Klarinet Archive - Posting 000242.txt from 1994/09

From: Ken Maltz <Klezmer@-----.COM>
Subj: Glissandi and Klezmer
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 10:53:23 -0400

To Bill Parker and others on the net interested in this subject, I am the
clarinetist with Kapelye, the Klezmer Band from New York- and have been
playing on a very standard Buffet R-13, Vandoren B-45, Vandoren (usually) #3
combination for many years.

I create virtually all my glissandi orally, except when it is necessary to
cover more than a 6th or 7th; which in klezmer music is extremely rare.

After a concert, clarinetists almost always ask me what special equipment I
use to get these effects and I reply that, IMHO, this is a technique that's
best performed in the mouth and throat and when mastered can be performed on
any instrument, mpce, reed combination. Sure, a softer reed will make the
gliss easier, but then you have to sacrifice pitch, tone quality, etc. I will
say, however, that for a classical player who only rarely encounters this
manouever, the finger method can be a useful shortcut; but for those of us
who read from right to left, :), the traditional (oral) way of achieving a
gliss would be preferred.

As the klezmer palyer said to the classical player:
"To you, D minor is a key; to me it's a living! "

All the best,
Ken Maltz