The collection feels like discovering a secret door into a more colorful musical world.

This book belongs in the hands of clarinet students in their first or second year who are curious about jazz but haven't yet developed the technique for standard jazz method books. It also works beautifully for established classical players encountering jazz style for the first time.

• Pay attention to the swing eighth-note feel from the first piece onward. Even at this easy level, straight eighths sound wrong in jazz; practice with the recorded accompaniment to lock in that lilt.
• Encourage students to listen for the blues in every progression. Hearing the harmonic movement will deepen their understanding far beyond just reading the notes.
• Balance vibrato deliberately. Some pieces call for a warmer tone; others benefit from a lighter touch. This collection teaches tone color as part of jazz expression.

Slot these into a spring or winter concert to offer variety and showcase a side of your clarinets that audiences don't always hear. They work equally well as a bridge in a young player's practice routine between method book exercises and full jazz repertoire, or as an engaging way to introduce jazz history and style concepts without requiring a dedicated jazz ensemble.

• Swing rhythm and straight-versus-swung articulation
• Blues harmonic structures and improvisation fundamentals
• Tone flexibility and stylistic expression
• Call-and-response playing and listening in ensemble context
• Reading slash chords and chord symbols alongside standard notation