Klarinet Archive - Posting 000148.txt from 2004/05

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <arlyss1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: What is "Natural Vibrato"??
Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 01:13:35 -0400

Bryan Crumpler wrote:

> In terms of how to use vibrato that seems more natural or tasteful...
> that's tough. Many clarinetists and critics will bawk at the words
> "vibrato" and "clarinet" in the same sentence. But just to sum it up
> if you're careful not to use it all the time on every note, to avoid
> the sheep sound, to use the embouchure as opposed to the diaphram, and
> to somewhat equalize the dropoff in intensity of the sound, it can
> make for a more natural sounding and naturally feeling vibrato.

Interesting thoughts on what has been known to be a rather thorny
subject over the years!

Yes, most of us DO prefer to avoid that "nanny goat" sound! My house,
what with the rabbits, gerbils, mice and a rat, is enough of a zoo
already without adding that! 8-9

Seriously, I consider the ability to create a number of different types
of vibrato in different ways for different types of situations something
like a musical toolbox: The ability to be able to utilize vibrato to
create a particular effect, or to shape or contribute to expression or
phrasing in a particular way is simply a tool amongst many, and never an
end in itself.

Some folks disdain any sort of breath/diaphraghm? vibrato; however, it
can have its uses. One could even utilize the complete absence (or as
close as possible to the absence) of vibrato when producing a "sotto
voce" effect - through practicing exaggerating this sort of vibrato
intentionally. (For me it's something of a paradoxical effect - acheive
what I want, by working at doign its opposite) I find that when I
manipulate the air more consciously, I DO think more about what I'm
doing with it, rather than putting it all on automatic pilot.

Jaw vibrato is something that I personally found jarring until I had the
questionably liberating experience a number of years ago of actually
learning how to play saxophone, AND wanting it to REALLY sound like a
saxophone, as opposed to a clarinet player PLAYING a saxophone. I found
that control of this was much more difficult - and still is - than I'd
thought, and took a good deal more work than I'd thought it would.

IMO, pretty much any sort of "effect" that one can create on the horn,
be it double or triple tonguing, or vibrato of various types, or flutter
tongue, or multiphonic effects created through fingerings, singing
through the horn, or pretty much anything you can come up with to do, is
basically a tool for expression. The more "tools" one can master, the
more skilled one is, not only technically, but musically as well. Now
this isn't to say I personally have mastered that many, by any means.
Simply, it is that my attitude towards the use of these techniques in my
own playing has undergone much change over the years.

Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith

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