Fast Vibrato

Vessehune · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 3:27 pm Post subject:

How would one go about developing fast vibrato like Mendez, james and some of the other older players?

doitallman · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 3:40 pm Post subject:

I think most of those guys are hand shakers.
I could be wrong.
Try shaking your hand and see what happens.

trumpetmike · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 11:15 pm Post subject:

Work slowly on a vibrato and then gradually speed it up.
I have found that this gives you more control than just shaking the trumpet wildly.

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 8:02 am Post subject:

Brian,

This is the same response that I sent you on TPIN. I'm posting it here for others that don't also subscribe to the TPIN list.

You Wrote:
What is a good way to develop a fast vibrato like some of the old players (Mendez, Armstrong, James, etc.). I have ZERO vibrato in my sound and I am trying to develop a good sound vibrato from slow to the ultra cool old style!!!

Like you, I had ZERO vibrato in my sound until after I got out of college. When I started my regular job (and didn't have mountains of homework to wade through every night), I began studying the trumpet MUCH more seriously. My first instructor out of college was a Hickman DMA student. It was a really nice fit as we were both about the same age, and he could tell that I was ready to work hard and apply what he was telling me.

I'm sure that you will get many different answers regarding vibrato because there are so many different ways to do it. This is my slant.

My instructor had me start off using a "chewing" action to get some noticeable vibrato happening. I would chew at a certain metronome tempo (say sixteenths at quarter = 40-60). This started to set up the gross motor skills for a lip vibrato. After the feel was established, I was able to speed up or slow down the vibrato based on different metronome tempos.

After several months of practice (maybe 3-5 minutes per day), this gross motor skill become more refined. At this point different techniques are used to vary the vibrato.

The most important aspect to varying vibrato once the mechanics are working well is to expose your ears to lots of different types of music while focusing specifically on the vibrato. Hakan Hardenberger is a great example for a fast lip vibrato (what a great sound he couples with that vibrato!). After you have done a lot of listening, play music consciously thinking about the quality of the vibrato that you are producing. Is it wide or narrow? Is it fast or slow or somewhere in between? Once you have some success varying it, record yourself. Are you hearing the quality that you are trying to achieve on the tape? If not, you probably need to exaggerate what you are doing. What you are perceiving may be VERY different that what an audience is perceiving. Your recorder can be your best friend in this instance!

I haven't studied the production of the vibrato of the players that you mention. It may be that they get their unique sound using something other than lip vibrato. If that's the case, look into developing those forms of vibrato production as well. You can never have too many choices when it comes to varying different aspects of your sound!

Good luck,

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: derek reaban on 2003-10-24 11:40 ]

_trumpetgod_02 · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 7:46 pm Post subject:

Hey,

I too use the "chewing" vibrato. I have learned to control it by sitting down with te metronome and starting off doing eighth notes and then triplet eighths. Then move it on up to the same thing on 16ths. Then you can pretty much learn to do to other things with it. That's how I did it.

Nick
_________________
www.trumpetherald.com

jamie · Regular Member Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 77

well i know there is some way to do it with your diaphram and it is the way that a lot of flute and orchestral tpt players do it. they think it is one of the best ways to do it because then you arn't shaking your trumpet or fiddling with your emboucher to do it. people can't really notice it as much as you shaking your hand/tpt but i don't know how to do it so you'll have to talk to somone elese

Jon · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 1:43 am Post subject:

There are (to my knowledge) three types of vibratos.

1) Lip
2) Hand
3) Diaphragm (not really sure of the correct term of this)

Of these I'd say both lip & hand are good if you practice it enough, they are very style dependant, so lip for more legit play and hand for jazz is my way of doing it (atleast trying, I'm sofar still better at lip).
Regarding the third one, my trumpet teacher told me that the diaphragm vibrato is dangerous, some players that develop it can't shut it off and play with it all the time.

Regards,
Jonathan

hazmat · Heavyweight Member Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 669

Um I would like to help but I already have a fast vibrato. Some people I know have the problem of having a fast vibrato. Currently I'm trying to get a slower vibrato which is tougher than it sounds sometimes. I think fast vibrato really is just a mental issue. If you can vibrato then just speed it up.