new teacher... vibrato

wsFltePicmb09 · Post by **wsFltePicmb09** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:57 pm

Im a Jr. in high school and my band directors are starting to give me flute students... one is an 8th grader who needs to learn vibrato... no one ever really taught me vibrato so Im not sure how to go about teacher her... any suggestions?

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:53 pm

First, congratulations on your new students. I started teaching in high school as well. It can be very rewarding. With that said, let me offer you a few words of warning as well. First, I hope that you take prvate lessons yourself. If you do not, I strongly recommend it. Teaching the flute (or any instrument) is an art in itself. I do encourage my students to teach younger players with a couple years of experience, but I need to know that they have a certain level of maturity to handle it and that what they are teaching is not something that will hinder a young student instead of help. I also have a flute tutoring program that my students take part in. The purpose of the tutoring program is to help high school students get some experience teaching with guidance from either m eor one of the other teachers in my studio. If you have a teacher, see if he/she would be interested in helping you out as a mentor by helping you with lesson plans and things like that.

As for teaching vibrato, I learned myself as well, as I believe a lot of players do. Over the years, this has been a hot topic for me as I have asked several teachers their mothods, all of which are very different. It seems that the best method I have found is to explain the purpose and the basics of how vib is produced (physically) and guide the students in figuring it out in a way that they are comfortable. I also encourage students to listen to a lot of recordings and decide what kind of vib they like to listen to and try to immitate that sound. During the process, I do offer suggestions to help, such as not tensing certain muscles.

Good luck in your teaching! Please ask someone if you are unsure of something. If not here, ask a teacher. Teaching is as much about learning as it is instructing.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:43 pm

I agree with fluttiegurl's sentiments completely.

I have to say, though, that eighth grade is pretty early for a student to NEED vibrato, considering that most students in the US start in the 5th or 6th grades. Vibrato is an extremely complex concept that can very easily destabilize other parts of a student's playing if it's not taught (and practiced) properly, so first be sure that your student has formed a reliable, relaxed embouchure, has a good, full tone with plenty of flexibility, a solid pitch center, and the understanding that vibrato is a musical tool...It's not meant to be a constant wavering in the sound (or become the sound itself), and it needs to be varied both in depth and speed when it IS used in order to avoid boring the audience.

If you can say that all of this is true about your student (rather than that the director asked you to teach vibrato, or that you'd like to have her use it), I have some techniques that have been quite successful teaching vibrato, and would be glad to share them with you, but if not, give her more time to develop their playing and leave vibrato until later. One of my favorite analogies is that if I bake a lopsided cake, no matter how much frosting I heap on top, it's still a lopsided cake....Vibrato won't help her play any better if she's not ready for it (and very well could hurt her development, or disguise areas of her playing that do need work).

wsFltePicmb09 · Post by **wsFltePicmb09** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:18 pm

yes i do take lessons... my teacher is actually my students band director... thought i dont always agree with the was he teaches, he does know what hes talking about.... i thought 8th grade was a little early but thats when i started... but it sounds like shes ready (she sits second and first chair plays with vibrato...)

I have only heard her play a few times but she sounds pretty advanced for her grade (she got a jump start because her mom is also a flute player and a band director!) I think she's ready... I'll besure once we start practicing, but i was hoping to know how to teach vibrato because i hav several students... 2 in 8th and 1st and second chair

SO, if you hav any tips they would be greatly appreciated!!:-)

Thanks much

Flute_star3 · Post by **Flute_star3** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:34 pm

How I was taught vibrato was by blowing separated quarter notes without tonguing them, and then we moved on to separated eighth notes and so on until it was a constant sound with no stops in between. That's for a vibrato using the diaphragm anyway. Hope that helps, and good luck with your students!

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:42 pm

Flute_star3 wrote:How I was taught vibrato was by blowing separated quarter notes without tonguing them, and then we moved on to separated eighth notes and so on until it was a constant sound with no stops in between. That's for a vibrato using the diaphragm anyway. Hope that helps, and good luck with your students!

One caveat with this method....

This particular way of learning things tends to produce an uneven vibrato where the player goes sharp far more than flat, and does so pretty slowly (and rather predictably). A good vibrato will be well rounded (ie it will go flat just as much as it goes sharp), so if you use this method, be sure that you round the student's technique out once they've got the basics so that they have a wide variety of depths available (but pitch varies equally in both directions regardless of depth), and speed options. Don't simply stop working with them once they have the general idea...A good flexible vibrato can take years to cultivate.

dayz · Post by **dayz** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:25 am

James galway has a master class video on YouTube about vibrato

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0yCw9xm0E4

sidekicker · Post by **sidekicker** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:52 am

Vibrato is a feature of flute playing that can be added in certain circumstances to enhance the mood of the music. There are many types of it, and much music that requires a player to deviate between those different types in order to produce particular moods and colours. There is also music that should not have much, if any, vibrato added.

I agree that appropriate use of vibrato should be taught at some point. But it really needs, IMO, to be introduced to a mature player who already has a firm grasp on tone. Otherwise, as flutepicc said, it's going to enhance instability and just cover up bad playing. I can always tell when someone is using vibrato to just cover up a bad sound, and I think most of us here can as well.

Personally, I hate teaching vibrato by using beats (8ths, 16ths, etc.). That method always tends to produce a mechanical sounding vibrato, and totally ignores the fact that it must come across as a natural enhancement to the music and sound. Vibrato really should be something largely unnoticed by the audience; instead the listener hears the changes in musical character and does not think at the end, "boy, that was great vibrato!" It's really more akin to adding ornamentation in baroque and classical period music.

The absolute best way to learn appropriate use of vibrato, IMO, is to listen to really good singers. Pull a recording of Emma Kirkby and you will learn how vibrato should be incorporated into early music (if incorporated at all). Dramatic and changing vibrato examples can be found in the voices of Leontyne Price and Montserrat Caballe. I would shy away from flutist recordings until lots of singing is studied because after you learn how singers incorporate it, you can see how that is translated into the flute by Rampal, Galway, Pahud, Gallois, and Norman (Chris) -- all of whom have very very different ways of using vibrato in their playing that can be brought into your own personal palette of style techniques.

I know it sounds weird to listen to good vocalists in order to produce a good vibrato on the flute, but it really works in my experience. And it leads to the most natural form of it; a vibrato that does not interfere with the music, but instead complements it.

Just some thoughts.

SK

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:55 pm

I was just thinking about this in a lesson a few days ago. I studied both flute and voice in college. Though I played with vibrato before college, I never seemed to understand it until I started studying voice for the first time. I think listening to great singers is an excellent way to grasp the concept of how vibrato should be used, as you stated, to complement the music. As I get older and more intuned to what I hear, I seem to use less vibrato at times where in earlier times, I could not "turn it off" as I see is the case with MANY students who learn through their band directors. Correct use of vibrato should only add shimmer and character to the sound, instead of enveloping it as I seem to hear from a lot of students (and some pros). I need to think this over as something new to introduce to my students.

itsinfinite · Post by **itsinfinite** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:30 pm

This isn't sticking one hundred percent to the initial question posted-- but peoples answers have made me think of it.

I have a vibrato when singing-- I have a very difficult time producing one while playing flute. Oddly enough, I only seem to be able to in higher octaves. Any ideas as to why?

Christina's_Mom · Post by **Christina's_Mom** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:47 am

dayz wrote:James galway has a master class video on YouTube about vibrato

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0yCw9xm0E4

Yea, that's a good video. I learned vibrato just from playing over time but personally vibrato is best in slower pieces when flute has the melody. Low to mid range is where I like it best.

macika · Post by **macika** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:44 pm

I am in grade 6 and my teacher taught me the vibratio recently, because there are some pieces (Gaubert - Madrigal wich is gr 6 piece) wich need vibrato. My teacher is the best teacher

I am really really satisfied with her and without her I couldn't develope anything. Oh and don't do it with your throat! U have to do vibrato with your diaphragm! Come on guys! It's easy!

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:06 pm

A genuine, well controlled vibrato is not produced exclusively with the abdominal muscles nor the throat. (the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle that actually sits higher in the chest cavity. When you support, you are generally supporting with the abdominal muscles. The diaphragm contracts and relaxes, nothing more).

In my experience, a vibrato purely produced with the "diaphragm" is often too wide, slow, and heavy. On the flip-side, a throat produced vibrato can often seem too shallow, fast and light. Both (when being used exlusively) can be predictable, erratic, and unstable. A good vibrato should be produced with a combination of the two.

While vibrato seems to be easy to produce at first, it is in fact quite a complex artform of it's own. The very process of producing it is vague and unique to each individual, and then mastering it is a completely different ballgame.

stewyflute13 · Post by **stewyflute13** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:01 pm

A quote by either Boehm or Taffanel I believe: "For 300 years Flute Players tried to play in tune, then they gave up and invented vibrato."

Marcel Moyse played with very little vibrato (atleast on the recording I heard of him playing the 24 little melodious studies) and yet he is considered by most to be the god of flute tone

I really agree that singing is the best way to learn vibrato. Bernie Goldberg made that infinitely clear in his seminar in ohio this summer that i went to.

A quote i love by the great flute master Marcel Moyse is: "I long ago observed that the real beauty of the sound comes from the generosity of the heart." And rampal said this: "He was the first to sing like a great singer, or like a great violinist or cellist."

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:22 am

I LOVE that first quote! And I agree, it should be done as a singer would do it, and shouldn't substitute for poor intonation and tone. As Jim Walker has told me in several of my lessons, "the vibrato shouldn't be distracting. You should sing on all of the notes, none of this stopping and starting business." He also says that the vibrato should be subtle and discreet (like a shimmer within the established tone), and be a part of as many notes as possible. That way on the few that you don't sing on, it isn't distracting. Vibrato (or maybe I mean being "emotive") should always enhance, and never detract.