I hate vibrato on clarinet, especially when done in bands! The gril next to me does it in a chamber orchestra. Not only do i think vibrato is wrong for the clarinet, when she does it, she sounds like a motor!! I think vibrato is ok in a solo piece on a really long note, to add colour, but generally, clarinets shouldn`t do vibrato. What do u think?

i agree. my director told us not to use it alltogether. i think it sounds VERY bad on clarinet. IMHO, the clarinets sound doesn`t need vibrato to make it sound, more interesting. POSSIBLY on a solo piece with a sustained note, but other than that, huh uh. aim- CropCircleRadr07
~Shanna

Quoted from my reply to another post about this topic
"A little . tastefully .
Opinions vary. It depends on where you are using it. I can tolerate a little , but if a clarinet player started using the amount of vibrato that a flute player did, I would want to murder them."
Vibrato is appropriate in places such as the slow section of the Copland. Using it on every note of the Mozart Concerto would be overkill. I think that vibrato, when used, should be there enough to colour the sound, but not so much that you can hear the note shaking all over the place and it sounds "like a motor". I hardly use any vibrato myself.

In moderation, vibrato CAN sound good sometimes and add a another depth of tonal colour to a piece (yes, the Copland but also the lengthy slow third movement of the Saint-Saens sonata - the recap of the theme up an octave). But good vibrato, I think, is a very subtle vibrato, not like a chainsaw, Acker Bilk style. I think vibrato, done in a understated fashion on any instrument, particularly reed instruments, is the best way to go. But to each his own, I suppose.

I was never taught vibrato, i do it naturally on notes that i feel need it, sometimes i don`t realize i`m doing it, and people always ask me how do i make it sound like it should be played that wat and i honestly don`t think its something that can be taught. i`ve heard some pretty bad vibrato, if you can`t do it naturally i reccommend not doing it at all, not trying to sound harsh or anything but if you try it doesn`t sound right. just got to let it flow...

I think anyone that doesn`t like the vibrato on the clarinet has never heard it when done properly. Most musicans will take their bottom jaw and move it up and down, that`s not a bad way to do it on subtained notes, but if you want a better sounding vibrato you should use your throat muscles in a way that can`t be explained. It should come naturally, anyone that tries to use vibrato is using it wrong. Overall I don`t think it`s a bad idea to use vibrato on the clarinet.

Throat vibrato? I think every clarinet and saxophone teacher I`ve ever studied with would argue that one. Altering your throat to play vibrato means that half the time you play, your throat will be closing up. Vibrato should add a color to one`s tone not four or five colors. The post before this said that using the jaw works well when playing a sustained tone. When else would someone use vibrato? During fast passages vibrato would sound ridiculous. Vibrato should be used as an expressive tool, to add depth and color to a note. It should not be played as if someone turned on the vibrato switch and now every note has added vibrato of equal length and intesity. Thats just my opinion.

well, i don`t play clarinet very often (i play oboe), but when i do i like to play it w/ a very nice semi-slow vibrato, it sounds really nice...i dunno, maybe it depends on who does it...if you do it too much in the wrong sections of music it won`t sound good - that`s like when people use vibrato on like 8th notes and quarter notes ~ it just sounds like they can`t play in tune, but when it`s on half or longer notes (especially in slow sections) it can sound really sweet