Klarinet Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 2004/06

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] glissando help
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 16:11:24 -0400

On 1 Jun, Alf H=F6rberg <alf.horberg@-----.se> wrote:

> Start by trying to play tunes only with the mouthpiece and barrel. The =
note
> that comes out using a normal embouchure is the top note. From this not=
e
> you can only descend. To play tunes like this you have to do as Tony
> describes it with your tongue. Just play around, you'll soon get it.

Hey Alf, that's a good idea!

I've never tried that, because when I play tunes on the 'moutharrel', I
always cup my hands around the bottom end to get some lower notes, so the=

tunes are played by a mixture of hand position and tongue position. But
you're right, you can do it just with the tongue. (It's because the tube=
is
short enough that you can dominate the behaviour of the reed by what lies=

*behind* it.)

And it's an even simpler way of getting at the tongue positions involved
in glissando, because clearly the responsibility for your not getting the=

effect (if you don't, that is) *can't be to do with your not doing the ri=
ght
thing with your fingers*.
=20
> About your piece 'Conversations', it depends where you have top go afte=
r
> gliding to that top F. I've been using the fingering for throat Bb + th=
e
> two top side keys for gliss up to alt. F. If you can continue convenien=
tly
> from there you could use that fingering.

Yes, and those sort of fingerings are often useful in other contexts too.=

I want to add to all this, though, that if you think of glissando as
in Ginger's suggestion -- going between standard fingerings by sliding, p=
lus
embouchure smoothing -- I think you miss an important aspect of the
technique. For example, doing the F to altissimo F glissando, I do start =
by
moving my RH forefinger. But thereafter, one of the first few fingers to=

move is my LH forefinger! That's just a part of establishing the 'leaky
tube' I spoke about in the URL link to the archive, and it's what enables=

what goes on inside my mouth to take over control of the pitch.

Doing it that way, near the top of the glissando, it hardly matters *what=
*
fingering I use. Therefore, since the fingering just before the F doesn'=
t
matter, I can get to the standard top F fingering, the long F fingering, =
or
the one Alf mentions, depending on what gives the best effect in context =
--
or what it's easier to go on from.

Tony
--=20
_________ Tony Pay =20
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artist=
s
tel/fax 01865 553339
=20
... If it ain't broke, break it and charge for repair.

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