 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: volando
Date: 2011-08-18 23:45
Hello!
I am a composer. I write a piece and in the woodwind section I need a glissando effect.
I have read about the glissando and portamento in Phillip Rehfeldt's book but I don't understand really.
The lip portamento I understand, it is bending down or up.
But what about the glissando with the coordination between the lip and fingers?
Look at the flute example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS8-NL4d-Mo
And my question is: is it possible on the clarinet something like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1060489/clarglisss.jpg
What are the possibilities on the clarinet?? Between which notes are the glissandos possible without break, both up and downwards?
Thank you!!!!!
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-08-19 01:36
The best way or perhaps the way I do this is drop the jaw a tiny bit after you play the first note and slide the fingers starting from the lowest note. The sliding finger effect is instead of lifting your fingers off of the keys you slide your fingers. It takes a very short time for the clarinetist to learn how to do this.
You may wish to check out a few Rhapsody in Blue recordings. The piece starts off with the clarinet. Some people play this on the faster side, but 1976 or so the Cleveland Orchestra played this solo and it took the great Dave Shrifin about a minute to play this passsage. It was actually fantastic. He kept you in your seat waiting for the last note to finally hit. I'm not sure if there is a recording around, but do a search and see if you can find it.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2011-08-19 01:42)
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2011-08-19 03:52
Bob I think he's just asking what are the more possible glissandos that he can write for pieces, not on how to do the gliss. I'm experience and know how to gliss, but really I don't know the full capabilities on glissing since everyone is different.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-08-19 05:43
A lot of it depends on how fast it is and who's playing, and on the range.
Anything below written D5 or so may need fine key manipulation if you want it to be smooth. (Anything above D5 is cake for an experienced pitch bender)
In the lower register, going up is generally more difficult than down, though it depends on the context. The throat tones (Ab4-Bb4, possibly up to C5) are tricky because glissing in that range involves very fine manipulation of very small keys. Any attempted gliss that reaches both below B4 and above C5 will be extremely difficult to make clean, especially in a piece like yours.
Trying it right now, trouble spots:
Bar 3, E-C# takes a bit of finesse, but can be smooth.
Bar 5, F#-A is troublesome. Doable, but will sound a bit shaky. I'm sticking my fingers into keys all over to smooth it out.
Bar 7, Bb-G-A is quite hard.
Bar 10, the G-A-G-Bb is hard, especially at a faster speed. An octave lower, it would be cake.
Bar 11-12, A-C will be hard to make clean.
Bar 13, C#-A is incredibly difficult.
What's the approximate tempo here?
Given time, I could get most of it pretty clean. 13 would be fudged, and the other problem spots would probably have some hitches like you hear at the start of the flute recording.
An octave up, I could sight read it without much problem. You'd have a different timbre, though.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: volando
Date: 2011-08-19 12:23
That's right. I don't play the clarinet.
Alex - thank you for your time!!!
As I see, the posted music is not so easy.
If you were asked to make a glissando, smooth bending in that register (B3-B4, "the first octave"), how would you do it? The lip bends? Following the Rehfeldt's book?
> An octave up, I could sight read it without much problem.
> You'd have a different timbre, though.
Over C5 - is it much easier?
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-08-19 15:45
Anything above C5 is MUCH easier. C#5 and D#5 may require a bit of finesse depending on the situation. On a good day, I can make a smooth, fast gliss from E5 to B7.
I don't have Rehfeldt's book, so I don't know how he does it.
In the lower register, bending pitch is much harder, so in conjunction with moving the pitch, I will sometimes very delicately open and close keys. Usually it requires wedging my finger between the pad and the hole, because it offers much finer control than pressing the key that activates the pad. Whether or not I have to do this depends on the exact notes I'm concerned with.
You can still pitch bend without being so delicate with the keys. I do it if I want an absolutely clean, smooth transition between the notes. With a lot of pitch bending, you can get an effect that sounds like you bent through the whole pitch space between two notes, but in actuality you skipped a portion of the space. That's much easier and can give a similar effect, but not as clean. I'll only be so meticulous in slow, exposed passages.
Your passage reminds me of a couple pieces I've played on contrabass clarinet, which doesn't offer any open holes, which is what first necessitated the open-the-pad-very-delicately technique for me.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: William
Date: 2011-08-19 15:46
B3 to B4 smooth gliss is quite difficult for amatuer clarinetists--and a lot of "pros" who shun the jazz idiom. A gliss from B4 to any notes above is a lot easier and "doable" by many good amatuers and most "pros". Most difficult is maintaining a smooth gliss over the "break"--that is, from Bb4 to B4--almost impossible except for a talented few, like the late, great, Al Golladoro.
Bottom line: avoid writting clarinet glissandos below B4. Most band or orchestral clarinetists will not be able to perform them well.
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Author: William
Date: 2011-08-19 22:58
Yes, the side keys....but then you are totally out of position to gliss to C5. Just be safe and don't write it.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-08-19 23:42
Agreed, safer to not write that, and it's a pain to execute in any case. If someone absolutely needs an isolated bend up to B4 or C5, though, with nothing after it, it's possible.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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