Q: How do I get glisses in Sibelius 7 to automatically respond correctly by instrument type? Even though the Inspector is set to the default ‘auto’, for wind instruments, it still plays a mod wheel-type slide instead of a chromatic run, which must be set manually.
A: Strangely, a number of the woodwind instrument definitions in Sibelius 7 have their default glissando type set to “Continuous” while others are set to “Chromatic”. This is not unique to Sibelius 7 – these instruments are defined this way in Sibelius 6 as well. The Instrument Families that are affected are Clarinets, Saxophones and Recorders.
The saxophone is a closed-holed instrument (solid pads covering each tone hole), which means that except for lip bends covering short intervals, long continuous glissandos are not idiomatically possible on the instrument.
Clarinets are an open holed instrument, and so theoretically, long, continuous glisses *are* possible using a combination of lip bends and gradually opening the tone holes with the fingers (particularly in the soprano members of the family), but are seldom found in standard literature, with the exception of virtuosic jazz passages; most notably the opening of “Rhapsody In Blue”. Glissandos in orchestral passages written for clarinets, almost without exception, will be performed chromatically (or sometimes even diatonically) in performance.
Here is a list of the Clarinet and Saxophone instruments in Sibelius which have their default glissandos set to “Continuous”, rather than “Chromatic”:
CLARINET
- Clarinet in Eb
- Clarinet in D
- Clarinet in C
- Clarinet in Bb
- Clarinet in A
- Clarinet in Ab
- Alto Clarinet in Eb
- Alto Clarinet in Eb [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Basset Horn
- Bass Clarinet in Bb
- Bass Clarinet in Bb [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Contrabass Clarinet in Bb
- Contrabass Clarinet in Bb [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Contrabass Clarinet in Bb [score sounds 15mb]
- Contra Alto Clarinet in Eb
- Contra Alto Clarinet in Eb [score sounds 8vb]
- Contra Alto Clarinet in Eb [bass clef, treble transp.]
SAXOPHONE
- Piccolo Saxophone in Bb [Soprillo]
- Sopranino Saxophone
- C Soprano Saxophone
- Soprano Saxophone
- F Mezzo Soprano Saxophone
- Alto Saxophone
- C Melody Saxophone
- Tenor Saxophone
- Tenor Saxophone [score sounds 8vb]
- Tenor Saxophone [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Baritone Saxophone
- Baritone Saxophone [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Baritone Saxophone [score sounds 8vb]
- Bass Saxophone
- Bass Saxophone [score sounds 15mb]
- Bass Saxophone [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Contrabass (Tubax) Saxophone
- Contrabass (Tubax) Saxophone [score sounds 15mb]
- Contrabass (Tubax) Sax [bass clef, treble transp.]
- Subcontrabass (Tubax) Saxophone
- Subcontrabass (Tubax) Saxophone [score sounds 15mb]
- Subcontrabass (Tubax) Sax [bass clef, treble transp.]
It should be noted that glissandi for the the Recorder family also defaults to “Continuous” in Sibelius. Recorders are diatonic, “open-holed” instruments; sound is created by blowing air across a “fipple” (a fixed wooden block set within the airway). This is actually similar to how sound is produced on a much larger scale on a pipe organ.
Lip bends aren’t possible – tuning is essentially controlled by air pressure. Variations in pitch are limited to a fairly narrow range, although fingering effects similar to tinwhistle can produce smooth pitch bends. (For ensemble writing, diatonic glissandi would perhaps be a truer idiomatic default choice for the recorder family). The instruments affected are:
- Sopranino Recorder
- Soprano Recorder
- Descant Recorder
- Alto Recorder
- Treble Recorder
- Tenor Recorder
- Bass Recorder
- Great Bass Recorder
- Contrabass Recorder
To change the Playback Defaults for an Instrument, in Sibelius 7, Select the Edit Instruments button from the Instruments Group in the Home Tab:
In Sibelius 6, select Edit Instruments… from the House Style menu:
Once in the Edit Instruments Dialog, locate and highlight the instrument you want to change, then click the “Edit Instrument…” button. If the instrument is already in use in the score, you will get a dialog asking you to confirm that you want to change its definition. Yes, you do.
When the Edit Instrument dialog comes up, look for the “Playback Defaults” and locate the popup for “Glissando type”. For Clarinet or Saxophone, change this to “Chromatic”:
HOUSE STYLES
Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to import a document’s Instrument Definitions without including Noteheads, Clefs, Symbols and Text Styles. If you only use the standard Sibelius templates, you’ll be able to export and import Instrument Definitions as a House Style without any visible changes to your current score, but it is a current limitation you should be aware of. This thread from the Sibelius Tech Support chat provides more information.
If you do happen to use a House Style that is different from the Sibelius faults, simply make the Instrument Definition glissando edits in your Manuscript Paper template, so that these common glissando types for woodwinds become the defaults in subsequent scores.
That’s it!
~robert
for Frank Kelly