 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2005-07-08 23:55
Hi,
I heard cool glissandos, especially the famous rhapsody in blue (I think) and the traffic jam by Artie Shaw (more unknown) and I tried doing it...well it doesn't work.
I can flatten a note about a half-step (sometimes a full one) down but I can do it up...
Any advice?
(Of course I mean a "continual" glissando or "almost" not a slurred chromatic scale)
==>Sorry if my English isn't always right!
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2005-07-09 00:25
...I use the search and found my glissando answers...so I just have one problem, is it possible to raise a note using only the mouth/lips/throat ?
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Author: Tom Piercy
Date: 2005-07-09 15:58
To Arnoldstang:
Why your answer of NO to the question above if it is possbile to raise a note/pitch by using only your mouth/lips/throat?
It's quite easy to bend a note up (or down) by using your mouth/lips/throat.
You won't be able to do a large interval glissando but you can certainly raise the pitch.
Tom Piercy
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Author: Tyler
Date: 2005-07-09 16:11
Bending up is harder than bending down for most people. That's why some people say they prefer to tune sharp so they can bend down certain pitches if they need to. (Then again, if they fail to bend down adequately the sharpness sounds worse than flatness in my opinion).
Anyway, I am not great at bending pitch overall, but I can do OK glissandos. You just need to "overly relax" your jaw at the bottom of the gliss and then gradually increase pressure as you go up. Also, I find it helpful to 'overblow' with a much greater volume of air than I usually use.
Good luck,
-Tyler
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-07-09 17:27
I will respond later.....must go out now. John
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: DavieCane01
Date: 2005-07-09 17:53
From what I remember of my physics of music classes, the clarinet does not sit centered in its pitch range but rather at about 90% to the top. In other words, while most other instruments have roughly equal pitch flexibility in either direction, clarinets are limited to about 10%. However, this also allows for 90%, or thereabouts, downward. It is this very flexibility in the downward direction (about a minor third, I think) that allows the glissando we're all talking about here.
I think both Tom and John are correct. Yes you can bend up very slightly, but it might as well be No, as it's such an incredibly small amount as to be practically useless.
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2005-07-09 18:47
So doing a glissando doesn't require to bend up notes?
I've read some of the posts using search...but I can't just slide my fingers, it sounds really airy and bend the pitch only on certain notes (uncovered holes)... Many people were saying to pratice bending down notes, but why? I want to go higher, not lower...
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Author: Iplayclarinet
Date: 2005-07-10 00:21
the way i gliss is to slowly slide the fingers of my right hand outward and it usually works very well. so just try that and then do the same with the left hand for the other half of the gliss.
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Author: Ben Redwine
Date: 2005-07-10 10:20
Hello,
To do the Rhapsody in Blue and Artie Shaw style glissandi, first try playing the chromatic scale from the lowest note you want to hear, up to the highest note you want to hear. Then, (and I agree that it is almost impossible to bend a note higher in pitch--although you can slightly for tuning purposes) think about loosening your embouchure as you do the same chromatic scale and at the same time, move your fingers from one note to the next in a "sliding" motion instead of quickly raising your fingers for the next pitch. Really, you are "scooping" the pitch down, only in reverse--you are starting on the low side of the pitch and bringing it into focus with your air stream. I also think that I am changing the vowel sounds inside my mouth considerably, from an "oh" down low and by the time I want the upper note to be in tune, I am at my "eeh" sound. A less resistant set-up will help with this as well, especially to practice. Then, move to a more "normal" set up. I can do the glissando pretty well, if I may say so myself, and play a fairly resistant set up. This is a little difficult to write about, so please let me know if I can clarify any of the statements.
Ben Redwine
RedwineJazz, LLC
410 798-8251
clarinet@redwinejazz.com
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Author: Tom Piercy
Date: 2005-07-10 10:39
Although I agree it might be difficult to bend pitch up on a note - I think it depends on the note and where in the range of the clarinet.
Notes in the lower range in the chalumeau and lower in the clarion range will be hard to bend pitch up very far. However, you can bend the pitch up quite a bit in the upper clarion - and especially altissimo range. Some notes works better than others, and some fingerings are better suited for these pitch bendings.
Tom Piercy
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-07-10 16:06
Well of course you can bend a note up in pitch.....first of all you lower the pitch with your embouchure......start at that pitch level and return to a somewhat normal clarinet embouchure. It just depends what you start with. If you start very flat it is very easy to go up. If you start at the top....that's about it. One exercise would be .....play a note....duplicate the same note with fingering that is a semi tone higher (very loose embouchure) I guess this is pretty difficult to do throught the entire range of the instrument or the Rhapsody in Blue would be entremely easy. ...just start flat then raise pitch...as you approach the next semitone. ....loosen the embouchure and finger a semtone higher. Perhaps the gliss happens too fast to use this chromatic sliding approach.....I think people tend to use their fingers in a sliding manner but it tends to be going up by step mostly not just duplicating a chromatic scale up a semitone fingering from where the note sounds. John
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: christian_comeau
Date: 2005-07-10 23:44
Sliding fingers doesn't work at all for me because of the covered holes ( having a nickel ring around or activating an other hole). It's about the same thing when I do the chromatic scale, some notes can be glissed but when I come to something like G#, it doesn't work.
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