Huh? Questions

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Sat Nov 09, 2002 9:28 pm

Vibrato has nothing to do with the tongue, so says my
private teacher. It also has nothing to do with your throat. Vibrato is created
by your diaphragm (that muscle underneath your lungs that expands while to play
to let in lots of air) working really hard to move the air in bursts that do not
block the sound coming out of your instrument, but rather make pulses in the
sound. (Hopefully an actual flute teacher will post and make this more clear.
[:)]) With throat vibrato, you cannot control how fast the pulses are in your
tone. That's why it's so "bad". Diaphragm, or correct, vibrato is what should
occur on long, solo notes when you can control how fast the pulses are being
emitted. It takes a LOT of practice, and it's a lot of exercise for that muscle
down there! Your whole body is supposed to shake when you are doing it right.
It's awkward at the beginning, but it may become more confortable when you
master it... at least I hope it does! I found out that I had been doing vibrato
with my throat this past semester, and it's REALLY HARD to fix it. I'm
starting at the beginning to vibrato exercizes all over again now because I
forgot how to do it over the summer, and I'm regressing a lot. I hope that I
can control this soon. Does anyone have any advice?

damjan · Post by **damjan** » Sat Nov 09, 2002 9:33 pm

Hi George, Vibrato is not produced by your tongue! That
is incorrect information. It comes from your diaphragm (not from the throat).
Vibrato is a "wave-like" sound that is created by rasing and lower the pitch
slightly at a constant interval. How it is actually created is a little more
complicated but what essentially happens is that you push and relax your
diaphragm and the vibrato comes as a result of doing this fairly fast. I am not
trying to sell anything, but I sincerely believe you would benefit from the
video lessons that we have at Fluteland.com. We have a 5 minute clip just on
vibrato and it tells you what to do and what to practice (in addition to many
other basics of flute playing, including quality of tone, which you seem to have
trouble with). The teacher is Boglarka Kiss and she is a really amazing
classical flute player, so you can be sure that you are getting correct
information. I hope this helped. In any case, be careful not to learn this
incorrectly. It is much harder to fix problems later on rather than learn the
right way initially. Please try to consult either your teacher or our video
lessons.

GerryG · Post by **GerryG** » Fri Nov 22, 2002 10:31 am

George, I found the following site helpful
http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~lwk/faqflute.htm It discusses a number of issues. I
just bought a flute and piccolo and am teaching myself to play them. I found
searching on flute on the interente will uncover a number of helpful sites.
Damjan - one of the teahcers on this site also has been very helpful. Good Luck
to you! Gerry G

BandSlave · Post by **BandSlave** » Sun Nov 24, 2002 11:28 pm

Hi there, George, I'm also 17 and playing the flute. I
wanted to let you know that if you are looking for the perfect flute for you,
you shouldn't just look online, go around your town to different music stores
and try out some of the styles, there you will find which you like the best and
will be able to shop around for prices for the flute that you like most, same
with piccolos.[:p] By the way, you can call me Abby![;)]

tarzaflute · Post by **tarzaflute** » Sat Jun 07, 2003 5:11 am

i think your friend may have been talking about flutter
tounging, because vibrato is more of a 'quivering' sound produced from the
diaphragm. im actually trying to get a good vibrato at the moment, my teacher
said i have to learn it for my grade 6 exam. if u wanna hear some examples of
each to Larry Krantz's site

Penny · Post by **Penny** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 8:54 am

Grade 6 exam? Could you describe or link to what a Grade
6 exam includes? I have never seen Grade exams and would be interested in what
each level includes. My Huh question Why do we drive on a Parkway and park on a
Driveway???[;)] [:p] [:0]

tarzaflute · Post by **tarzaflute** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 8:03 am

Sure thing Penny! I don't know how they work in other
countries but in Australia we have the Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB)
Anyway we have exams from grades 1 to 8, 8 being the hardiest, there is also
preliminary but I never did that. Anyway with exams there are scales, including
majors, harmonic and melodic minors, scales in thirds, appegios, and as the
exams get harder, they include whole tone scales and dominant sevenths. There
are also set pieces, there is a huge list that you can pick from, they are in
lists, A, B, C and then there are extras, not all of them are always heard. Then
there is site reading and aural examination, including intervals, they play
notes on the piano and you have to sing them back and tell the interval (spacing
between notes) these can be remembered by songs, a perfect 4 is the same as the
beginning as advance australia fair, etc. Hope this covers your question! [8)]

Penny · Post by **Penny** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 4:47 pm

Thanks for answering. So your down under?! Doesn't the
change fall out of your pockets down there? I looked up the web site of your
testing body (AMEB) and it was some interesting and informative reading.
Although I couldn't find specifics of testing for each level. Some guidelines
for each level would be fun to read. Although it really takes an experienced and
impartial ear to know if you are playing well enough to actually be at that
level, not just able to get through it playing the notes. Thanks