Klarinet Archive - Posting 000222.txt from 1994/09

From: "David B. Niethamer" <NIETHAMER@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Re: Glissandi
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 23:07:06 -0400

I've read the glissando messages with interest, as we have to play this work
in the Richmond Symphony, seemingly once a year whether we need to or not!
I use the "bending the high c" trick to work on the flexibility of embouchure,
and also practice a slow chromatic scale by "half holing" each tone hole from
fourth line d up to the high c. I also use the sliding the fingers back
hook described by others here. These three help me to keep the gliss under
control, not to go so fast that it seems like a "scoop" to the top.

Joe Allard told the story that Whitemans clarinetttist played the gliss by
accident, having lost control of his reed/mpc. Whiteman and Gershwin liked
the effect so much that they asked him to repeat it, which caused some
difficulty and much experimentation. I mention this because in both the
original version and the symphonic version orchestrated by Grofe, there is
no notation of a gliss, only a diatonic run from the low G trill to the
high C.

Happy Glissing! - David Niethamer
Richmond Symphony