How to play Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" opening clarinet solo

That sound at the beginning? It's called a "smear" - here's a quick video on how to do it, (and why it doesn't work on the bass clarinet.)

[@mrbigg151]

He got every BIT of that glissando at the beginning

[@tylermoore8218]

He milked it to the fullest!

[@memphisreece7887]

i know Im asking the wrong place but does any of you know a tool to get back into an instagram account? I somehow lost my login password. I would love any tips you can give me

[@robkunkel8833]

Clarinets are certainly lively instruments, aren’t they? I love my new Buffet E12F Bb. The whole mid-section comes alive when it’s a well padded high quality instrument. Thanks for a great video with good close up photography.

[@darrenlin7943]

@@robkunkel8833 I also own a Buffet E12F Bb. Magnificent instrument.

[@CrowJoestar]

As a beginning clarinet player, I long to have such a nice sound like he does.

[@omdahlre]

Rhapsody in Blue - arguably the sexiest piece ever written for clarinet 😍

[@teddydunn3513]

Omh Rhapsody in Blue isn't written for clarinet. It's written for orchestra with a piano. There are a couple things that make me not particularly fond of this video. First, voicing is 100, 000 times more important than finger technique. And second, the main reason it's more difficult to smear on bass clarinet is not the lack of open tone holes, but rather it's the length of the instrument. For any given fingering on the clarinet, the same fingering on the bass clarinet will take up twice the length. *And why does this matter?* Because resonance. Your oral cavity affects the resonance of the instrument and acts as an extension to the bore. If the length of the bore changes, so does the length of your oral cavity relative to the bore. This is why it's so ridiculously easy to bend the pitch on just your mouthpiece. I mean I can smear up the clarion register on a soprano clarinet by simply lifting all my fingers off the keys three at a time.

[@destroyedbyyuppiepowers]

@@teddydunn3513 do not use the lord's name in vain you HEATHEN

[@saxmanatmaplewood]

Somebody hasn't heard much clarinet music...

[@destroyedbyyuppiepowers]

@@saxmanatmaplewood When you simply can't accept that someone doesn't like this song

[@saxmanatmaplewood]

@@destroyedbyyuppiepowers when you assumed that my comment was about this song. My comment was about the comment itself.

[@marivaleska8917]

“your fingers aren’t touching the wood” *laughs in plastic clarinet*

[@MaiCody]

Mari valeska please don’t buy plastic clarinets. It hurts my heart

[@bradyschindler4199]

@@MaiCody I have a friend in band with a plastic clarinet and she can't even up to a high C. And it just sounds bad

[@michaelhoelscher2271]

​@@bradyschindler4199​I play a great plastic clarinet and I can hit up to G7 Thank you very much

[@bradyschindler4199]

@@michaelhoelscher2271 Thats pretty impressive. What brand is your clarinet?

[@michaelhoelscher2271]

@@bradyschindler4199 I honestly don't know. Its a student clarinet from my local music store. I know my mouthpiece is Vandoren 5C and my reeds are Vandoren V21 3.5 and my ligature is offbrand.

[@dietz4052]

I don’t even play a wind instrument, but wondered how this solo glissando was achieved. What an excellent demonstration! I learned something new today.

[@winstonbeech3418]

The irony is that the trombone is the best natural smear instrument, but it can't produce a continuous 2-octave smear. If you had a 24-position slide and an assistant to stand 12 feet away and push it in maybe. But that would require a slide more than 3x the length of a normal trombone slide. They are enough of a pain in the ass to maintain at normal length.

[@_alicia__]

Me, a French horn player: KZbin: rHapSoDy iN bLue fOr cLariNet

[@jonnylpenman]

Lili, can't relate. I'm a clarinet player.

[@allisoncombs7031]

Literally me too. I’m a senior and I’ll be a music ed major next year so my band director is having me learn clarinet to prepare for woodwind classes. I’m contemplating how in the heck the clarinet I’m holding can make the sound that he made with his. 😂

[@ThePeaterBeater]

Allison Combs as a music ed horn player, I can assure you that you’ll get there! what school will you attend?

[@winstonbeech3418]

@@allisoncombs7031 My mom had a music ed degree and was a band director for a while. Clarinet was her primary instrument, but I never heard her play Rhapsody. My dad taught 90% clarinet and the rest were saxophone or bass clarinet. Mom taught clarinet, flute, and even trumpet and trombone on occasion. She minored in violin in college, and it was the only class she didn't get all A's in. I have her violin now, and am I tempted to play it? HELL NO! I can barely play a 2-chord change on guitar. And I already have a sore neck from other things, no way am I touching that fiddle!

[@chrisk8187]

I teach clarinet. When I was in high school my band director said we would play the Rhapsody in Blue if I could learn the smear (an aside; most of the upper classmen didn't want to perform the piece as we felt it was beneath us - not serious enough). When we started to rehearse he was astounded that I could already do the smear (he figured that would be weeks away. He had shown me the finger "fanning" motion. I never told him that instead of hours, it took me 20min. (some more weeks to make it consistent). I've had the good fortune to teach some of my students how it's done. I annoy them by fanning "in" bottom to top, fanning alternating in/out, out/in. And mostly with voicing. One last mini-story. In 7th grade my son (now a college freshman) wanted to do the smear. I said I would help him. Big mistake! Soon that's all we heard at home and he drove his director and classmates crazy. Every once in a while we do some smear "offs" when he's home.

[@robkunkel8833]

A great couple of stories and this (Earspasm) teacher is fun. I took lessons a half century ago and, after three years, I’m still not sure what his technique was. I think he must have like horns more than woodwinds. He was sooo boring. Smear offs …:)

[@AntonVanDerSar]

SO, this is to clarinet what Smoke on the Water is to guitar??? Poor little you. Let me break out my tiny violin.

[@iYessicaH]

There needs to be more people like you on KZbin. Loved this, thanks for sharing.

[@moneybags999]

Wow. I had no idea that was how that sound was produced. I always thought it was caused by purposely loosening the embouchure.

[@kagamikagami]

Yeah, I thought it was to do with embouchure

[@drumminfro]

Same 😅

[@winstonbeech3418]

It's both - when you're doing those fingering tricks you have to have the chops to hold it together and not just hiss out or squeak.

[@POOKIETOOKIESKNM]

@@winstonbeech3418thanx

[@kamilee4123]

I'm a violinist why am I here

[@brothaNblue]

Because it's good to have insight on other instruments.

[@Flpower2011]

Kami Lee because the clarinet is awesome

[@thefrenchbaldeagle3138]

Kami Lee no i should be hear I'm a brass player

[@Elizabeth-ut1kv]

I am too, but I also play the Bass clarinet

[@error_name]

same bro

[@TransitNerd]

I just preformed Rhapsody in Blue at my school’s Music Showcase Concert, and I owe a whole bunch to you! This video in really helped. Thank You!

[@jadetealaaron2003]

I'm a drummer, why am here? oh right, Squidward

[@rayten4499]

yes

[@Rockypf2]

Nice 👍

[@hellothere-xz7kf]

I’m a 8th grader and when I was warming up I played this and my teacher was so surprised lmao

[@joechavez784]

Same but 7th grade

[@rainonedavid3564]

Should've practiced scales instead of this lmao

[@IceOfPhoenix88]

Well done

[@NPWIII]

Joe Chavez same but womb (China)

[@nhansboro]

I hope one of my band students surprise me with this! 🙏🏿

[@pae913]

This video explained it so well! I've watched other videos and they didn't work so well for me. After watching this, I started practicing this today and got it down very well in the same day. So now I have this huge feeling of accomplishment and I'm having way too much fun with this

[@gracegorman3306]

All dressed up and ready, but nowhere to play!! Hahaha!!

[@acsu96]

Very cool! As a cellist it's nice to know exactly how it works - and how hard my clarinetists have to work for that solo! I'd always heard it was complicated because you can't gliss "properly" on a clarinet, but no one really explained the smear to me before. Makes that solo even more awesome.

[@SingleReedPitRat]

Nicely explained, and wonderful sound. Every time I see that all-black bass, though, I can't help but feel that you're going to cost me $10k+ sometime in the not-distant future.

[@tihana13]

I play piano and I knew nothing about clarinet techniques. This video was so interesting and so well explained! You, sir, are a rockstar!

[@bobmas2629]

I finally heard someone do it as good as me. Not bragging. I got a master in clarinet performance and even my professors couldn't do it. Love it dude. ❤😊

[@mac8596]

God I could listen to that intro for hours, god, is that sooooo good.

[@lameborghini6980]

I keep squeaking when I try to do it 😂 Someday I'll figure it out

[@avarogers833]

same ugh

[@teddydunn3513]

Lαni Bοhmοnt The proper voicing will prevent you from squeaking. Experiment with your tongue position. This video was absolutely useless to me when I was first learning how to smear because he puts way too much emphasis on sliding your fingers when in reality your fingers do just about 5% of the work. Keep your pitch as flat as possible the whole time (you have to experiment a lot to learn how to do this) while pulling your fingers of the holes. It's not so much about all these detailed finger movements he describes in the video; you basically just need to keep your fingers close to the holes in order to provide adequate resistance to the airflow. In fact, a smear can be done by simply lifting your fingers in succession.

[@alickagali]

Yes, do it! Tell us when you can play..

[@laserdisque]

OMG I''VE WANTED TO PLAY THIS FOR THE LAST 23 YEARS AND NOW I KNOW HOW thanks for sharing!!!! Like seriously. This video is amazing and it makes so much sense now.

[@Ted_DiSanti]

Jazz saxophonist here playing a chart where the whole sax section ones the tune by playing this intro. This was so incredibly helpful and I was surprised I could actually pull this off with my limited clarinet chops!

[@JonFrumTheFirst]

Gershwin wrote it without the smear - it was originally chromatic. It was the clarinet player in the premier who came up with it in rehearsal. Gershwin heard and approved.

[@robd1889]

This is what I always wanted to be able to do and this made it happen - I owe you this guy a lot of beers!

[@Maqrolltremiti]

Sucha bloody crazy teacher, I love him, I wish to have him on my bedside table so I can steal everything I need. (I'm a beginner)

[@lifeismystory]

I am simply in love with the finesse of your finger movement when you show the smear. It's so smooth!

[@1755ma]

Absolutely beautiful playing. Congrats ❤🎉

[@MLMLW]

I played the clarinet for years and never learned how to smear. Thank you for sharing this. Now I just need to practice.

[@botanicalabe]

Alright so what if I have extremely fat fingers and you create a custom bass clarinet with holes in the keys. Is it then possible?

[@earspasm]

Yes, absolutely. Oh wait. No, impossible still.

[@SuperMonaLisaBros]

If you have thin fingers, you're fucked.

[@evanericksonmusic]

Bass clarinet

[@zacharycoronado6749]

Grab an old alto clarinet or bassethorn

[@singaporeseaslugs1393]

Earspasm Music will you elaborate more ;-;

[@IsabelMakesMusic]

Thanks so much for that video, I'm playing the clarinet for 12 years now and you taught me something new :D

[@AntonVanDerSar]

Thank you very much for satisfying a guitar player's curiosity. I fell in love with Gershwin as a kid (played classical piano) and have always wondered exactly how this was accomplished.

[@paulkrawitz6549]

Fantastic demo and instruction, Michael.

[@Dave-os1bn]

Might have been because of the exhaustion, but I woke my room mate up laughing at "nothing up my sleeve."

[@EightTinyRats]

This will always be my favorite playing of the clarinet solo. That glissando is so slow and clean I could eat off of it

[@didiernerrant6485]

Quelle énergie ... Ca donne vraiment envie d'essayer ! Merci pour les conseils !!

[@LaScienceMusicale]

Yes !!! So great

[@patricianorthall247]

It was fantastic to hear and see my good friend Sarath playing clarinet, I found it very relaxing... Pat xx

[@annstropes2236]

I love your energy while teaching!! Great video!

[@josephrivera8507]

I’m a baritone sax player. I always wanted to play bass clarinet

[@martinlagrange8821]

Thanks for this ! Hugely enjoyed, and thanks for this master class - Rhapsody in Blue is now a cinch for yours truly :-)

[@niraatae-nkyou8134]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, I was going to ask in another video but i felt like you had already gotten hundreds of more request before. Again thank you SOOOOO much

[@RichardWardner]

I've been trying to find this out for thirty years - should have checked KZbin before! Thanks, now to practice!

[@tinandglass]

When I was learning to play bagpipes on a chanter I quickly learned about the slurs and doublings. A friend gave me a clarinet and it was the first thing I tried ... hopefully one day I'll be able to play that intro.

[@winstonbeech3418]

Bon Scott "seems" to play a smear on the bagpipe *drones* in the song "Long Way To The Top". I ran it by a friend who plays bagpipes and he realized that the smear is an electric guitar slide that fades into the pipe drones. Doing a smear on bagpipe drones would be some trick.

[@delilahs8037]

Yesss! Thank you soooo much! I've been trying to figure this out for what seems like forever!!! Super helpful!!! :D

[@edwardmorton6691]

Was this intro actually composed by Gershwin. I was told that Gershwin heard the clarinet player warming up and this was part of his ritual and Gershwin borrowed it from him. Not certain of This story's validity but it sounds like music only a clarinetist would know was possible to play.

[@windmillwilly]

Well, I mean, yes. He put in the score, so he did indeed write it. If Mozart has arpeggios in his piece because his violinist inspired him to do so, it would still be Mozart.

[@maddierosemusic]

Like Steve jobs saw a kid doing that finger touch thing on the screen while waiting for an interview and Jobs hired the kid.

[@winstonbeech3418]

@@maddierosemusic Steve Jobs would design eating utensils so you'd have to eat spaghetti with one chopstick.

[@khanoclast]

I saw the St. Louis Symphony perform Rhapsody in Blue last night -- the clarinet solo was sublime! He added some schmear to the rest of the solo as well, not just the leading glissando. As the rest of the orchestra came in, I leaned over and told my wife, "OK, we can go now." The clarinet got a bigger ovation than the guest pianist when it was done. On another note, did you know there is a banjo part in RiB? You couldn't hear him (at least I couldn't), but you could see him.

[@omdahlre]

I played the clarinet and bass clarinet from elementary through high school and loved it, and now my niece is starting to play clarinet and I couldn't be more excited to show her these awesome videos ❤️❤️❤️

[@pokecardskev3267]

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT information on how this works. I will pass this along in the future.

[@bowserfan1011]

I'm a euphonium player why am I here

[@ishmamahmed7742]

Lol yes brass ftw

[@KyokoKirigirie]

Tuba here.

[@nicholastrombone9899]

Because us euphonium players are traitors

[@TheKidOfOnions]

There's a thing called half-valving (It's what it sounds like) that most piston-valved instruments can do. It gives us a "gliss" noise. (Woo hoo fellow euphonium player)

[@petedavidson7003]

Hell yeah! Same here

[@jackianmayer5910]

an additional reason in the joy of clarinet...thanks !

[@wilzy30]

A magnificent piece of music.

[@linnea003]

u KILLED that solo

[@Saxmasterj]

I just wanted to say that that's a sexy bass clarinet. I love the onyx keys and finish. I'm extremely jealous

[@amanistrashydiary7220]

one word. . beautiful

[@barneyrussel8228]

Frighteningly fantastic!

[@amerdidi3126]

6:10 The smear on the BC sounds like the first time I played a Major scale on the instrument.

[@ColtraneTurnaroundBlues]

rip me ! for the first minute as a saxophone player i thought "ooh yeah thats really cool for sax as well!" and then rip the keys arnt the same

[@robertramos645]

Ernie- Roblox, Minecraft, and MORE #2b2t it's a lot harder on sax. You can achieve same effect with overtones. KZbin it. I play sax too.

[@brainmaxxing1]

Look up Leo P. You can do some insane things with sax

[@evancoons2925]

You can do it on sax its just really hard

[@Basstaco69]

If you were good enough you could lip slur them 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@aevenegnotyalc3568]

Mesmerized❤👂❤👂Wow thank you need more please👏👍

[@didko3968]

Oh my god, this is so good, I instantly subscribed

[@mchenrymaney262]

For bass clarinet, It is very possible. If you take it up an octave and use the altissimo to make a lip bend, you can get the same effect just lifting up Keys all together. It’s way out of normal range though for the high F at the end, but if you wanna get the gliss it’s mandatory.

[@Lesliestevens92.1fm]

Learned a lot. Thank you. You are a really good teacher.

[@gerryamatomusic]

Nice video man. Appreciate you posting this. Well done.

[@kwcnasa]

Thank you for sharing this knowledge. As a self-taught clarinet student. I learn a lot in this video. Practice @00:00,

[@thetaekwondoe3887]

Well! That's the easiest I've seen it explained. Will have to try it when I'm not too lazy to go upstairs to get my clarinet. LOL

[@multi_tasking7665]

This is amazing. It helped me so much

[@Recorder-e3e]

Espectacular! Más claro, imposible. Saludos desde Argentina.

[@jacobriley5150]

I started practicing this in the 8th grade. We got a new band director the next year and in the marching show music, there was rhapsody in blue. He pulled me to his office and talked to me about how hard and frustrating it is gonna be. Little did he know, I already knew how to play it.😉

[@gary1961]

This was the first thing I learnt to do on my clarinet, the second being Acker Bilk's Stranger On The Shore.

[@gigglepantsiii826]

In high school the Wind Ensemble was lucky enough to have a professional clarinet player preform with us on a piece called Black Dog (i think it was originally a rock song?) Many of the patents didn't like it because it wasn't what they were used to. My private lessons on clarinet were with a gentleman who also played saxophone and he started to teach me about the smear technique (he called it a gliss though) It's been 7 years but I'm finally ready to get my chops back in shape and 'get good'

[@maddierosemusic]

on a piece called Black Dog (i think it was originally a rock song?) - Led Zeppelin. My God, that had to be bad on clarinet. And best of luck, clarinet is a great and easy instrument to keep up with.

[@margauxqb290]

I wanted to know how this solo works for so long. I'm gonna practice right now.

[@prometheus23c]

"That is, if you don't know it"... the reason I began to play clarinet!

[@veronicamolina8150]

What a great bend!

[@Blackthorne369]

This was fascinating and wonderful- thank you!

[@cpt_nordbart]

Only play keyboard type instruments but it's always nice to see how other instruments work. Interesting stuff.

[@jambrose6031]

Awesome! I've just watched you about 10 times. And I don't even play the clarinet.

[@artmontesa1]

Bravo! You are great!

[@LeelastMardina]

HAHA! "nothing up my sleves!" ROFLOL!

[@franciscojunqueira]

You are amazing! Thanks for the fantastic video!

[@Phoenixspin]

This can't be done on a bass clarinet? This shatters my faith in the world.

[@janetaldrich7747]

Thanks for a great lesson. I could have you used you "back in the day" when I learned in school. ;)

[@gerardbomhof6957]

Very nice to see how you are doing this. I wish i could play on this way. I am going to practise! Gerard Bomhof from the Netherlands

[@dominiquepilon5764]

We played that song in my high school year in a band I played the clarinet too

[@hanaan9304]

this almost made me cry oml

[@torilllundborn7899]

For me...this sounds Genius...young Man...💕

[@lizmeza8912]

So beautiful!!!

[@umbigo3]

you are wonderful !!

[@ivorwm2291]

Perfection

[@francoisklarinet]

Great playing!

[@geofixated]

So much fun. Please come to Fort Collins and give a class. I promise to buy a clarinet and start learning how to play.

[@simphonysounds4570]

La rapsodia bohemia es una de mis piezas favoritas que practico en piano desde hace 9 años. Es genial. Aùn hay secciones que requieren mucha practica.

[@hermannrra]

Greate! Thanks! 😊

[@pstain8669]

AH I LOVE YOUR BASS CLARINET

[@anarbatzoriganar]

if i want to purchase a decent clarinet how much will it cost? i live in mongolia and musical instruments availability sucks.

[@justinsaehoon]

1000ish for a decent one

[@lexx348]

Used beginner’s one can start at 300 usd, you don’t need 1000-dollar one to start learning

[@kylesheng2365]

@@lexx348 he never said he was a beginner

[@lexx348]

@@kylesheng2365 my point was encouraging the OP by explaining that an instrument price range doesn't start at 1000, or 1000 even isn't a median, unless you are professional. How did you help?

[@nr3rful]

very very well done !!!

[@lowreedman]

The plateau keys limit things like that. (rightly said) Voicing can handle some, but typically not enough to do the whole smear. Great stuff as always !

[@guysabol8743]

I saw a comical sheet music style for R I B whereas the ascending notes seem to be poured helter skelter from a pitcher (not pictured) but it all look inviting clear! seemingly like 35 notes poured inthe space for 20..wish I coul d see it again ..would take a pic

[@gracegorman3306]

Thank you!! 😀 Always wondered about that. "Smear" sounds dirty, though. What's wrong with glissando?

[@rorypeters8710]

Grace Gorman gliss is a completely full 100 cents going up, you can’t do that on anything but unfretted strings, trombones, theremin, things like that

[@michaelfries1443]

Nice video Adam Savage

[@georgewendell]

I played clarinet in the 5th and 6th grade and always wanted to know how to do this

[@bohansolo]

It's totally possible on bass (just play one octave higher ;D)

[@joshuahuff607]

ThymeLorde Yea you can, just look at all the sax players who can do it

[@joshuahuff607]

ThymeLorde Look up "Paws" for Bass clarinet. The are a few glissandos in it.

[@teovujic6885]

Is this a joke

[@anon6116]

Thank you, you are amazing.