hi. I was just wondering how you were taught to do clarinet vibrato? I have been taught two very different ways, and just wondered about evryone else.

I'd be interested to find out.

Thanks

I was taught to slightly move my jaw up and down. I imagine when I first tried it (which wasn't until I was close to grade 8 actually) I probably moved my jaw a lot. Now I can achieve a vibrato with an undetectable movement. I use the same vibrato for my sax too.

What are the ways you were taught clarinez? I know flautists are taught to use a diaphragm vibrato which sounds like a lot of hard work.

Lucid

Hi Lucid

Yeah. That's what I do, and was the way I was taught at uni. Was previously taught by a very respectable clarinet player, to use your throat! very hard work, and entails increasing and decreasing the air-flow. Seems very contradictory to the whole open throat ethos, and I could never maintain the pitch properly!

I have just started teaching one of my grade 6 pupils vibrato, hence the renewed 'interest'. I just wondered if throat vibrato and even maybe diapragm vibrato was widely taught? Will be interesting I think. I hope anyway!

I think I've read somewhere before that diaphragm vibrato isn't thought to be so good for the clarinet and sax - although not being able to do it myself have no idea what that's based on. I've never heard of using the throat to do it but again it sounds like a lot more work. I know that the glissando can be more effective if you use your throat to bend the note.

I have to say I haven't taught any of my students vibrato yet as most of them are beginners, and I think with the more advanced ones I'd rather they had a very stable tone and control before I get them to try it. However I've got a grade 6 sax so I might have a go with her.

Lucid

I've never been shown how to do vibrato, but I always assumed it was just like blowing as if you're very cold and shivering. Seems to work well. Is there another way?

Steve

I've never heard of that and can't imagine that would work well for a controlled vibrato. You need to adjust the speed of the vibrato depending on the music you are playing. Also you may want to use a more subtle vibrato on a note or two in something like Mozart, where as in a jazz piece it may be more suitable to use a more obvious vibrato. Using a blowing method similar to when you're shivering sounds to me like you would get a fast and uncontrolled vibrato - but having never done it I could be wrong. I imagine it would also be tiring to do it using the breath.

See above for other methods. I use the slightly move the jaw method.

Lucid

I use very little, if any vibrato in Classical/Romantic music, in lighter/jazzy music I usually use a vibrato a la Lucid, where I think it'll be effective. Throat vibrato I find uncomfortable, diaphragm vibrato I'll use very sparingly, usually though I'll reserve diaphragm vibrato for the flute...

Interesting read. As an 'occasional' clarinettist (NB. this was my first instrument as a child after playing the recorder, but before taking up the violin), who's got all their latest woodwind experience on the oboe, it takes a conscious effort to not add vibrato on the clarinet when playing classical/romantic. I have to admit though, having tried both forms of vibrato, the 'bottom jaw' variety offers more stability to the tone and intonation on the clarinet than using the diaphragm.

I had a really good lesson on vibrato the other week (sax not clarinet, but I think some of the points are relevant). My problem was/is that although I'm happy with the mechanics of producing vibrato (mostly by using the jaw on sax) I find it difficult to use musically when I'm playing. We talked about how vibrato can be considered as a way of adding a different colour to your playing, but that if you use the same vibrato all the time you'll still end up with just one colour, but maybe blue rather than red. Then we listened to a variety of sax players paying particular attention to the vibrato (I tend to take my iPod plus mini-speakers to my lesson so we can always do things like this). We listened to some Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Lester Young, Ben Webster, at the other end of the spectrum to David Sanborn and Michael Brecker, we listened to some classical sax - Rob Buckland and tried to pick out just what was happening with the vibrato - where it was placed, how wide, how fast etc. On jazz ballads it's common to add just 2 or 3 beats of vibrato at the end of long notes. The funk David Sanborn vibrato is very different, classical vibrato different again - and again it's not there all the way through, but just to shade certain notes. Vibrato tended to be faster on higher notes than on lower notes. If you're starting to work on vibrato with students I think it's well worth doing a listening exercise - it certainly opened my ears and gave me a better idea of what I'm aiming for with my sound.

I thought we were not supposed to do vibrato! Or is this for a much higher grade? I thought I read somewhere that vibrato is an absolute no no for the clarinet.

It depends what you're playing, and how much of it you use. Its good for Jazz playing, but only in moderation! Next to none is good for most classical/romantic repertoire though. You have to take it in the context of each piece you play!

I suppose my own playing is unconventional in that sense. While I don't use subtle vibrato on everything, which is what Emma Johnson seems to do, I will use it wherever I want - but the style I use is whatever suits the context of the piece. For example if I was playing Mozart I might use vibrato on a few individual notes if it sounds well suited but it would be a very subtle vibrato. Where as I think in something like Brahms and Weber I use it a fair bit. But if I'm playing jazz I use a much more colourful vibrato and probably more constantly - although not as wide or fast a vibrato as Acker Bilk as I don't like it.

I don't quite understand why it's supposed to be an absolute no for clarinettists to use it. The flautists and violinists I've heard (as an example) seem to use vibrato most of the time, no matter what they play. I know vibrato was sparingly used on wind instruments in early music like Baroque but it was around at the time so I don't know why the clarinet is thought of as not being able to use it when playing classical.

Lucid