Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2005/01

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] RE: Rhapsody in Blue Gliss
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 08:35:04 -0500


>
> The notation in the part can be ignored. According to what I've
> researched,
> the smear was used in the first performance after the clarinetist (whose
> name I forget) smeared it in a rehearsal... just as a joke. And Gershwin,
> who was conducting at the time, loved it and instructed that it be played
> that way in the premiere performance. The smear has been adopted by
> clarintists ever since. This history is exactly what I did NOT want to get
> into.
>
> My concern is that I can comfortably and effectively gliss the entire
> range
> of the horn (well, standard range from low E to 4th octave G) as was
> mentioned about Schifrin. It was something I figured out how to do a few
> years ago after working on the Copland.... But my current teacher claims
> glissing the entire opening passage of the Rhapsody is wrong - european
> classical thinking perhaps. So my main question is... is glissing the
> entire
> passage flat out unacceptable... or is there really a standard,
> "acceptable"
> way to do that opening passage. From the responses, I gather that what my
> teacher thinks is more a result from the fact that most clarinetists
> fingerfudge it up to a point where he/she *can* gliss comfortably up to
> the
> C. And I can understand how that has become somewhat of a standard due to
> the difficulty involved in smearing over the break, but either I'm blind
> or
> just stubborn in trying to understand why smearing the entire passage
> would
> be "unacceptable" per se.
>
> Bryan
>

Bryan,

This offered up by a "in the trenches" orchestral clarinetist.....
There is no where to hide when performing this solo. If a player is unsure
or worried about how to perform this or any other solo....I would recommend
a meeting with the conductor. Demonstrate what you can or want to do and ask
for their opinion. If you have no worries....go for it....do it how you want
and wait for the reaction. I know professional players that take both
tact's.

I've heard this solo played many ways. First, the nature of how it came
about is a key. Spontaneity, it seems, was (According to you and others. I
don't know or don't remember the story.) the seed that created the glissando
in the first place. Secondly, this glissando is not an easy thing for all
classically trained orchestral players to accomplish. And that's who's
playing this solo....you have it being performed by Mr. "Joe" orchestra
player. It's not a matter of "they should be able to do it"...from my
experience it's difficult for some players to get the idea about this kind
of gliss and that's just the way it is. This being the case, some players
might have the chops to gliss the entire run....and others might have to do
something different (but effectively) to get the job done. Every orchestra
from the London Phil to your local community symphony does this work...and
you will have a thousand versions of that glissando. Some players move
quickly through the gliss, some slowly....some will use a diatonic scale to
start the gliss (I'm all for that), some chromatic....some like yourself
(and the story about Shifrin) are able to find a way to defeat physics and
gliss through the node. I've heard a lot, over my years of playing, that I
would at one time or another say was impossible....up unto the day I heard
it done. Done so well in fact that it shakes my confidence a bit....

Hey but don't mind me. I'm still amazed, after all of the years I've played,
that people make "music" come out of these things called "instruments" (at
all). Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself speaking....or
playing? I have many times and my response is always the same...."who's
that, it can't be me". I say this hopefully. hahahaha

Just a thought.

Forest Aten

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