Klarinet Archive - Posting 000071.txt from 1997/04

From: Nathaniel Johnson <clarinat@-----.COM>
Subj: Glissando
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 23:35:32 -0500

I have been asked by a couple of members to launch a glissando
discussion. We have been discussing glissandos (glissandi?) fairly
extensively, but have not done a whole lot of discussion on how to
accomplish the technique. So here's my $.02:

When I learned how to gliss / portamento, I was told by my
teacher that the key was to play "bad clarinet." By this, he meant that
I needed to greatly increase the size of my oral cavity by opening my
throat and dropping my tongue in the back. If you try this on, for
instance, the C two octaves above middle C, you will notice that the
pitch goes down. In fact, this is an excellent exercise. Practice
playing the C as normal and then bending it down as far as you can and
then bringing it back up. Over time, you should get to the point at
which you can bend the pitch down by octave. This technique can also be
practiced using just the mouthpiece (no barrel or clarinet), but you must
make sure that the note doesn't "break" as you're bending it down. If
you don't understand what I mean by "break," just try it and it will
probably happen. :-)
Assume for the moment that we are talking about the opening to
_Rhapsody in Blue_. Once you get to the point in the run at which you
have crossed the break (actually the clarion D is ideal), you can play
"bad clarinet" and slide all your fingers off the holes--except the left
thumb--and the pitch should stay pretty much where it is. Then you can
bring the pitch up to the final C at whatever speed you want, using just
your embouchure. Once you have gotten to this point in learning the
gliss, you can do the embouchure and fingers together, but remember that
the technique is primarily in the mouth, NOT the fingers. At least,
that's the way that I was taught.
As for glissing between registers: It's more tricky, but the
idea is the same. Let me give a quick disclaimer: The only time that I
have ever had to do this myself, it was only from a clarion A to an
altissimo D--no big deal. The way that I accomplished it was to actually
drop the pitch below the A. While I was playing "bad clarinet" I simply
slid my fingers into the correct position for the D. It took some time
to sync my fingers with my embouchure, as this was a fairly quick
passage, but it ended up being quite easy.
Incidentally, in case anyone has a philosophical problem with me
dropping below the pitch first, instead of just going straight up, let me
assure you that this was musically acceptable: the text in the chorus at
the time was dealing with drinking lots of "good ale" and the clarinet
line was clearly representative of drunkenness. :-)

Nathaniel Johnson
Conductor / Clarinettist
All-Around Good Guy
University of Northern Colorado
clarinat@-----.com