Glissando and Pitch Bend

What it is: Sliding continuously from one pitch to another, rather than moving in discrete steps. On wind instruments this is harder than on strings or trombones because the keys produce fixed pitches — but it's possible through embouchure manipulation, half-holing, and lip bends.

What it sounds like: A sweeping pitch slide. The clarinet glissando in the opening of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is the most famous example in all of music — that whoop from low to high covers a full octave-and-a-half through a combination of half-holes, embouchure, and key release.

When to use it: Bluesy, jazzy, expressive passages. Climactic moments. "Wow" gestures. Generally one note at a time, generally not too long, generally on instruments where it's idiomatic (clarinet, sax) more than where it isn't (flute, oboe).

Notation: A wavy or straight line connecting two notes, sometimes with the marking gliss. The starting and ending pitches should be playable normally — the gliss is the journey between them.

The Gershwin moment: Gershwin originally wrote a 17-note scale. The clarinetist Ross Gorman improvised the now-famous slide at a rehearsal. Gershwin loved it and changed the score. The story is that orchestration is collaborative.

Tip: Saxophone glissandi are easy. Clarinet glissandi are harder but iconic. Flute glissandi are very limited (only a third or so). Oboe and bassoon glissandi are technically possible but rare and tricky.

Listen:

• Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue, opening
• Bernstein — West Side Story, "Cool" (sax glissandi)
• Coltrane — basically any uptempo solo

See also: Multiphonics, Vibrato, Woodwind Techniques