Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-01-09 12:39
IMO, the idea of locating the origin of a vibrato in any particular part of your anatomy may be useful if you are trying to develop the ability to play with vibrato. But I think it most likely describes one's *sensation* of what occurs in vibrato playing, rather than what a vibrato actually is.
Ideally, it seems to me that a true vibrato is a sympathetic vibration of the air column that occurs naturally when the physical conditions are present to allow it. Anything else will ultimately sound unnatural, distorted, and forced.
Hearkening back to my vocal training, it seems that a good vibrato occurs when the singer couples adequate air support with adequate relaxation. A singer who controls the air column from the throat is more likely to get a "bleat" than a true vibrato (think of a sheep: "ba-a-a-a-a-a-a").
The challenge is to get a great column of air going from deep in the chest or midsection, and then to relax the vocal mechanism enough to allow vibrato to occur naturally. Many singers (and oboists?) do this automatically, but in becoming trained musicians, need to develop the ability to turn it on and off.
I know, for example, when my throat and embouchure are relatively more tense, my vibrato is relatively less present. And when I blow harder than is totally necessary to activate the reed, my tone will tend to straighten out. It's when I hit that "golden" spot, where the reed and the wind and the embouchure are adjusted in completely complementary relationship with each other, that the "natural" vibrato "just happens".
But of course, it doesn't "just happen". Something I am doing (or not doing) allows it to happen. The point of teaching a student to tense and relax either their throat, or diaphragm area, or even their lips, is to allow them to feel the sensation which approximates a true vibrato, in the hopes that they can take it from there and develop a "natural" vibrato.
Susan
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