Author: huboboe
Date: 2012-02-23 17:25
I agree that the vibrato is not metric. It is a function of the emotional (if that's the word) content of the phrasing line, i.e. it tends to tighten with the tension in the phrase and relax with the phrase resolution. My teacher liked the expression, 'drive and float'.
And yes, if you are thinking about your vibrato it almost certainly precludes careful attention on the meter. I remember an ear training exercise in school where we had to walk to a metronome beat while subdividing two other beats with our hands, like 2 & 3, 5 & 6, 4 & 7 and the like. The mental energy necessary to comprehend those lines left no room to think about anything else.
Try the following: Define a phrase with vibrato on a single note. Set your metronome at a slow tempo, start a tone flat, then, keeping to metronome beats, warm the sound with vibrato, then increase the intensity with a tighter vibrato, finally resolving the phrase with a relaxation of the vibrato, 'floating' to the end of the 'phrase'. Vary the lengths of the different 'parts' of the phrase. Maybe build phrases on arpeggios or scales, just so the notes themselves are very simple and don't require attention.
When you start to associate the vibrato with the shape of the phrase, you won't be thinking of it in metric terms, freeing your attention for the necessary rhythmic considerations.
Hope this helps.
Robert Hubbard
WestwindDoubleReed.com
1-888-579-6020
bob@westwinddoublereed.com
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