 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-06-08 03:26
The following concerns music in my concert band folder.
I'm asking first about a squiggled straight line, which I've heard called a glissando. It usually appears either leading between two different pitched notes or following a note and pointing down from it. Maybe I've also seen in before a note and pointing up to it.
I've taken this to indicate a sequence of scale notes. Which scale, the scale of the key signature, or chromatic? If a rest follows, how long a sequence should be played? When does the sequence start? Does it take some portion of the time of the preceding note, if any, or the following note, if any?
I've seen this symbol between two notes close together, like clarion B and D, so the sequence is so short it almost seems silly. Maybe this indicates a sort of smear effect by the clarinet section is intended, where the start & end & togetherness of it is only approximate.
Then, what about the curved line symbol, like a slur but steeper? Usually I see this following a note and pointing down from if, but sometimes it leads a note and points up to it. I've taken this to indicate a "lip" slur. I have questions about this similar to the above - how long is it and when should it start / end?
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-08 06:15
Here's my 2 cents on the parts I feel comfortable (as in I don't want to offer advice in areas others may know more about than me) answering.
I'm going to address what they sound like, and answer that it's music context sensitive and that there may not be hard and fast rules.
In Rhapsody in Blue, just discussed in a neighboring thread, the gliss up tends to be gradual enough that some might consider it more chromatic.
In others situations, a quick gliss from the pit players follows an actor's joke or expression.
Post Edited (2017-06-08 06:24)
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2017-06-08 06:39
My two cents
I've always understood a gliss to be the 'poor man's' portamento - A trombone or violin can do a portamento - a totally super chromatic slide - super because even the 'notes' between the chromatic notes are sounded. On clarinet, omitting, for the moment, embouchure tricks, a gliss is a chromatic scale - you play every possible note between start and stop. A "Rhapsody in Blue" gliss where the notes are 'smeared' into each other then becomes a portamento.
Wikipedia has a pretty good article on glissando
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-06-08 09:23
Quiz your conductor on what they prefer.
When I'm left to my own devices I usually follow the scale appplicable with the key signature. If there's time in the music I might use the chromatic. The genre of the music often dictates what I do.
The gliss is an effect...it probably does matter as long as the entire section does the same thing. The technically less proficient players probably will skip all the blur, quick notes. Power to you if you play them all.
If it's a gliss falling into a rest, I usually do at least an octave from the written note...two or three for a longer effect when appropriate.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-06-08 18:57
On glisses that descend into rests, I hear our 1st trombonist, an experienced jazz player, extending the gliss well into, or almost entirely within, the rest. I hear him because he's pretty much the only one doing that; myself and others seem to be incorporating all or most of the gliss within the written note. I have little feel for jazz; the effect of people doing it differently sounds, to my ear, messy or careless.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-06-08 19:06
Philip,
In that case, it is up to the conductor to convey what they want/expect. Perhaps the conductor actually wants everyone to do it like the trombone player? Without some type of feedback, it would be impossible to know.
It is important to note that things such as glisses are usually there for an interpreted effect...not an actual passage of specific notes in specific time. They are approximate notes during an approximate timeframe...otherwise, the composer would just write the notes and rhythm in exact notation - instead of using a squiggle. 
Cheers,
Fuzzy
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-06-08 19:13
I like Fuzzy's answer...don't sweat the details. No one (hopefully) is sitting in the audience notating how you play squiggle lines.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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