Klarinet Archive - Posting 000021.txt from 1996/04

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Vibrato?
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 15:46:39 -0500

Jonathan,
There are three ways to do vibrato on the clarinet:
1) The air virato: this is what flute players do - they simply pulse the
air with their diaphragms (actually blowing harder, then softer, then
harder...)
2) The lip vibrato: this is the standard Jazz vibrato and most
clarinetists who use a vibrato doing classical music also use this
method, simply toning down the amplitude of the vibrato. To do this, you
loosen and tighten the lower lip so the pitch actually fluctuates
minutely.
3) The palate vibrato: this is the singer's vibrato. The soft palate at
the back of the throat vibrates on its own due to air pressure producing
what I feel is the most natural sounding of the three types.
Unfortunately, I cannot do it myself. Most people I know who do it came
to it naturally - their bodies just did it. This is how Harold
Wright did it. In fact, he didn't LIKE the fact that he did it but
he couldn't control his palate. One of his students told me that when he
told Wright that he loved his vibrato, Wright replied (to paraphrase),
"Darn, am I doing it again?" However, Charlie Neidich took
voice lessons to learn to let his palate vibrate and now does it this way.
I guess one could also do it by shaking the instrument or using fingers
to cover and uncover holes the way you do on baroque flute but these
methods would be just silly on a modern clarinet.Hope this helps.

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/sax instructor, Peabody Preparatory

On Tue, 26 Mar 1996, Jonathan Terry wrote:

> I'm a student and was wondering how to learn vibrato.
>