Klarinet Archive - Posting 000186.txt from 1994/02

From: "Jay Heiser, Product Manager, Govt Systems" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Vibrato (what about sax?)
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 16:02:56 -0500

What's the literature say about sax vibrato? I'm willing to
accept that what I thought was completely diaphragm-induced on
the flute might also involve use of throat muscles & other
muscles in the middle.

I'd be really surprised to learn that anything but lip vibrato
was in common use for the saxophone (now that we've discarded
the instrument vibrato from the 20's, where the lips were held
still & the sax was moved). I've been surprised before....

Is sax purely lip vibrato?

Sax & clarinet are not the same, but what specific differences
account for difft vibrato generation mechanisms? Style or
technology?

Clarinet vibrato is a bit like sex. If it hasn't been an acceptable
topic for conversation, it shouldn't be surprising that not
everyone understands how it works. ;-)

-->From sco.sco.com!vtbit.cc.vt.edu!vccscent.bitnet!klarinet Tue Feb 15 15:52:26
1994
-->Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 21:46:26 +0100
-->Reply-To: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->Sender: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->From: Cary Karp <nrm-karp@-----.SE>
-->Subject: Re: Vibrato
-->Comments: To: Clarinettist's Network <klarinet@-----.bitnet>
-->To: Multiple recipients of list KLARINET
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->In-Reply-To: <199402151644.RAA20185@-----.se>
-->Message-ID: <9402151300.aa10516@-----.COM>
-->
-->On Tue, 15 Feb 1994, Dan Leeson wrote:
-->
-->> You made reference to several sources for clarinet vibrato: lip,
-->> jaw, diaphraghm). I don't think that there is sufficient
-->> evidence to allow any firm conclusion as to the source of
-->> clarinet vibrato. While it may be in these places (and, conceivably
-->> the elbow as well), I think that talk about the source of
-->> clarinet vibrato is another one of those old wive's tales about
-->> which there is little firm data.
-->>
-->> And furthermore, if the source of the vibrato vibrates at the
-->> rates you indicated, I don't believe that a diaphraghm is capable
-->> of moving at that speed.
-->
-->Let's talk for a moment about oboe vibrato -- it's musically and socially
-->acceptable, and the techniques of its generation are well documented both
-->in the pedagogical literature and through quantitative investigations.
-->
-->A distinction is made between diaphragm vibrato, throat vibrato and lip
-->vibrato. The first really does involve the diaphragm, although some
-->oboists may use some other lower abdominal muscles to the same effect.
-->Throat vibrato involves a number of different types of muscular actions,
-->and lip vibrato is essentially what jazz guys use, perhaps explaining why
-->it is usually regarded as a faker's technique. Both throat and diaphragm
-->techniques are equally acceptable.
-->
-->There isn't a reason in the world why these techniques can't be
-->transferred to the clarinet and am quite sure both that they regularly
-->are and that hard data could be produced to demonstrate this.
-->
-->Everyone on this list seems to postulate that wind vibrato involves pitch
-->variation. Although lip vibrato does, the diaphragm and throat techniques
-->applied to reed instruments cause pressure variations which in turn
-->modulation the loudness, not the pitch, of the resultant sound. (Similar
-->techniques on flutes and the voice do modulate pitch.)
-->
-->Yet another one in our series of "I challenge you to spot the difference
-->blindfolded" contests could easily be in hearing the difference between
-->pitch and loudness modulation techniques. With vibrato it's the to be or
-->not be that is the question -- including how it is applied musically. How
-->the thing is produced, although hardly an unsubstantiated old wives tale,
-->is less important than people seem to think.
======================================
Garden Status:
Started pruning the grapes.
Getting the courage up to prune my
fruit trees (I'm a virgin)