Flute Vibrato Pt 2

Flute Vibrato Pt 2

How Do You Learn Vibrato?

In some flutists vibrato occurs naturally as a result of having good breath support. Sometimes, though, vibrato can be a difficult concept for the beginning flutist, because being an internal process it is hard to grasp.

It has been said that vibrato is something a performer should feel, not something to be learned. For those who feel it this may be true; but for the large majority who can’t do it and want to know how to do it, it is something that should be studied and correctly learned.

Focused and in-depth study on vibrato can be found in volume 4 (Intonation and Vibrato) of Trevor Wye’s Practice Books for the Flute, published by Novello. We highly recommend purchasing this book for serious work on flute technique, but here are some basic exercises to get you started.

First of all, it is absolutely essential to be able to play a perfectly straight note without any bumps or pulses, with the air coming directly from your lungs in an open, relaxed pipeline. It is of primary importance that the air meets no constriction from your lungs to your lip opening, and that you are comfortable with relaxing your throat.

Once you can do that, take a full breath and play a long, controlled note that you like. You should choose a note that is easy to produce, like low A or low G. Now increase the volume of the note in short (but not too short, say one per second) rhythmic bursts, basically saying “ha ha ha…” into the stream. You can make the note as loud and as soft as you want, as long as you keep playing the same note. Be careful not to use your vocal chords, that is, do not produce any sound using your throat. Also make sure you are not moving your cheeks or creating the pulses with your mouth.

After some days of practice you should start working on the same exercise with a metronome. Start slowly, say at 60 BPM, and pulse your long tone once per beat. Just take it easy, and try to do a little every day. Don’t overdo it. Although this exercise can be frustrating at the beginning, if you keep at it it will eventually work. Once you have a fair degree of success, you should try to gradually (never, ever, rush through your exercises!) speed the exercise up until you get a smooth “wa-wa-wa” sound. After some time you should be able to start applying the vibrato in a slow étude. When you do this, remember to pay close attention to the dynamics, and feel free to slow the piece down if you think this would help.

Another excellent thing that you can do is to play duets with someone who already does vibrato well, and then imitate them. Listen to recordings of flute players that you like, and keep at your basic exercises. Eventually what you’re hearing and what you’re doing will start to match up.

One Vibrato, or Many?

The three registers of the flute require different amount of physical effort to obtain similar sounding vibratos. What sounds beautiful for an upper-register vibrato may sound awful in the lower register. By varying the speed at which you change your airflow, you can increase and decrease the speed of the vibrato. As we have already said, the goal is flexibility. You want to develop a wide range of vibrato speeds as well as intensities so that you can apply them to different music and situations. Of course, this takes practice and supervision. As always, the wisdom of a seasoned teacher can be invaluable to a beginner.

Vibrato and Tone Quality

Everyone has strong ideas based on musical taste regarding optimal flute sound. A student should not sound exactly like his teacher or other professionals; instead, every student should develop all the musical controls necessary to make musical choices.

Too often vibrato is just used as a way to disguise a bad sound. Remember that vibrato can change the character of the tone, but not the heart of it. Thus, in order to become a good player, you will need to constantly check the quality of your tone to make sure you are producing the best possible sound. On the long run, this will work wonders on your tone.

Coming up next…..

Use of Vibrato in Classical Music

Read more on Flute Vibrato