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The Ethnic Clarinet The C4 standard

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RE: Glissando

Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2003-04-17 14:16

I am a big smearing fan and have performed the opening of Rhapsody in Blue before. I agree with most of the posts. The smear really takes place in your mouth, not your hands. Start on a high C and see if you can bend the pitch down to a G (on top of the staff) below that. It'll be a very unfocused G, but don't let that bother you...

Executing the smear takes a bit of coordination. When I do it, you play up to D3, then you slide your fingers off the keys while simultaneously bending the pitch downard. The action of releasing keys while bending down, gives you the smoothest sound (fingers alone gives you a little bump between each note). For me, by the time my fingers have all be released (fingering a C5) my pitch is about at a G4, then I simply bend the pitch back up to the C. Bending from G to C is the best way to get it smooth, because you can really finger smear it (especially B4-C5)... plus if it's all in your mouth you can take as long as you want, and make the audience (and conductor) sweat a little. Just make sure you keep your air focused enough that the notes all sound (it takes a lot of air), and have fun with it. Good luck... Hope this was helpful

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