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Re: Vibrato

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bill Buffam)
Subject: Re: Vibrato
From: gyoung@xxxxxxxx (Graham Young)
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 23:24:03
In-reply-to: <32D7071E.2225@chesco.com>
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> 
> >  Subject: Vibrato
> > 
> >  A very well known and respected Brass Band conductor, who was formerly
> >  Principal Trumpet with the London Symphony Orchestra INSISTS that vibrato i
> >  s applied to all notes in a melody/counter melody/lead part equally.  He
> >  detests the Frank Sinatra style of adding very wide vib at the end of long
> >  notes.  Vibrato will 'bring out' the sound when playing melodies and any
> >  note not played with vib will sound flat and lose it VIBrancy.
> >  Play the notes simply, add the right amount of vib to each and the music
> >  will then take over and thoughts on HOW it is played should become secondar
> >  y to the listener.
> > 
> >  Phil Green
> >  Britannia B.S.
> > 
> 
> Hi Phil - taking a punt, from your band affiliation, it looks like
> you're talking about Howard Snell. And I, for one, would love to hear
> more about his methods. I've been listening with admiration to the
> wonderful sound he gets (or got) from Britannia over the last several
> years. Please tell us more.
> 
The problem with vibrato is that most players do not think of it as part of the
technical study of a brass instrument.In North America trumpet satudents go out of
 their way to eradicate any trace of it. Years ago I was takeing a lesson with the 
Russian trumpeter Timofei Dokschitser and asked him about vibrato.
While many players add it as if it were a mild form Parkinsons He 
demonstrated that he practiced vibrato like you would a scale.
The aspects he showed included Tempo aand rhythm. He started with a very narrow vib
and varied the rhythm from very slow (minims to crotchets to quavers etc)to fast 
in a metronomic fashion.The next step was the width of the vibrato from 
dead flat to very wide alwys wiithin a rhythmic framework.
He practiced it as if it were a one note flexibilituy study
Once yyou can adequately control it the next step is to apply it musically
within the context of the music. Ie in the Arutunian he used vibrato in 
several different ways according to the context and it was all deliberatly worked out like 
a set of Baroque ornaments. this is a far cry from the universal
nanny goat approach that gives the technique a bad name.


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References:
- Re: Vibrato
  - From: Bill Buffam

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