teaching vibrato

Basics of Flute Playing, Tone Production and Fingerings, Using Metronomes, Scales, Tone, Studies, etc.

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lisalou
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2003 1:45 pm

teaching vibrato

Post by lisalou »

I have been asked to conduct a flute clinic for grades
6-12 this Wednesday, February 12th. The band director has asked me to teach the
basics of vibrato and I have to admit it''s been so long since I was taught
that I''m not sure how to begin. I can produce a nice vibrato but I can''t
think of how to introduce the concept. Any suggestions, please?
lisalou

damjan
Posts: 153
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2002 9:51 pm

teaching vibrato

Post by damjan »

Dear Lisalou, We have a video clip (at
www.fluteland.com) that covers vibrato but it is only available to our members.
Here is a hint: - It comes primarily from the diaphragm, not the throat (which
students often do) - Set a steady beat (60 bmp) and show one quiver per beat,
two, three and then to about six, rarely you would go faster than this - this
will teach control of the vibrato - the rest is practice and being relaxed while
you are doing it Hope this helps,
Damjan, --- Fluteland.com Teacher

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Cass
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2002 9:09 pm
Location: KY
Contact:

teaching vibrato

Post by Cass »

Hi! I recently learned vibrato in my applied lessons in
college. I'm a vocalist as well, so I can def. vouch for what Damjan said about
"throat vibrato." I'm still working on getting mine out. I never learned how to
do proper vocal vibrato, but now my flute lessons are helping with that...
anyway: My instructor had me practice vibrato with an ascending and descending
one octave Bb scale- using two measures per note, with a "quiver" (to borrow
Damjan's term) on every quarter beat. Eventually, the tempo of the quivers
would increase as I progressed. I started out around Q=100... now I'm up to
around Q=144 after a semester. I'm sure I'll have to start all over again this
semester- I didn't practice as much as I should have over Short Term. Hope this
helps you!
Cass <><

Tachugar
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2003 12:45 pm

teaching vibrato

Post by Tachugar »

my teacher says taht vivrato in good players come
naturaly and its sounds very fake in people who practice it constantly because
they are thinking about making that precise noise .i suppose its true because
i've been listening to other kind of playing and there is an incredible
diffrence in terms of "natural" vivrato. sorry i cant say more but i'm not more
than a grade 2!!![:praise:] luck![;)]
As
long as air exists our notes will be heard. :-D

Starqle
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2002 1:35 pm

teaching vibrato

Post by Starqle »

I disagree that learned vibrato can't sound good. In
band camp, the flute master class was taught by a persun who told us she learned
vibrato like this - and she was good. These exersizes build a good foundation.
It's just importaint to add the art to it instead of keeping it a science. I
think the same applies to keeping a steady beat with the help of a metronome -
it can really help at first, but it's overdone you won't get a rabto and some
grooves are near impossible. Also, I think one of the most importaint things to
learn about vibrato is when to use it. I think a lot of flutes over-do it. In
some pieces, it simply isn't approriate... and in others, it loses its power
when it's used on every note.
Martin Quin

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