At what stage do you need vibrato for flute? I'm hoping to do Grade 5 this year - will I need it?

Vibrato was one of the first, additional technical things other than getting a decent sound that I learnt (think it was just after my grade 3). People do it at different stages, i learnt it before double tonguing, but some do it the other way around.

From what i've always been told, grade 1-3 it's not necessary, grades 4 it's nice addition but not expected, grade 5, possibly but not essential...basically 1-5 anything like good dynamics, vibrato, articulation, ornaments are an added bonus, particularly if they add to the quality of the piece (or if you're after good merits/distinctions).From grade 6, I get the impression that from then on it's expected as part of a "musical" performance etc.

Obviously i'm not a teacher, im sure someone else will have a better idea (andante/bagpuss?)

Did someone call??

I rarely formally introduce vibrato to pupes and it all depends hugely on the individual. Certainly from 5 I like to introduce the concept of several distinctive sounds depending on the period of music - ie plain for the early stuff, a tad more colourful for the classical guys and then getting progressively more wobbly (like a good jelly) through 19th/20th centruy repertoire. But of course there are always exceptions to every rule and there is no rule that says we have to play the early rep with an "authentic" tone anyway; it is just my personal preference.

Many pupils play with a natural vibrato - they have to learn to take it out sometimes - others instinctively mimic what they hear if I demonstrate. All too frequently vibrato can be used to disguise poor intonation so I like my pupes to play super-plain until pitch is super-secure then I gradually introduce the idea as/when new repertoire demands. I also believe that vibrato alone will not make a lousy tone better! If the plain sound quality sounds like the player is blowing through an old sock then vibrato just makes it sound like a wobbly sock!

B x

I was taught vibrato at around grade 7 (the first time I learnt) - but have never had any teachers who like heavy vibrato on everything. Some people are taught vibrato very early (grade 5 ish) and do vibrato for absolutely everything - this is often at the expense of tone development. I personally don't like this and feel that whether vibrato is appropriate depends on the piece. In my view, vibrato should simply be one tool in tone colouring and should always (when used) be part of the tone rather than a replacement for tone. There are an awful lot of flute players around my age who can only play with a very heavy vibrato and cannot play anything with a 'clear' or 'pure' tone because their 'tone' is nothing but vibrato. I do not consider vibrato to be 'musical' if it is out of character with the piece, and believe that it can detract from 'musical' performace instead of enhancing this if it is used inappropriately - but some people think that it should be added to everything if you are a 'good' player. Talk you your teacher about what he/she likes in terms of vibrato, but they may (dependent on their views) feel that it is too early for you to worry about this - I would have thought that if your teacher wanted you to do vibrato for your grade 5 then they would have taught it to you.

It will be interesting to see what Andante and Bagpuss say when they get to this thread.

it seems that vibrato can be quite a divisive issue among flute players, and I had a really bad experience with this in the county youth orchestra and band when I was a teenager (which ultimately resulted in me quitting the instrument). All of the other flute players had the same teacher as each other and were all taught vibrato early, whereas (at the time I joined the group) I had not learnt vibrato. Rehersals consisted of the other flautists telling me at every possible opportunity that I 'couldn't' play the flute (based on the absence of vibrato) and that I had only been allowed to join because the leaders/conductors felt sorry for me because I didn't attend a 'proper' school and didn't have a 'proper' flute teacher (I attend a compreshensive school and had flute lessons through school, the others all attended one of two private schools). Yet, I was (much to their annoyance) the person who was most frequently selected to play the flute solos - and had been auditioned for the orchestra on the spot after two of the leaders heard me play a couple of solo pieces in a school concert. If your teacher likes to introduce vibrato early then go with this, but please do not feel that you are a lesser player if you don't learn it until later.

Like Bagpuss it depends on the pupil. I have one or two early grade pupils with a very good sound and a natural vibrato, and I leave well alone. I have advanced grade pupils who are only just beginning to explore the idea, because it's only now that the fundamentals have started falling into place for them. If I have someone wanting to play a slow lyrical piece for a higher grade exam and they haven't begun to develop a vibrato I will teach it.

The biggest problems I have is with otherwise good players who have a vibrato that is either too fast or too slow. I have found in cases like that the motivation to change what has become by then an ingrained habit has to come from within the player. I can do nothing about it except show them how to make the change when they are ready. I should perhaps point out that I am dealing with habits formed before I started teaching these players: if they were mine from the beginning I wouldn't let them develop such ingrained habits.

My flute teacher seems to be spot on here and last year I passed Grade 4 level. After having about a dozen lessons, my brother asked me if my teacher had said anything to me about vibrato (he plays cello) to which I said that it had only been mentioned once by me, and I had felt as if it was a dirty word.

Move on a year to just over a month ago, and my teacher suddenly said that one of the pieces I was playing would sound nicer if it had a little vibrato added, at which point she gave me some exercises to practise and we talked about diaphragm versus throat vibrato. She also said that I was not to try it unless I personally felt that the music would benefit from it.

In the last few weeks I have found that I can play quite a nice lower register note (say around F or G) with just a little vibrato and it does sound rather better than before. Middle and upper register notes are still just plain, which from what I understand is probably a good thing so that I concentrate more on the pitch and the tone. Hopefully they will come naturally too, in the course of time.

Thanks for all the informative replies.


entirely. I think many string players also overdo vibrato, often detracting from an authentic, convincing performance.

I think my vibrato (such as it is) is developing naturally, because although I haven't really been taught it, if we are working (for example) on tone or scales my teacher occasionally says "no vibrato for this". Well-placed, tasteful vibrato sounds good, but I agree that it is no disguise / replacement for a faulty tone.

....And so back to the practice!

I learnt vibrato by listening to my flute teacher's sound, but didn't learn properly until i was playing grade 7 pieces. I would think that achieveing a good tone would be most important and then adding in vibrato later. A piece can still be just a beautiful (if not more) without vibrato. I'm sure vibrato is covered in one of the Trevor Wye practice books (can't remember which one though ).

Book 4, or also along with the rest in the omnibus edition
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trevor-Wye-Practic...e/dp/0853609365