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vibrato - and tone hole resonance

Author: rickw48
Date: 2009-10-26 14:00

I'd be interested to hear from people about their experience of learning vibrato. From playing in childhood through to postgraduate level, I picked up vibrato (largely using the throat) without ever being taught it. (By Listening to Goosens and Holliger, mostly). Having decided that I didn't want to try and play for a living, I stopped playing. I returned to playing for four years in my late thirties, starting again from scratch - swapping a Howarth S2 (open hole, thumbplate) for a Loree without thumbplate and with long scrape reeds, a set up which I'm still using. Life changes meant a further hiatus in playing until the beginning of this year, when I have returned to it with a vengeance (practise regime is 2.5 - 3 hours daily).

Anyway, here's my point. I'm in the process of learning vibrato as a controlled, muscular process originating in the abdominals. I'm finding that whilst I've become reasonably proficient, I've noticed that some notes are much harder to get to vibrate than others. Forked F in either octave is a case in point. I realise that it's not the greatest note on the oboe, but the lack of response is a challenge. Is this just like so much else related to playing the oboe - another thing that you simply have to get used to and compensate for? I'm hoping this is the case. It is hard enough to play fluently with constant, conscious attention to the oscillations on longer notes and the fact that these are sometimes less forthcoming is really quite distracting. Any thoughts, hints or tips welcome.

Richard

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