Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 1998/01

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: RE RE vibrato
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 10:11:28 -0500

At 06:41 PM 1/13/98 -0500, Jonathan Cohler wrote:
>
>I think the nature of man itself draws people of all cultures in all parts
>of the world throughout most of musical history to use vibrato on all
>continuously driven instruments (i.e. not percussive instruments--although
>the modern day vibraphone is an exception to that) in all kinds of music.

Ah, continuously driven percussion instruments! Perhaps all musicians truly
are drawn to find a way to use vibrato. When my son (a
timpanist/percussionist) was quite young (about 8 or 9 years old), his
teacher showed him how to get a very nice vibrato on a suspended cymbal:

Strike the cymbal to start the tone. Cup one hand and move it up and down
over the bell of the vibrating cymbal. The result is quite clearly a lush
vibrato produced by the rapid compression and decompression of the sound
waves emanating from the cymbal; your hand controls the speed.

By the way, you (well, maybe not all of us, but a competent percussionist)
can drive the cymbal continuously by playing a one-handed roll with a
mallet held in the opposite hand. It's a great jazz effect.

BTW, I am thoroughly enjoying all contributions to this very civil
discussion on clarinet vibrato in the classical period.

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA