If you listen to the opening of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, you will hear a clarinetist do something that had never been done in “serious” music. The clarinetist plays a wailing glissando. Gershwin hadn’t conceived of the wailing glissando; it was the creation of Ross Gorman, clarinetist for Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. When Gershwin heard the sound during rehearsal, he insisted that Gorman open the piece with the wail, and it has ever since been a part of that famous American jazz concerto.
The clarinet isn’t a very old instrument. Mostly an evolutionary combination of older versions of woodwinds coupled with the sound of a distant trumpet, the clarinet appears in the eighteenth century. Though an integral part of bands and orchestras today, it is only rarely part of popular music in the twenty-first century. It was, however, often heard in popular music of the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s.
The clarinet is composed of pieces. One of those is the barrel that is located between the mouthpiece and the rest of the instrument. The barrel seems an unnecessary section. The mouthpiece has a vibrating reed; the third and fourth sections have holes and keys, and the flaring bottom bell casts out the sound. So, what about that little barrel? Well, as you know, length of an instrument affects pitch. Short piano strings that vibrate rapidly make high notes; long thick strings vibrate more slowly and make low notes. The barrel slides on cork washers or seals, enabling the clarinetist to lengthen or shorten his instrument by adjusting the barrel.
A piece that seems to have no obvious purpose in the eyes of the uninitiated actually plays an important role in the clarinet’s fine-tuning. A good clarinetist knows how to adjust the barrel just the right number of millimeters to make his clarinet perform in tune with other instruments. Without that slight lengthening or shortening of the clarinet, the sound will not meet the needs of the orchestra.
Now think. What slight adjustments do we all need to make so that the instrument of our lives works harmoniously with those around us? Is it a slight alteration in our voice, in our tone? A tiny change in attitude? A lengthening of time spent listening rather than speaking? A lengthening of praise and shortening of gossip?
Peace and harmony are ideals for human interaction. But in order for any orchestra, any society, to function peacefully and harmoniously, all the individual instruments have to be in tune. Each player has an instrument that, with slight adjustments, fits into the composition, but it is up to the individual to make those adjustments in concert with all the others in society’s main performance. Maybe someday humanity will slide into a glissando of cooperative performance. If it does, the music will be as novel as the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue once was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH2PH0auTUU
The clarinet isn’t a very old instrument. Mostly an evolutionary combination of older versions of woodwinds coupled with the sound of a distant trumpet, the clarinet appears in the eighteenth century. Though an integral part of bands and orchestras today, it is only rarely part of popular music in the twenty-first century. It was, however, often heard in popular music of the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s.
The clarinet is composed of pieces. One of those is the barrel that is located between the mouthpiece and the rest of the instrument. The barrel seems an unnecessary section. The mouthpiece has a vibrating reed; the third and fourth sections have holes and keys, and the flaring bottom bell casts out the sound. So, what about that little barrel? Well, as you know, length of an instrument affects pitch. Short piano strings that vibrate rapidly make high notes; long thick strings vibrate more slowly and make low notes. The barrel slides on cork washers or seals, enabling the clarinetist to lengthen or shorten his instrument by adjusting the barrel.
A piece that seems to have no obvious purpose in the eyes of the uninitiated actually plays an important role in the clarinet’s fine-tuning. A good clarinetist knows how to adjust the barrel just the right number of millimeters to make his clarinet perform in tune with other instruments. Without that slight lengthening or shortening of the clarinet, the sound will not meet the needs of the orchestra.
Now think. What slight adjustments do we all need to make so that the instrument of our lives works harmoniously with those around us? Is it a slight alteration in our voice, in our tone? A tiny change in attitude? A lengthening of time spent listening rather than speaking? A lengthening of praise and shortening of gossip?
Peace and harmony are ideals for human interaction. But in order for any orchestra, any society, to function peacefully and harmoniously, all the individual instruments have to be in tune. Each player has an instrument that, with slight adjustments, fits into the composition, but it is up to the individual to make those adjustments in concert with all the others in society’s main performance. Maybe someday humanity will slide into a glissando of cooperative performance. If it does, the music will be as novel as the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue once was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH2PH0auTUU
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