 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Signe
Date: 2003-02-06 05:30
One of my students wants me to work with her on this glissando, and I can sort of do it, but not really. Any hints?
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Author: Rick
Date: 2003-02-06 05:38
Hi:
There are several good postings in the archives that I recently read on the subject. Try "slide" as a search term. I'm working on it myself so no expert hints from me...BG!
Rick
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-02-06 06:10
For your search, use the key words "gliss", "smear", "rhapsody" or "rhapsody in blue". (no quotes needed)
As this is a popular (and often asked) question, there are many valuable postings in the archives...GBK
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Author: clarynet
Date: 2003-02-06 15:25
When I had to play the Gershwin, I could NOT figure it out! My professor tried very hard as well, although it's something hard to actually teach. i finally found a solution that worked absolutely wonderful. Just practice on the mouthpiece, since the gliss is solely from the tongue position. Brass players do it on their mouthpiece with ther lips, we can do it on ours with our tongue. Trust me, it works great.
Good luck!
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Author: Mitch K.
Date: 2003-02-06 17:18
Clarynet, not to de-value your personal discovery, but in my experience this glissando has been very easy to teach. I took all of 3 minutes for Luis Baez, assoc. principal/Eb with SF Symphony to teach a room full of us at a master class many years ago. His technique: Play C in the upper clarion, and see how far down you can bend it using only your embouchure. If memory serves (and it usually doesn't, at least not well) most were able to bend the pitch down to A G# or G. Repeat the process on B in the upper clarion, then B-flat, and A. After about a week of this, I was able to smear from D to C quite well.
Hope this helped,
Mitch King
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-02-06 19:11
Although not the first clarinetist to play the glissando, Ben Kanter defined the technique when he played it many times with Gershwin. He played the first register as a chromatic scale and slid up the second register by gradual sliding off of fingers from the keys with full air pressure and a relaxed embouchure. Good luck!!
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Author: ALOMARvelous12
Date: 2003-02-06 22:01
I start the "aiming down" immediately after getting into the clarion. I try to keep my lips in that position without tightening it until I hit high A.
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Author: craig
Date: 2003-02-07 00:25
I found the best way to teach it is by working at it one finger at a time. Gliss D to E, then E to F, etc. Then group the smear together. Slowly work them together to get a good continuous smear. -oh - and keep a loose embouchure with it, and you should be set. My teacher taught it to me this way, by explaining it first, and I had it down the first time I tried.
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Author: Clarinetter
Date: 2003-02-07 08:44
I taught myself to do the gliss after reading about Ben Kanter's technique (see Wes' post) and just having fun with it before or after practice sessions. I found that to initiate a gliss after the chromatic run, I needed to relaxed emboucher to extent that it felt like I was relaxing the entire oral cavity. The throat needs to be relaxed as well. With a full air flow to the mouthpiece the cheeks feel as though they may begin to puff out. As you bring the emboucher back to normal and back to the "hee" type airflow, the pitch will "bend" up dramatically. I found that the sliding finger technique need not concern you too much as long as the fingers end up in the correct position at the end.
Have fun and good luck.
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Author: RAB
Date: 2003-02-07 13:01
I found it pretty sufficient to do the lower notes (G-A) by simply the "lifting fingers" method, but once you get the the B start smearing with your embouchure. It's very difficult to get a good smear in the chalumeau register so no worries of you can't do that.
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Author: Signe
Date: 2003-02-08 03:27
Thanks EVERYBODY. We had our lesson today, and made some progress with the finger-lifting. You have to be quite sensitive to each note. The movement was like scooping. Signe
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