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 Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Plonk 
Date:   2010-08-16 07:31

I'm tackling this piece on my own (no teacher). Can anyone tell me how one is supposed to play the final glissando?

I have never tried to play a glissando before - do I play it as a chromatic scale and try to bend the pitch of just the last 2 or 3 notes or is the whole thing supposed to be a gliss and if so, how would one achieve that?

Many thanks.

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2010-08-16 16:56

Here's Goodman playing it near the end of his career. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1XEYODmy0A

And an earlier, better version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMswcCuoOaM

You play, I think, a G major scale up to clarion D. Then you relax your embouchure, lower the front part of your tongue and raise the back plus your soft palate. Then slide your fingers off the holes and "smear" up to the D.

It's the same technique as the opening of Rhapsody in Blue, which has been discussed many times on this board.

Here's Stanley Drucker, perfect of course though not as "dirty" as I'd like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPDG-T7BVM.

And here's Ross Gorman, for whom the solo was written, and doing it right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc

Ken Shaw



Post Edited (2010-08-19 23:01)

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Plonk 
Date:   2010-08-16 18:21

Ok thanks - the last notated note is D though, and I'm a bit confused about what you mean if you play up to D then slide to C, you'd be going down instead of up?? Do you mean C to D or B to C? I can bend an open C, (as can everyone I suppose), but then how would I "smear" up to a D which requires putting billions of fingers down?

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: kdk 2017
Date:   2010-08-16 22:22

I think Ken was talking about sliding up from 4th-line D ("clarion" or D5) up a 7th to C6, which is the way the gliss goes in Rhapsody In Blue.

Adding the D (a note higher) might be done a couple of different ways, although you need to take these suggestions with the caveat that I've never performed the Copland Concerto, so I don't know what would work best in performance. When I've practiced it, I've slid upward to C and, before I really focus in on it (the way you finally do in the Gershwin) I put down T-R oxx xxx and continue the gliss to D. Another way that could work would be to use the throat G-sharp key (plus anything else needed to bring the final pitch in tune) to produce the final D. Or, again if you can adjust the pitch adequately, just lift your thumb off at the end and overblow throat G. The last one is likely to produce the least refined sound, but then it isn't sustained and the entire orchestra plays the note with the clarinetist, so it might not matter so much in a practical setting.

Not sure how an accomplished soloist would do it.

Karl



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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2010-08-17 01:10

Of course it's D, not C. My mistake. To get to the D, it's easiest to play it in the clarion rather than the altissimo, using the throat Ab key.

Ken Shaw

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: mrn 
Date:   2010-08-18 01:23

I've always just used the regular altissimo D fingering by gradually pulling my RH ring and middle fingers and LH index finger off the holes (and leaving the LH ring and middle fingers and RH index finger on the holes). One you "catch" the gliss (that is, once you read the stage of the gliss in which your oral cavity has more control over the pitch than the instrument), it's easy to "voice" your way through the rest of the gliss. It's not necessary to slide all your fingers off the holes.

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Ed Palanker 
Date:   2010-08-19 02:31

Lip, throat, tongue and slide fingers. It's a combination of all these. When you hit the first note to begin the gliss you loosen your embouchure a bit and as you slide your fingers off the keys you voice higher in your throat and embouchure. Sounds easy but it takes a little practice. Practice it by starting on the highest note, loosen up as much as possible and "lip" it back up. Then start from the note below and then 3 notes below etc. Voicing and "sliding" up each time until you can do the entire gliss. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Plonk 
Date:   2010-08-19 09:37

But what IS the first note to begin the gliss?

Ken Shaw said play a G major scale, so I would play the scale up to C, then slide to D, is that right?

I'm a bit confused as to why it should be G major since the piece is in D major and ends on D. Sorry if it's a stupid question!

If it's actually a D major scale, I would slide from C# to D, right? But that seems too short to be a gliss - so would I start the actual gliss from lower down? The B? A?

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: kdk 2017
Date:   2010-08-19 12:59

As it happens, Copland notates the bottom part of the run before the actual gliss begins for most players. He only takes it up to "throat A" (A5), so interpolating from the lower octave, the next three notes would be B (natural), C (natural) and D. The gliss can begin at this D (D5 - "clarion D" - an octave below the final note). Then you slide from D5 up an octave to "altissimo D" (D6). Once you begin the slide, it doesn't matter what scale you try to finger.

Karl

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: Plonk 
Date:   2010-08-19 13:34

I have to slide for a whole octave? :o()

I am struggling to even slide between two notes convincingly!

I'm wondering if it's even possible to learn how to do this without a teacher :( I love this piece and the rest of it is within my grasp but this seems like such a difficult thing to do!

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 Re: Copland Concerto Glissando
Author: kdk 2017
Date:   2010-08-19 19:28

Do a search on the Rhapsody In Blue gliss. It's essentially the same slide (except it ends on C instead of D). There have been lots of explanations of how to do this, both here and on the Klarinet list. If none of them clicks for you, you may be able to find someone nearby who knows how to do it - not necessarily in a formal lesson situation. It might be another clarinetist in a group you play with. As has already been mentioned, it involves a combination of finger technique and lip and throat (voicing or, maybe more accurately, mis-voicing) control.

Karl

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