Author: GMac
Date: 2004-01-22 02:53
Ahhhhh vibrato...what a fun subject!
Vibrato is extremely personalized...to each his own really...hard to say what's right and what's wrong. It's definitely wrong to use lip vibrato! Never, EVER do this. Other than that, you'll hear all sorts of schools of thought...stomach and diaghragm vibrato (one and the same), throat vibrato, mouth vibrato, etc. My take on the whole thing is this (I'm in 1st year at University...this is what I do and you can try it and see if it works for you). Basically I like to think of blowing from my feet, what I'm really doing is breathing really deep, from the bottom of my diaghragm (you can think of the bottom of your stomach, same thing) and using this as support. With my teacher, Jim Mason, one day in masterclass we did an experiment; he would do vibrato and you would hold your hand on his stomach. You couldn not feel a thing! It was entirely in his throat. I don't know how he does this technique, I have what you might call a 'chest vibrato' I guess. However, you can argue about whether chest and throat vibrato are one and the same...there's lots of debate. Basically I would say this; practice playing a good, supported, solid tone from the bottom of your stomach. As vibrato is merely a decoration of the tone, you should start out with a steady, supported tone. Now, when going to do vibrato, do not alter this support from down there. By doing this, you're not using your stomach but you're figuring out where you naturally do your vibrato best and most comfortably, and it may move slightly over time. Try at first to keep the airstream from your stomach solid, and do slow, very pronounced fluctuations in air. If you do this a bit, you will naturally start to get faster until you reach your desired speed. Hope this helps, and have fun!
P.S. Vibrato is a great thing, however make sure that you use it tastefully! Too much vibrato is just as bad as too little! It is merely a decoration and where you use it will come with being taught as well as experimentation and feel. Good luck!
Graham
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