[Trombone-l] Bartok gliss question revisited

[james meador]

The same gliss occurs in Miraculous Mandarin, but it occurs over and over 
for several measures, a gliss down and then gliss back up to the F.  I 
usually do for the gliss in the Concerto what I do for that one, which is 
nail the low B with both valves, then drop the second valve as I move the 
slide out a little to start the gliss up to first.  Of course, there is a 
subtle break, but with some practice it can sound very convincing.  Not as 
good as a straight, pure gliss like an F bass or Ray's or Van Haney's way 
could produce, but for Mandarin there is simply no other option--get an F 
bass or do the gliss with a subtle break.  For my taste, it is a little too 
prominent to get by with a fake.

Although, I just got a funny image in my head of a tuba player reaching 
behind a bass trombone player yanking his tuning slide in and out.  :)

Ray, I will try your way this time around and let you know what happens.  
I'm dying to get a real gliss out!!

James

======================
James N. Meador, Bass Trombone
Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán
+52-999-221-5845 cell
+52-999-195-1144 home
jamesmeador at hotmail.com

From: Keith Marr <Mail at gothicway.fsnet.co.uk>
To: "Trombone-L" <TROMBONE-L at server5.SAMFORD.EDU>, "d.sleeman" 
<d.sleeman at hccnet.nl>
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Bartok gliss question revisited
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 3:29 PM
There is a movement (think it's the second) called the Interrupted 
Intermezzo, which is going along blithely until Bartok suddenly changes the 
whole mood for a few minutes, poking fun at Lehar's Merry Widow and 
Shostakovitch's 7th Symphony, which were both very popular at a time when 
Bartok's music was viewed as "too modern" in some circles.

There are two glissandi, one from low B up to F in the 3rd part and one from 
low E up to Bb in the 2nd part.

I've only played the piece once and was most disappointed at how little of 
interest there is in the 3rd trombone, apart from that little 15 seconds of 
fame. I can't imagine it being very effective on anything other than the 
original F trombone (Doug Yeo has one made for him by Yamaha!) or the Thein 
"Bartok" trombone (buy a trombone to play just one piece?) or a Bb/F/E 
trombone. I was playing a Holton TR181 at the time and was able to remove 
the Gb extension from the second valve at the end of the first movement, 
play the low B on two valves and release the second valve in the course of 
the glissando. There's plenty of time to replace the Gb extension again for 
the rest of the piece. The gliss happens so quickly that I doubt if anyone 
would be able to discern any beak in the glissando when you release the 
second valve.

Interestingly enough it occurs to me that my Rath Bb/F/D would not make such 
a good job of this because I haven't got any means to reducing the length of 
tubing on the second valve. Fingers crossed I don't need to bother playing 
the piece again, it was pretty boring to sit counting rests through anyway.

It sticks in my mind that Bartok writes the same glissando for bass trombone 
in either Bluebeard's Castle or The Miraculous Mandarin, I can't remember 
which. So maybe the Thein is a good buy after all - you could use it for two 
pieces! :-)

Cheers!

Keith in Bb/F/D
Bass Trombone
St Albans Symphony Orchestra
North Herts Big Band