Glissando
Un glissando (plural, glissandi; from French glisser, "to slip, slide& #34;, Italianized by the ending "...ando" typical of the Italian gerund) in music is an ornament, a sound effect consisting of rapidly moving from one sound to another higher or lower sound making it listen to all possible intermediate sounds depending on the characteristics of the instrument. The interpretive technique will vary depending on the musical instrument that the glissando must play.
Graphic representation
This musical ornament is represented in sheet music and scores by an oblique line running from the starting note in the desired direction to the final note. The line can be wavy or straight, more or less wide, and is often accompanied by the abbreviation "gliss." (see Figure 2). The playing technique will vary depending on the musical instrument that the performer must play. glissando. In the notation for voice, a slur not unlike an expression slur was used at first, though limited to joining two adjacent notes of different pitches.
Uses and effects
The glissando involves a rapid transition between two sounds, during which all the intermediate sounds allowed by the instrument in question will be played. The succession of notes can be diatonic (white or black keys on the piano), chromatic as far as possible without specific pitches. But there is also glissando in thirds, sixths, octaves, etc.
On the other hand, for some authors the glissando is the rapid interpretation of the scale towards the acute and then towards the bass (or vice versa), for example on a piano, harp, xylophone, trumpet, oboe,... that is, in instruments that do not have the possibility of progressive pitch change because they work by operating keys, keys, etc. The correct execution of this technique can only be achieved with a lot of practice and, where appropriate, with proper synchronization of the hands.
Do not confuse the effect of glissando with that of portamento. The latter can be interpreted on string instruments such as violin, guitar, bass, etc., on a rod trombone, on voice and even on the saxophone. It supposes the union of only two heights that can be contiguous or not, but in no case will it consist of the deliberate execution of all the notes that are in the middle of those two.
Interpretive techniques
The glissando proper is one that can produce the human voice, a stringed instrument such as the violin or the trombone. In all these cases, the transition between the different notes is not perceived since the transition occurs without a solution of continuity. However, the term glissando is also often applied to certain effects that come closer by emitting a succession of very close but not continuous sounds. This occurs on keyboard instruments, along with most brass, harp, and fretted chordophones.
In vocal music
The glissando understood as a continuous transition between two or more notes can be easily obtained with the human voice, like the portamento. It is an effect widely used in operatic vocalization, in folk music and by derivation in jazz, blues, and occasionally pop music.
In brass instruments
For brass instruments, the horn and trumpet in particular, glissando is sometimes understood as a series of harmonics that can be obtained without changing position. The effect is the rapid succession of harmonics, and therefore in this case - unless playing high notes - it is not technically a true glissando with a succession of chromatic notes. For instruments with valves or pistons it is possible to perform a kind of glissando by pressing the piston halfway, allowing partial airflow in all holes and combining it with the bend technique. made with lips.
The horns can achieve effective glissando effects through the combined action of a hand movement on the bell and a bend made with the lips.
The trumpet is generally equipped, on the third piston, with a cord that allows adjustment of the tuning of some notes. However, it can be used to play a small, limited glissando.
The trombone, thanks to its mobile section or slide, can perform a true glissando in an easy and natural way, without having to resort to the series of harmonics. One of the greatest difficulties in the art of the trombone is precisely avoiding glissandi between notes, especially when playing legato. «In certain situations, it is not possible to slur cleanly on the trombone: if the slide is moving in the same direction as the slur, from which a "precipitated" called glissando or portamento.» The effect can be extended to its maximum in the interval of a diminished fifth that separates the first position by the seventh.
It should be noted that when the valve is activated on the trombone, the distance between one semitone and another increases, and in its movement with the valve located in Fa the slide makes an interval of a perfect fourth with only six middle positions and only five middle positions when the valve is set to D as it is on modern bass trombones. This probably escaped Béla Bartók when he wrote a glissando passage for bass trombone in the Concerto for Orchestra . At that time they only had trombones in F and not modern bass trombones. In the mentioned musical fragment, the trombone had to interpret a glissando from the low Si to Fa. Unfortunately, the passage was impossible, since in the maximum extension with the valve in F the lowest possible note is a Do and not the Si that Bartók wrote. Before the development of two-valve bass trombones, some trombonists performed this passage starting from C, while others, such as Lewis Van Haney of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, devised tricks such as tuning the valve to E instead of F and tying the valve with a string to keep the tuning in F and to pull the string with your foot while playing the passage in glissando. When the fragment is played with the bass trombone, first actuating the valve between (Fa and Re) and then, when the glissando approaches >, just the position of Fa.
On woodwinds
Among the woodwind instruments, 20th-century practice in instrumental music performance has explored the possibilities of glissando on virtually every instrument in the woodwind family.
In smaller instruments, such as the oboe or clarinet, the fact that the player uses the fingertips directly to occlude the holes allows the execution of a true glissando, which is obtained by a progressive discovery of the surface of each hole successively. In the transverse flute this option is possible, although only in the models that come equipped with perforated plates.
On the saxophone, in which the holes are opened and closed by operating levers, the glissando can however be obtained by combining two techniques. On the one hand, the execution of a chromatic scale using the bend technique, modifying the position of the lips for the semitone interval; and on the other hand, the action of the hands on the keys of the instrument. In this way an effect very similar to the real glissando is achieved.
On chordophones
On bowed string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, and double bass, glissando is easily achieved by sliding your fingers along the strings during the movement of the bow. Such an effect is frequently used to imitate the expressive language of the human voice. In the bowed string family there are some fretted instruments (in analogy to the guitar), the most common of which is the viola da gamba. On these instruments the glissando is produced in the same way, although the effect is different since one cannot avoid perceiving the chromatic interruptions in the "glide" (i.e., semitone to semitone).
On fretted chordophones, such as guitar, lute, electric bass, and others, the effect is also obtained by plucking the strings and sliding the fingertips along the string. However, its use is less frequent than in bowed instruments due to the purely polyphonic use of these instruments, the weakness of the sound thus obtained and the presence of frets that cause brief but audible interruptions in the glissando.
The electric bass, an instrument used mostly melodically, features a variant of construction with a fretless neck (in English fretless) for the sole purpose of reproducing the sound and effects of glissando of the double bass.
The electric guitar, an instrument whose amplified sound exceeds the limits of the acoustic instrument, has firmly included among its techniques two glissando effects that can be achieved in two different ways:
- Pressing the rope and pushing it vertically with the finger (in English) Holy), thus obtaining a glissando ascent,
- Strongly accessing the lever vibrate of the instrument.
The blessed can reach the distance of a tone, which in the tabs is represented by the term Full , or distances, diverse, measured in the tabature through of tone fractions (for example, 1/2 for the semitone and so on). The Release instead of the effect of Glissando previously obtained by the release of the strip string. Finally, the pre-bend is the pulling of the rope without ascending glissando; Normally the pre-bend follows the relay .
On the harp, a widely used effect of glissando is obtained by quickly passing the hand across the strings, in ascending or descending order, after preparation of the instrument through the special pedals By actuating them, the harpist can obtain a proper glissando, up to the distance of one tone, between the rest position and the one with the greatest tension of the pedal. This effect is much less used than in the previous case due to the reduction of the sound volume.
In music for keyboard instruments (non-electronic) the diatonic or chromatic scale is called glissando, which is achieved by sliding the hand over the diatonic or chromatic keys. So,, on instruments such as piano, organ, keyboard accordion, etc., this effect is executed by sliding on the white or black keys. On the piano, the nails of finger 3 (middle finger) and thumb are used, depending on the direction and place of the glissando.
Polyphonic instruments, and all keyboard instruments, but also the harp, guitar, and bowed chordophones can play multiple glissandi consisting of several notes played in glissando simultaneously.
In idiophones
Within the pitch percussion family, the glissando is common on keyboard instruments—such as the celesta, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, the marimba among others—sliding the hand or the drumsticks over the keyboard.
Audible and expressive glissando can be achieved on the timpani by actuating the pitch adjustment pedals immediately after striking the skin of the timpani membrane, without muting the sound. In the same way we can achieve the effects of glissando by turning the rototom.
On drums, a result similar to glissando is achieved by pressing down with the hand, elbow or other part of the body and then releasing after hitting the skin of the drum. There are also many other similar effects that are obtained in a certain way depending on the particular nature of the percussion instrument that plays it. Thus, for example, sheets that flex after being hit, or metal discs that are rotated rapidly. Of course, in such a case, the extent of the effect is approximately or completely indeterminate.
On electronics
The glissando was systematically included in almost all the electrophones of the last century, -such as the Ondas Martenot, the theremin, the telharmonium, the moog- in order to provide a touch of humanity to the sonority of these instruments perceived as artificial. Glissando effects are normally present on synthesizers and modern electronic keyboards and are often operated by commands to bend pitches with the modulation wheel positioned next to it. of the keyboard itself. In this case, the choice of introducing this effect, alongside the many other effects with which these instruments are normally equipped, no longer depends on the physical characteristics of the sound emission, which is fully synthesized, but on the choice of the design made by the manufacturer.
On the theremin a glissando is executed by simply moving the right hand toward or away from the modulation antenna.
History and examples
In Western classical music
- In 1830 Fantastic symphony of Hector Berlioz, in the fifth movement, compases 8-11 and 17-21 (flaut, oboes, clarinet; then tube).
- In 1900 No. 4 by Gustav Mahler, in the third movement (violin, cello, violas).
- In 1910 The bird of fire of Igor Stravinski, (trombón).
- In 1913 PréludesBook II, No. 12 Feux d'artifice by Claude Debussy, by 17 (pianoforte, black keys), by 87 (black and white screens simultaneously).
- In 1918 Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini, at the final scene of the miracle (voz).
- In 1920 Pulcinella Igor Stravinski, score number 170, (trombón).
- In 1924 Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, incipit (clear) (see Figure 5). The arranger hired for the occasion by Gershwin was Ferde Grofé, to whom he adapted the beginning for Russ Gorman, who was the soloist clarinet of the orchestra of Paul Whiteman who carried out the premiere of Rhapsody.
- In 1924 I Pini di Roma of Ottorino Respighi, in the first movement entitled "I pini di Villa Borghese" (arpa).
- In 1943 Concert for orchestra Béla Bartók, in the fourth movement (lower trombone).
In other musical genres
The glissando is used in vocal music for expressive purposes, imitating commonly used voice inflections (crying, screaming, laughing, and others). It is not uncommon for it to assume a parodic or comic value. For example, the comical use of the piston flute in cartoons or the opening musical notes of series such as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies in which there is extensive use of the glissando. Another example is the use of the theremin with disturbing intent to imitate the wailing of ghosts or announcing the arrival of aliens in old science fiction or horror movies.
In instrumental music it has been used particularly in the last two centuries, as well as the alternative modality with respect to the strongly quantized notation of the instruments of the European orchestra. The use of parody is often found in the imitation of popular music in all vocal and instrumental versions of jazz and blues. For example, Ravel's Bolero performed by Goran Bregovic's band and klezmer music.
Contenido relacionado
George Martin (musician)
Stray cats
The Great Crossover Potential