Klarinet Archive - Posting 001325.txt from 1998/05

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: [kl] smears
Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 07:35:39 -0400

Mark Charette asked how to play the smears he found in an old Benny Goodman
book, Thanks to my misspent youth, I may be able to answer this one better
than some of the much more accomplished legit players on the list.

The smear is a standard traditional jazz trick, and it's a lot easier to
play one than to describe how to do it. Basically, it means starting a note
a little flat and lipping it up to the correct intonation. With three notes
tied together it's the same, except that on the second and third notes you
make the pitch go flat for an instant and then bring it back up.

Keep the airstream flowing. Just ahead of the beat, take a little pressure
out of the airstream, relax your embouchure, and perhaps draw your lower
jaw back a trifle. On the beat, go to a normal volume for the passage, push
your jaw back to normal position and tighten your lip. You'll scoop the
notes and make a wah-wah-wah effect. It's usually easier on a sax than on
a clarinet. Goodman didn't use that effect too often. Pee Wee Russell did
it incessantly, and it was a trademark of the gaspipe players.

The usual notation is a short curved line that runs up to the note. A
similar line after a note, running down, indicates a drop, which is the
opposite of a smear. You drop your jaw and let the intonation fall off in
sort of a short downward glissando. Some people can let it fall two or
three notes. I never mastered that.

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>

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