Klarinet Archive - Posting 000025.txt from 2004/06

From: "Bryan Crumpler" <crumpletox@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] glissando help
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 14:01:54 -0400

On 1 Jun, "Gillian Craven" <gillian_craven@-----.com> wrote:

>...However, when it comes to the music. eg where I have to gliss from F
>(top line) to top f, I can't seem to do this successfully. Any advice would
>be much appreciated.

From: Virginia Hill <gigi1182@-----.com>

Slowly slide your fingers off the tone holes as you ascend, and keep notes
smooth by controlling it with lip. Combination of lip slurs and finger
slides will produce a Goodman-like glissando...

~Ginger

----- Bryan writes:

I've found finger sliding to be rather ineffective for glissandos.
Fingersliding works well for bending between two closely pitched notes, or
if the gliss has to be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally slow, but it's not so
effective for really large intervals as you would need to at the end of the
Copland Concerto or (as in this case) 3rd and 4th octave F. You want it to
sound chromatic... but sliding up the tone holes won't cut it, especially in
this case where you have to put fingers down to get up to that high F.

First I would suggest practicing a lip slur... say... between F (top line)
and C (2 legerlines above the staff) by fingering only the F and the C (no
finger sliding). The way I would do this is as follows:

1) Play an F (xxx xoo), and hold it.
2) Now loosen up the embouchure so the F becomes really flat.
3) Keep the pitch of the F in your head, then and finger a C without
tightening the embouchure. (it will sound nasty flat at first... you may
even squeak)
4) Finally tighten up the embouchure to bring the C in tune.

This is really effective for a faster gliss and will sound like a clean
swoosh.

Do the same thing again, only this time start on D (xxx xxx) 4th line and
try to gliss from D (xxx xxx) to C (ooo ooo). Now... to get the full octave
effect... gliss from D to C, but keep the embouchure fairly loose at the C.
When you want to finish it off, just finger a high D (oxx xoo).

You use the same concept to gliss from F to F. Gliss from F to C by using
the technique above. Then instead of tightening the embouchure once you get
to C, keep it loose. Next, think of playing that flat high C then finger the
high F. Tighten the embouchure only after you have fingered the high F to
bring it in tune. Do it fast enough, and the only thing you're fingering are
F (xxx xoo), C (ooo ooo), then high F (oxx' ooo). The only trick is you have
to loosen the embouchure and *think* about keeping that first F (xxx xoo) in
tune as you bend up to the C, then *think* about keeping that C in tune when
you finger the F.

Option 2:

The other option is to loosen up the embouchure so much that when you finger
a quick chromatic scale between the 1st and last notes of the gliss that it
all sounds like one blur. I've been able to use this technique to gliss from
the low E all the way up to 4th octave G in one shot, which is really
effective for making a smooth, chromatic gliss in Rhapsody in Blue and the
end of the Copland. I control the speed of the gliss by how fast I play the
chromatic scale, making sure my embouchure stays really loose so that each
note doesn't sound articulated.

Easier demonstrated than typed, but this may get some ideas churning.

Bryan

http://www.whosthatguy.com

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