Klarinet Archive - Posting 000926.txt from 2003/06

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Utilizing vibrato; was, Cohler's vibrato article
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 19:05:01 -0400

On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 18:50:50 -0400, patricia@-----.net said:

> Walter Grabner wrote:
>
> > I have always viewed vibrato as a "tool" in my "toolkit". I bring
> > it out when appropriate, I put it away when it isn't.
> >
> > As a debate, we should talk about when and in what circumstances is
> > vibrato appropriate, not whether or not to ever use it.
>
> I agree with both you and Tony. To me vibrato also is a musical tool,
> to be used with discernment and judgment. Perhaps another topic that
> could belong in with this debate would be the question of how to teach
> utilization and production of vibrato to students who are at the point
> at which they are ready to understand musical tools for
> interpretation. There seems to be little discussion of how this
> particular topic is dealt with in teaching atm.

I think I'd like to clarify just one thing, which is that vibrato is in
no way *essential* to excellent clarinet playing, as Cohler seems to
want to suggest. If you do choose to use it, then it is a tool, and has
to be used with expertise.

If you don't choose to use it, then you do need other expressive tools,
such as the ability to control longer time-scale timbral changes; so
that you can have the beginning of a note or phrase sound different from
its end, for example.

My own view is that understanding how that's built into excellent
playing is of more fundamental importance than having the ability to do
vibrato. And that goes for all sorts of music.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
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