Im on Grade 6 violin and vibrato is expected now when I play its kinda easy but on other days it can be really hard. Just out of curiosity what is your opinion of vibrato?

Queen of Sheeba

I'm grade 4 and i find vibrato really hard, but im getting better slowly! Practice makes perfect!

Arrgghh!! Dont get me started on Vibrato! Its a nightmare on the flute. Ive only just started it but jees its hard!

yeah, its so hard on the flute.if anyone can give me any pointers on that, please feel free!
Naomi xxx

Well although Im not the worlds greatest Ill give you the advice Ive been given! If you start by taking a deep breath in, find ur diaphram (just below your ribs) and go huh huh huh(get the idea) then speed this up then try to do this while playing a fairly easy note on the flute(I use a B but its up to you) Then you've got it but be patient it will take a while I still havent succeded yet! But this could possibly be because I wasnt taught vibrato to begin with and was doing it without realising! But was using the throat instead of my diaphram!!!

Good Luck

Have fun

Hope u succed better than I have!

Jen

QUOTE (weejen @ Apr 5 2004, 08:33 PM)

Arrgghh!! Dont get me started on Vibrato! Its a nightmare on the flute. Ive only just started it but jees its hard!

How could vibrato be hard on the flute? I play flute, and I learned vibrato just by listening to others do it.

QUOTE (aznxboy1228 @ Apr 13 2004, 05:48 AM)

How could vibrato be hard on the flute? I play flute, and I learned vibrato just by listening to others do it.

I'm not sure that you can learn vibrato just by listening to other people, are you sure you are using your diaphragm properly and not just doing vibrato from your throat. Using your throat for vibrato is totally wrong and will really effect the quality of your sound. Your throat should be open and relaxed at all times.


Weejen's advice is good about playing a note and then "Huh Huh Huh" using your diaphragm (don't tongue) on that note. This is how I learnt to do vibrato. If you keep practicing you will eventually be able to do it at speed. It feels very odd when you first start doing this but when you can do vibrato properly it will feel more natural.

I also practice my scales using just my diagprahm I "Huh" on each note, again don't use your tongue, - one "huh" for each note - does this make sense. I find this is good practice to help you to always use your diaphragm effectively.

NB for vibrato you need to take a really good breath. Try this - take a huge breath until you lungs feel full then take another breath on top of that one.

QUOTE (Queen of Sheeba @ Apr 4 2004, 02:38 PM)

Im on Grade 6 violin and vibrato is expected now when I play its kinda easy but on other days it can be really hard. Just out of curiosity what is your opinion of vibrato? Queen of Sheeba

Vibrato, as a viola player is the bane of my life. Like you say, somedays it comes easily and other days i cant move at all. i think the problem is that i am very tense when holding my instrument, and the problem has never really been rectified. When i do have it, it is not very wide, too fast and uneven. ive tried the exercises but nothing seems to work. I recently did my grade 7 exam and on the day i had hardly any vibrato, the sound was awful - i am still awaiting results and have nightmares about them! I really want to be able to get a good sound before i do my grade 8 (that's if i pass grade 7!)

when i used to play the violin my teacher introduced me to vibrato a few months before my grade4 exam and i could never do it, i ended up shaking the whole violin!!!!!

Nat

my teacher taught me a couple of really good exercises, ill try and explain one you can do without the violin but its quite hard to understand without demonstratinghere i go:

1. put your left hand out flat palm up then put your right hand on top in chopping action kinda thing at right angle to left hand.
2. now curl your left hand around right one, put your left thumb in the palm of your right hand and one of your left fingers in the gap between the middle two tendons on the back of the right hand. the thumb and the finger should be the only bits touching your right hand
3. now practice wobbling on that finger vibrato style backwards and forwards. dont grip and keep the thumb reasonably still
4. gradually speed up

hope that kinda makes sense, its good coz you can do it anywhere discretely with your hands in your lap and it really works. vibrato becomes second nature after a while, don't worry about it and relax while you're doing it. if you grip u could hurt your hand or wrist. as my first teacher said, imagine you have a small hamster in you hand and don't want to squash it!

He he I dunt do vibrato on the clarinet, but sax is rather dodgey with the whole jaw vibration, i did find i rather hard 2 start wid. My m8 who plays the violin certainly had trouble, but he practiced loads and got ok! so hopefully u wiil, gd luck