 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2007-10-03 00:38
Joe asks, "How would you bend a note say from like C to C."
Is this a typo or do you mean to bend a note a whole octave?
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2007-10-03 00:54
I wouldn't be able to. Maybe you could gliss it (right word?). Slide the fingers to either uncover or cover the toneholes in order to give the effect of a full octave bend.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Clarinetboy_236
Date: 2007-10-03 02:11
Ya our director told us we could do the gliss if we could do the bend but the bend sounds awesome so i am trying to figure out how to bend. thanks though
Joe
Gunnerspal@hotmail.com
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Author: ned
Date: 2007-10-03 03:13
''our director told us we could do the gliss if we could do the bend but the bend sounds awesome so i am trying to figure out how to bend''
I'd say bending from C to C or, any other octave, is a feat next to impossible.
Notes are bent in jazz though, but only by fractions of an interval.
Glissando is really what you are wanting to achieve.
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-10-03 08:51
If you are bending up like in Rhapsody in Blue then you must do it as a gliss- slowly opening your fingers and/or half covering the holes.
If it is a bend down, you must do the same as above but backwards if you want to get a whole octave.
I practice bending often and I feel I am quite good at it but on even my best days I can only bend from high C down to Eb. There is no shame in falure to do the impossible- don't waste too much time with it.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-10-03 13:54
Or play the upper register C, move to C# and take your thumb off the thumb hole (but still on the speaker key) and using the same muscles you use to do an upward sliding whistle will take you from C# up to high C in one smooth gliss with no fingers sliding off toneholes (as C# with the thumb off overblows to a high C).
The same thing, but get to Eb and lift LH finger 1 and this'll overblow to a high C.
Or search 'Rhapsody in Blue' to find more examples.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: claritoot26
Date: 2007-10-03 17:33
Yeah, like skygardner says, but the embouchure should also be involved. If you start on middle C, really drop the lower jaw to lower the pitch and then simultaneously and gradually slide the fingers off the keys and reform the embouchure as you work up to the hi C. It takes a lot of air and a lot of patience to learn, but like riding a bike, you never forget.
Before trying the whole gliss, you can try bending individual notes by staying at the same fingering and loosening the embouchure and throat (think "EEE-awww-EEE") to lower the pitch, then reforming it to resume the regular pitch you are fingering. I would start with the left hand notes above the staff, G,A,B,C.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2007-10-04 03:19
People usually say to drop the jaw, but you might try forward-back jaw movement rather than up-down. I find that about doubles my bending range.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-10-05 13:12
My impression of "bending" a note has always been simply altering that single note within the flat/sharp range of it's pitch. It sounds like many here have expanded that definition.
Bob Draznik
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2007-10-07 19:29
The big thing is to practice on your mouthpiece alone and be able to play simple tunes on it (my country tis of thee, happy birthday, etc).
You should be able to come pretty close to an octave just on the mouthpiece, but at first you may not be able to do much at all - takes practice.
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2007-10-08 16:26
Re: Bob Draznik
Yes, I call "bending" a note altering that single note's sharpness or flatness, however some people can bend a note QUITE a long ways. Certain notes bend more than others, and although a C to C is a stretch for me to even imagine, some notes can certainly be bent down a fourth or maybe even a fifth.
And for me to bend a note very much, it's a combination of jaw movement, and messing around with the cavity of your mouth. The larger I make my oral cavity while loosening up my jaw and actually moving it down the mouthpiece a little bit, the more it can bend downwards (I can't do it consistently yet, but when it works, it sure does sound interesting!)
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-10-08 20:28
Thanks Alexi. That clarifies it for me i.e. "it's bending if you don't change the fingering but glissing etc. if you do".
Bob Draznik
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Author: rgames
Date: 2007-10-09 01:29
Bending/Glissing/etc. is done at the back of the throat. I guess you could do something similar by sliding your fingers to partially cover holes but that seems awfully difficult. The only time I use the sliding fingers technique is to facilitate leaps into the altissimo. I don't consider that a bend/gliss, though.
Here are a few pointers:
1. The higher the note, the easier it is to bend/gliss.
2. Bending up on clarinet is difficult; you almost always think from below the next note up. In other words, if you want to gliss from top line F to the G above, think about coming to the G from below, not moving from the F upward.
2. To achieve the effect, expand the rear portion of your oral cavity. There are two techniqes that I've found help to explain this feeling. First, think about the way you react to a piece of hot food put into your mouth. That's exactly the same movement you need to achieve in order to bend the note downward (oral cavity expansion - trying to move your oral cavity as far away as possible from the hot food). An alternative is to examine the movement you use to drop the pitch while whistling. Start whistling a high note and glide downward, then do the same while playing. That's exactly the same effect - you're expanding the oral cavity, which gives a larger resonant volume and a lower pitch.
3. Using these techniques, you should be able to finger an upper C (two ledger lines) and play any note between it and the C below. For example, on the Rhapsody in Blue solo, most clarinetists use a quick "chromatic" gliss from the low G up to the middle C, then use the "true" gliss from that C upward. I've heard exceptions, but they're rare and I certainly can't do it any other way!
4. How far you can gliss/bend depends on the reed. With my setup, softer reeds make it easier to achieve the effect.
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
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