Klarinet Archive - Posting 000789.txt from 1996/03

From: ncrocker@-----.EDU
Subj: More Vibrato (fwd)
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 12:34:34 -0500

To go along with my comments that vibrato is not taught, I'm going to type out
some very helpful suggestions Jonathan Cohler made to me last March. No
reason he should have to type them twice.

It can be taught in exactly the same ways it is taught on the violin, oboe,
flute, etc. First there are three basic types: lip, throat, and diaphragm
(abdomen). Start with the lip. Practice measured, wide vibrato on all notes
(like long tone practice) from the bottom to the top of the instrument. Do it
slowly (one per second), then faster (two, three, four, five, six per second).
Just like scale practice. Do every day for fifteen minutes to a half hour
just on vibrato. Integrate it into your playing on a regular basis (i.e. use
it in actual pieces). With lip vibrato you have to be especially careful to
keep the note in focus throughout the vibrato. Start wide so that it goes OUT
of focus, then gradually make it smaller and more controlled. You create the
vibrato with a small up-and-down motion of the jaw (roughly perpendicular to
the reed). This alternately lowers and raises the pressure on the reed while
keeping your position on the reed constant.

Diaphragm vibrato next after you've learned the lip vibrato. Same type of
measured practice. Aay "ha, ha, ha..." to create the vibrato.

Next practice integrating the two. Also, note that diaphragm vibrato is
better than lip vibrato at low dynamic levels. This is because there is a
minimum reed pressure required to make a sound on the clarinet. If you are
very soft and use the lip vib, you can dip below the minimum during part of
the cycle. This causes an airy sort of vibrato (useful for some types of
phrases and music, especially in jazz, but also in some classical). The
diaphragm vibrato, on the other hand can be used down to the softest dynamic
levels without getting any air in the sound.

Conversely, on very loud notes, mostly lip vibrato is better, because to make
it loud you must blow lots of ait with great pressure from the abdomen.
Modulating that with the diaphragm is not nearly as noticeable as modulating
it with the lip, and usually the point of a loud note is that it is supposed
to be noticed. Also, it is easier to maintain your support on the loud note
by allowing your abdominal muscles to remain constant while vib takes place in
the jaw.

After you've mastered both of these, then work on the throat vib. It is
similar to the diaphragm vib, and comes from somewhere in the throat. Some
say the vocal chords, some say the soft palette. Anyhow it's somewhere back
there and if you try to vibrate in your throat you should be able to do it.
This can be used as an even more subtle version of the diaphragm vibrato.
Very similar in its effect, but as the muscles controlling it are smaller, it
can't be done quite as forcefully. On the other hand it is easier for very
subtle low-level vib control.

Practice and develop in the same way as the others. Start focusing on it
alone. Long tones 15-30 min/day. Wide and emphasized. Across the entire
range. Gradually work it into pieces that you are playing. Then begin to
integrate it with the lip vibrato and the diaphragm vibrato.
--------------------------

Nichelle Crocker
ncrocker@-----.edu
or
SAGReiss@-----.com