 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mike
Date: 2000-05-29 02:46
hello, I need major help in what we call smearing...I am going to have to play rhapsody in blue soon and so I need to know any tips or pointers on how to smear *clearly*! most of you who know the song should know what I'm talkin about. any help'd be greatly appreciated. thanks
Mike
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2000-05-29 03:25
1. Smear with a "firm emboucoure"
2. As the lowest finger you start smearing on (the fourth line "D" or "F" or even top of the line "G"), slowly roll the lowest finger off the hole. As it is coming off, _support_. When it is about half way off the hole, start rolling off the next finger up. _support_. Both fingers are rolling off the clarinet holes at the same time. When the second finger is half way off, then start with the third finger up. The first should be about off. _support_ . Keep doing this to the high "C". That last bit is much easier to control and you can make the most of it if you condictor will give you a bit of leeway.
I keep saying _support_ because, for me, that is how I am able to control the tone's pitch rising in a steady manner and still keep the tone clear.
I hope you have success with this new technique.
You may want to check the archives here, I am sure this has been talked about before. Others may have different methods or different mindsets when performing glissandos.
Good luck to you, Mike
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Author: robin
Date: 2000-05-29 12:46
Dear Mike,
I have a different technique for this, though I'm sure many would disagree with my approach. I have tried Tim2's way in the past but couldn't manage making it sound smooth.
Once the break is crossed, it is possible to lower the pressure of the lower jaw and that all cohesion of the notes is lost. Thus by putting fingers down or up, the pitch changes as glissando as opposed to changing as each note should.
Once the high C fingering is reached, the pitch is hovering somewhere round a G, so then a controlled embouchure readjustment brings the pitch to normal.
This works for me, and in the Gershwin, offers the advantage of a slightly wilder tone! Tim2 is right about breath support. It's really important.
Good luck,
Robin
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-05-29 19:19
I generally concur with Robin's approach. The technique of smearing is rooted in the principle of dropping pitch from the highest note, rather than raising it from the lowest note. You are essentially going from a 'good' C or D directly to a 'bad' (but constantly improving) high C.
Once your fingers begin to slide off the keys, you are essentially fingering (or murdering) a high C. Your lowered jaw and partial fingers are an impediment to reaching the C that you gradually remove.
A note on sliding in general: It is not a virtuoso technique. It is, in fact, rooted in the limited technique of many early jazz clarinetists. Many did not sport a dazzling chromatic scale. A particularly gross practitioner was a vaudeville star named Ted Lewis. A young Benny Goodman got his first break doing a lampoon of Lewis and his smearing.
A note on Rhapsody in Blue: According to David Pino's book "The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing" Gershwin did not originally write in a smear for the piece. It begin in rehearsals with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, who premiered it. Apparently, Whiteman's clarinetist decided to give his buddies a few laughs by doing his own Ted Lewis imitation. Gershwin liked what he heard and decided to incorporate it.
A note on jazz practices and classical players: A lot of jazz-inspired and third stream music tends to fall flat due to the inhibitions of the players. Sometimes you have to drop the pristene tone and perfect articulation and squeeze out or spit out the phrases just as a cruder player would.
A great example is the struggle of opera singers over the years with "Porgy and Bess." There has been a steady evolution towards more authenticty and greater abandon.
Okay, I'll jump off the soap box.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-05-30 13:17
If you haven't already done so, try getting hold of a CD of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Larry Shields, the clarinettist in the band, could bend anything both up and down, all of it perfectly controlled. I don't know how he did it, but it sounds like embouchure variation. If you can make your effort sound like him, everyone will be smiling.
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Author: tree
Date: 2000-06-24 04:21
do everything you were told not to do when you first started to learn clarinet, then fix it as you reach the high C to be frank
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