Is it even possible to learn vibrato in less than a week? Because my stupid music teacher said that a vibrato test is coming up in less than a week, and he said you dont use jaw for vibrato.

Wow, your music teacher is stupid. Yes, you DO use your jaw for vibrato. The only sax player I know of who uses diaphragm vibrato is Kenny G, but let`s not get started on him.

Anyways, why is he/she forcing you to learn vibrato in a week? That seems like a really bad teaching method. It took me about a year to master vibrato, especially in the lower range.

Also, vibrato must be used in conjunction with an excellent tone quality, and a steady stream of air, or else it just goes to sh!t. Anyways, here is the jist of how to do vibrato:

Jaw vibrato involves loosening your embouchure slightly, and then tightening it up again quickly. It may take some practice to get it right, but once you do get it down, it just comes naturally after that. Here`s how you master consistency. Go in a room with a clock, or set a metronone to 60 bpm. For each second that passes by, do one undulation of your lower lip (quarter notes). Then increase it to 2 undulations per beat (eighth notes) when you feel you are comfortable with one. Then increase it to 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. undulations per beat. A full practice session should involve at least 5 minutes of this.

Good luck with this, and happy playing!

Thomas

First of all, does your teacher even play sax? Seeing as he/she is giving you absolutely absurd advice and preparation time, i honestly doubt it. Vibrato is a very interesting concept to learn, and is quite simple once you get the hang of it. Try first to put vibrato on a note like 4th line D. Hold it out for a long time and rhythmically tighten and loosen your embouchure and jaw muscles, saying "wawawawawawa" very slowly and exaggerated. Try to speed it up slightly each time, using less and less jaw motion and more in the lips. After several years of playing, i can produce a great vibrato with little or no jaw movement. Then try it on other notes. Vibrato takes years to master. Don`t expect it to be perfect the first time. I think harder reeds and jazz mouthpieces provide the perfect combination for a pretty sounding, fairly rapid vibrato

thx a bunch guys, make me feel so much better

hmm....diafragm vibrato does sound better, if you were to ask me, and is what I try to mainly use..sort of. Jaw vibrato is good for indivdual note variation, but when you`re playing a piece with constant vibrato, that`s not very wise...especially in a concert band. If you ask me, take the time and try to get diafragm vibrato going. I was lucky when it came to that, and picked it up rather easily. It`s really more of a feel thing..however, jaw will do you just fine


(I play tenor/alto sax)

All the sax players i can think of would slap you in the face for using diaphram vibrato. Thats like scooping notes(you dont do that do u) Maybe your teacher was just trying to scare the saxes into practice.

Sax players unlike flute players use jaw vibrato. Also, you do not use vibrato in a concert band setting unless you are playing a solo. In order for vibrato to sound in tune you need to not really drop the jaw, but rather have your motion be mainly tightening up from the actual pitch. This will sound in tune to the listener. If you move above and below the actual pitch the sound will be flat to the ear.

Vibrato is also pretty much the same speed regardless of the tempo of the music. Listen to someone like Ben Webster and you can hear the correct vibrato speed.

flute payers use the diaphram vibrato usually, not sax. But whatever you like.

My mistake was to learn smearing before I learned vibrato (I was in eighth grade) and while I was not a real good smearer, I had to learn to control my lips instead of letting em fly. Fortuantly, it only took me a day or so to figure it out decent.

May I ask what smearing is? This is a saxophone forum.

Hello follow saxophonist.

I`m currently in the 7th grade and it took me almost half a year to learn vibrato. Unless you`re a very advance saxophonist, I highly doubt you could learn vibrato in a week. When learning vibrato, you can`t just practice for 6 hours a day and learn it in 3 days. Its because your jaw needs time to get used to the movements for your vibrato to become fluent. Also, I`ve realized that learning how to do vibrato and learning how to play with vibrato are two different things. You`re teacher is crazy.

I have a question however, when using vibrato, are you supposed to use the bottom jaw, or the top jaw? I use both of them, using the top occasionally and the bottom occasionally and I`m pretty sure thats not right.. haha.

Also, in my personally opinion, I like Kenny G.`s diaphragm vibrato. Could anyone explain the basics of it?

umm, I know this is a sax forum, that was what I was talking about. OK, smearing. you know vibrato you basicly go flat then sharp again, whaa whaa like. well, smearing is when you go really sharp or flat, going to different notes. It`s what trombones can do just by moving the slide, but any instrument about can do it. More than one note to. It depends how good you are.

Ah, I`m sorry. I thought you were referring to a particular flute technique. Thank you for clearing that up.

Thomas

no prob

Along the lines of vibrato, I was never sure if you were suppose to start the note with vibrato, or wait a fraction of a beat before loosening your jaw. I`m having trouble not making my vibrato sound so loose in slow pieces.

It really depends on the style of music you`re playing. In jazz, you tend to start vibrato about halfway through the note. In classical, you start vibrato as soon as you articulate the note. It also depends on the tempo of the piece; for example, you typically wouldn`t put vibrato on eighth notes at allegro. If you want to truly understand the usefulness of vibrato, and its correct usage, either start taking some private lessons from a professional sax player, or listen to some recordings.

Cheers,

Thomas