Klarinet Archive - Posting 000174.txt from 1994/02

From: James Langdell <James.Langdell@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: vibrato
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 01:18:29 -0500

All this discussion of vibrato on the clarinet has been
facinating. As someone who sings as well as plays clarinet,
I thought I'd add at least a first payment of my two cents.

My understanding of vocal vibrato is that the periodic pitch
variation within the voice (at a rate of between 4 and 6 changes
a second) is a factor of an undulating motion of the vocal cords.
This frequency (in the 4-6 cycle range) corresponds to timings in
various physical and mental processes, so there's a sympathetic
reaction at those levels when hearing the vibrato that's intrinsic
to a voice or incorporated into the sound produced by an instrument.
That may be why vibrato can add to the emotional impact of a
performance.

That 4-6 cycle range is faster than the frequencies used as
rhymic pulse in music, and slower than frequencies that are
audible as pitches. That frequency range is shared by
vibrato and by subdivisions of notes, so vibrato characteristics
of a voice are usually unnoticed when pitches are changing
at or above the rate of the vibrato.

The vibrato characteristics that are intrinsic to the vocal cords
can be emulated in various ways on instruments. Violinists
cultivate a vibration of the left hand that corresponds to that
frequency range. Wind instrument players cultivate effects
in that frequency range using finger, lip, jaw, or diaphragm activity.

Singers as well can strive to achieve the effect of vibrato by focusing
on areas other than the cords themselves--some results of which have
given vibrato a bad name. I suppose, even when the focus on producing
vibrato is elsewhere, the vocal cords will come to perform their
appropriate role in vibrato if the musicians body and mind are open enough.
But if you fix on a wrong idea of how your vocal cords *ought* to be
producing vibrato (or ought *not* to produce vibrato), then you're
in trouble.

I was facinated to read Dan Leeson's account of the bassoonist whose
vibrato was revealed through medical imaging to be based in
his vocal cords. That rings true with my understanding of
what the most natural, satisfying approach to vibrato would
be for a clarinettist--to allow the larynx free function and accept
as part of the result something that might be called vibrato.
Let the moment-to-moment prominence of the vibrato be part of the
musicians overall response to the music to be made, and not
as a characteristic to be imposed or stifled.

(Dan, can you provide any more specific pointers to that bassoonist's
research?)

I'd also credit Robert Winston's theory as to why classical clarinet
players--especially in the United States--clamped down on vibrato.
I bet that among "serious" musicians, clarinettists felt more
threatened by the status of jazz musicians than did their fellow
woodwind players. After all, how many hot oboe, bassoon, and flute
players were in swing bands at the time?

--James Langdell jamesc@-----.com
Sun Microsystems Mountain View, Calif.

   
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