 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarlyn
Date: 2023-09-05 01:33
Attachment: 20230904_142524~2.jpg (277k)
I'm unfamiliar with the notation in the attached file, between the D and the A. Can you tell me what it's called and what it means?
Thanks much,
Lyn
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-09-05 01:55
It's a glissando - either a fingered glissando (diatonic or chromatic) going from the D up to the A, or a lip glissando (or portamento) where you bend/slide up to the upper note. The context really depends on the style of music.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2023-09-05 01:59)
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Author: clarlyn
Date: 2023-09-05 02:28
Thanks, Chris. This should be fun to figure out. It's in The Christmas Song and will be played by the youth symphony orchestra. It's the only one in the piece, between the 2 notes in the 6th measure.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-09-05 04:46
I reckon in that case it's a diatonic fingered run from the D up to the A - allow the D to sound around half to 2/3 the duration of the note value, leaving the run up to the A late as though the three notes in between are grace notes all crushed in before the A.
I'm guessing it was easier to use the gliss sign rather than writing/printing out the grace notes (smaller sized demisemiquavers/32 notes with a slash though them).
Similarly when you see a downward fingered gliss/roll written like this with the wavy line, leave it late rather than strictly all measured out for the duration of the note at the start of the gliss.
You'll see and hear a lot of that in big band music - especially in bari sax parts in ballads that do a gliss/roll from low register F# down to low B (I'm thinking Li'l Darlin' by Neal Hefti here), leaving the roll late for the best effect. You'll find it in some alto clarinet and bass clarinet parts in concert band arrangements.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2023-09-05 04:58)
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Author: clarlyn
Date: 2023-09-05 05:27
Ohh. So I add an E, F and G as grace notes just before the A?
That doesn't seem too bad.
Thanks so much!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-09-05 17:18
Yeah - play the D to around half its value (or a bit more) and then run up E, F and G just before landing on the A.
I've also seen the gliss lines used for a large gliss with the word 'chromatic' written at the same angle which means a chromatic run between the notes.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2023-09-05 17:26
I usually assume a squiggly line means to finger the notes in between, and a straight line means smooth glissando. Is that right? I don't apply it rigidly; it can depend on the music, the composer, the editor, the conductor, etc.
Regarding fingered glissandi, sometimes I wonder which notes to finger. Do you play a chromatic scale fragment, or do you just play notes of the current scale? I've never heard it questioned, but sometimes one or the other sounds more effective - when playing alone! Probably matters less in an ensemble - or does it?
Another gliss question: some glisses start at a note and end with a rest. Then I start to wonder how far to extend the gliss: short/long, tapered/not. Again, when playing alone there's usually a way that sounds better. In an ensemble, my experience is that everyone playing the gliss ends it their own way. And maybe that's ok, the desired effect is usually a more general one. Yet the question keeps asking me. Pick, pick, pick.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-09-05 21:55
With glisses, bends or slides that go up or down (falls/drops) and don't have a final note, then play the gliss/bend as high as you like or down to the lowest note, tapering the volume off before you hit the final note instead of all the notes in the gliss/bend being the same volume and ending abruptly.
Especially when doing a drop off or fall down to a low note as keeping all the notes the same volume and ending on a loud low note sounds horrendous. Diminuendo down to almost nothing throughout the gliss/slide/fall to make it effective and tasteful - hit the written note and then come away from it.
Sometimes they're written with a wavy line, sometimes with a straight line and sometimes with a curved line curving up or down, with or without the words gliss or bend. Sometimes instead of ending with a rest, the last note is notated as a note with an X instead of a notehead if it's of a non-determined pitch.
Again this is mostly seen in big band charts and entire sections playing both in unison or in soli will do these upward or downward bends to great effect.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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