 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ratanapol
Date: 2003-12-16 18:38
How did Harold Wright use vibrato???
What did he use for his vibrato? ( lip , Diaphragm or anything else????)
I really have no idea how to use and practice it??
Thank you in advance.
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-12-16 19:38
Sooksan,
I don't know about Harold Wright, but an easy way to produce pitch vibrato on the clarinet (or saxophone) is by a gentle chewing up and down or back and forth by the lower jaw.
1. Start without the instrument by saying "wow".
2. Connect a series of "wows" as in "wowowow".
3. Repeat the second step while blowing the instrument.
4. Gradually increase the speed of the "wowowow".
Pitch vibrato is an even waver, in both frequency of fluctuation and
width of pitch variance. The pitch should vary equal amounts above and
below the true pitch while the ear takes the mid point.
Vibrato gives life, warmth, and beauty to a tone and provides
contrast with "straight" tones. It can make certain notes stand
out.
There are 2 other types of vibrato: intensity, and timbre, but they
are not commonly used.
Speed of vibrato will depend on the expression required, but is
usually less than 5 to 8 pulsations per second. Slow vibrato will
seem to have wider pitch fluctuation than fast vibrato.
Vibrato is easier on some notes, usually the higher notes, than on
others.
A search of earlier posts will probably provide much more information.
I hope that you will find this useful.
Hans
Post Edited (2003-12-17 01:31)
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-12-16 22:58
In all his selected works, Harold Wright (to me) applied and typified vibrato that was decidedly "tasteful but never overstated". Interestingly, I have a cassette of a live radio broadcast of Wright performing the Copland with Boston, and with Copland conducting at the 1980 Tanglewood Festival.
Mr. Wright used very little vibrato, although still swinging. He executed the piece so brilliantly and stylistically one hardly notices (if at all) he's mostly monotone. v/r Ken
Post Edited (2003-12-16 22:59)
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-12-17 13:38
it always sounded to me as if wright used a diaphragm vibrato. It seems that I hear a variation in intensity, but not in pitch.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-12-17 16:29
As a student of Wright's( 3 years) I can add a bit to the discussion without getting overtly clinical.
Harold Wright utilized a very slow and clean vibrato primarily through his diaphramic support. This style of playing was not the easiest to copy due to fact he also had a very full round sound which was adapted to his vibrato with incredible delicacy.
As to his technique he used medium hard reeds with a fair bit of tip work done on them. I also noticed his incredible ability to sustain long difficult phrases with the greatest of ease by the control he had over the sound...and by this I mean support and lots of it. As to his individual quirks he used a very relaxed hand technique and could project with great ease when the time needed.
His greatest gift was an innate ability to phrase, and here where analysis is at odds with words. Sometimes it was his ability to vibrate allowed a great flexibility in terms of pitch and blend with other instruments. I would describe it as a string like sonority over your more plain straight boring tone....
his uncanny ability to adapt his sound to the style of music was also allied with tremendous varied tonal colour....here is where his embouchure was fabulous....most players cannot change colours as readily on a given sound and this is why Wright was a master.
As a teacher Wright was certainly open to vibrato as long as it was tasteful and suited the performer's phrasing. However, his key was taste and ability to control the tone that left most of us in awe. As a teacher he was serious and very fair, but as well open to different schools of thinking ...he was essentially a very strong individual who taught his students to think for themselves. One thing Mr. Wright disliked most was dull unimagitive playing. He also told me never to play a phrase like an automaton....the sound he also said has to sing and be "alive".
So, in aswer to your question I may have opened up more questions... but in Harold Wright you really here a very well support and resonate sound with alot of flexibility. In my opinion he is one of the great players of any instrument, but then again I may be biased....
David Dow
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Author: jim S.
Date: 2003-12-17 19:56
D Dow wrote:
> As to his technique he used medium hard reeds with a fair bit
> of tip work done on them.
By "medium hard" do you mean the standard 3 1/2?
I understand that he used a mouthpiece similar to the 5RV, but faced by Matson. Is that correct?
I still wonder how he could have such perfect intonation with every note also so full of perfect resonance. I know, I know. Perfect talent, grinding out his own toneholes, and practice, practice.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-12-18 12:07
"I understand that he used a mouthpiece similar to the 5RV, but faced by Matson. Is that correct?"
He used Chedeville mouthpieces. Matson had done his work for him.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-12-19 14:59
Mr. Wright used a Henri Chedeville Lelandais mouthpiece which Matsen refaced from time to time.
As to other mouthpieces he never switched facings...
however, his Chedeville was so used it had an indent in the bottom of the lay where the butt of the reed stops from the incredible amout that he used it....
as to projection his sound was incredibly well focused and projected with ease.
I seem to remember him not being particularly fond of Kapars in terms of the way they spoke, but he did like the tone of Kaspar mouthpieces....
David Dow
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Author: Ratanapol
Date: 2003-12-19 17:03
How do I practice the Diaphragmic Vibrato like Mr.Wright ??
Post Edited (2003-12-19 17:18)
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-12-19 17:48
I really think it would be hard to emulate such an individual thing as Harold Wright's vibrato..
.....I am quite sure in my own playing that there is not too much vibrato at all so I am not a good source on this topic.
It may help somewhat though to try keeping the throat as relaxed as possible and contracting the muscles of the diaphram slightly while playing long held sounds....
you may find vibrato works best towards the centre of the phrase rather than the beginning note or the final note....these are only ideas....
As a private clarinet teacher there is very little I can contribute unless one sees what a performer is doing whether it works or not....hence one must head to your freindly neighborhood teacher for lessons on this topic...
With some deference to the spirit of Harold Wright I am sure he would love alot of the attention he seems to receive in retrospect, but would recommend his students to steer their own individual path in terms of artistry and musical thinking!
David Dow
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