 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sk1p2my1u
Date: 2009-02-09 00:12
I have played clarinet for a solid number of years now, and I'm trying to work out the infamous gliss in the beginning of "Rhapsody in Blue". What is a good way to work on this technique? I've tried to get the flatting a few steps down, but can only reach one, maybe one and a half, half steps...any suggestions? (Or even suggestions with a different setup to make the process of reaching it easier? I"m playing on my concert setup with a buffet, rovner's ligature and 3.5 vandoren reed)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-02-09 00:23
I had a great time getting the feel of big glissandi by changing the angle of my clarinet. I was always able to bend about a whole step, but that was about where it ended. One day, I tried the same thing with the clarinet nearly parallel to the floor, and it about tripled the effect of the gliss. Once I messed around with that for a while, I got it under control under much more reasonable angles.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2009-02-09 00:23
The gliss really starts on the clarion "B." Don't get hung up about note to note, it is really a controlled squeak starting on B kicked off with bumping another note down there (try left C#) and just riding it with your embouchure. Your fingers kinda sorta are in the area of the gliss but can be way ahead.
It's a feel thing - just play with it for awhile.
Note, I don't know anyone who can gliss over the break.
.........Paul Aviles
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2009-02-09 01:13
For me its a change in the throat shape and way I deliver the airstream. It's really hard to explain, but I imagine the sound being produced by my airstream. The fingers have to be smooth coming off the rings. Don't remove one at a time though. They are going to move ahead of the sound so to speak.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-02-09 01:50
I like Ryder's explanation.
Some other things that worked a bit for me...
- Chewing like a cow
- Going "sheeeoooowwwww" through a straw.
I tend to get a bit light-headed around the D.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-02-09 02:09
Some players do it entirely with voicing, lowering in the back of the throat like singing a very low note and voicing, or singing, the pitch up. Others do it by sliding your fingers off the keys gradually while voicing from low to high and perhaps even starting with a looser embouchure and firming it as you go up. You should try all and any combination of the above. I do the voicing, fingers and embouchure in combination, it works for me. When sliding the fingers I suggest sliding off to the side so that each finger comes off while another is beginning to slide off. Holding it out "Jazz" style might make it easier too, I know using a softer reed really makes it easier for me to get a good gliss. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: marshall
Date: 2009-02-09 06:35
I do it with a combination of sliding the fingers of and opening my throat a lot. The sensation of opening the throat to that point was once explained to me like "feel like you're puking into the clarinet" (crude I know, but it really does work).
Try this. Start by playing a high clarion C (above the staff) and bend the pitch as low as you can. Do this by dropping the tongue as much as you possibly can and opening the throat as wide as you can. I havn't worked on it in almost a year, but from what I remember I think you should be able to bend it down to an A if you're doing it 'correctly'. Make sure you can hold it at that pitch without losing the sound for a while, then bend it back up. Practicing bending it down from the C and back up without losing your sound is a good way to be able to hold it while sliding. After you're able to do this, start on a clarion G, bend the pitch down, and slide your fingers off to the side so that there is some overlap of the fingers coming off (that is to say, the middle finger starts sliding off as the ring finger is almost off). Gliss from a G to a C doing this. To avoid the 'bump' you get from having the pad right above the index finger ring, save pulling up the voicing for the very end of the gliss. After you're able to do G to C fairly comfortably, try doing it in reverse from C to G so you can get more used to the gliss feel between those notes. Repeat the process going from D to G, and then down from G to D. After you feel comfortable with this, try putting the two together, sliding from D to C. You can try going C to D too to work on the voicing. When you have the gliss down, put it with the scale. Though it isn't written this way, I like to do a chromatic scale between long B and the D you start to gliss on and open the voicing to the 'gliss position' in there. That way, you're set up for the gliss by the time you get to the D and you can smooth out the sound between the B and D so, if you do it right, the gliss almost sounds like it starts on the B (as is written).
Wow...sorry for the long explanation, I didn't intend for it to be that long.
EDIT: Sorry... I forgot to mention, I find it easier to open the voicing by going from the front of the embechoure back, so you drop the tip of the tongue first, followed by the middle, followed by the back, followed by opening the throat, all in one fluid motion. That's what works best for me.
My other tip for you is to experiment a lot. Find what works for you; what sounds 'right', what makes it easiest; and stick to it that way. I don't think any two players do it the exactly the same.
Post Edited (2009-02-09 06:39)
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2009-02-09 10:55
I remember lots of posts on this in the archives, try the search function.
Personally I like the 'whistling' analogy. You kind of let the note slide back into your head, so it's your tongue controlling the pitch. Feels weird at first. Easiest on the higher clarion notes, which you can drop a long way with practice. Finger sliding helps too.
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Author: William
Date: 2009-02-09 15:38
"Note, I don't know anyone who can gliss over the break"
A while ago, I posted a link a performance (UTube) by Al Golladoro who effortlessly and smoothly glissed all the way from the low G3 up to the C6, seemingly, right over the "break". Unfortunately, that link is no longer available.......
Two of the pianists that were featured in recordings with the Paul Whitman Orchestra were Earl Wild and Oscar Levant. Al's wonderful opening gliss may be heard on both, if you can find them. This info confirmed by Joann Chmielowki of Al Golladoros official website <www.algolladoro.com> which is currently featuring some of Al's amazing clarinet solo work in memorandom. RIP, Al.
Post Edited (2009-02-09 16:07)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-02-09 22:22
Trickier to put fingers down than to lift them, and especially nasty trying to go down over breaks. My gliss range is about half downwards of what it is upwards.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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