teaching tuba vibrato

[RadDad2005]

thoughts on drills and strategies for teaching a budding young tubist? I don't ever recall being taught. I can cobble together a lesson on it and send the kid to the practice room, but thought I could get some concrete ideas from this group. Thanks for your thoughts.

[MikeMason]

Listen,imitate,record,evaluate

[Pat S]

I would think that vibrato would be a risky proposition until you learn to hit and sustain a good tone on the target note. A young player without that basic ability might struggle trying to master both at the same time.

[cmonte]

I would think that vibrato would be a risky proposition until you learn to hit and sustain a good tone on the target note. A young player without that basic ability might struggle trying to master both at the same time.

I completely agree.
As some would consider a "young student", I recently tried learning some vibrato for the heck of it this winter break. When I was warming up and trying to hold a pitch, an unsteady vibrato came out and I freaked out. So now I'm trying to turn it off before my teacher figures out what I've been up to this break

[Untersatz]

Mark, that was an awesome comparison!
In the first video (Yo-Yo Ma) I feel he used way too much vibrato & in the 2nd video (Illényi Anikó)
her use of slightly less vibrato actually made it sound more "expressive" at least to me.
I'm NOT knocking Yo-Yo Ma at all! He is a legend in the world of cellist's. Just pointing out the
difference & MY opinion, as I perceived it.

[ursatz]

My own experience as a choral and instrumental music teacher:

1) Vocal lessons are invaluable to any wind musician and can help develop a mature and self-reflective vibrato (along with everything else).

2) I've had good success teaching nascent vibrato through whistling. Some exercises include "pulsing amplitude" with a metronome.

3) Some students just have a good ear, listen to themselves and their teachers, listen to nice examples, and develop it on their own at their own pace. This is my preferred method especially with young people. Let it be, and then help develop tasteful application when it comes.

Cheers.

[k001k47]

Shake the tuba vigorously!

[Pat S]

Mark, that was an awesome comparison!
In the first video (Yo-Yo Ma) I feel he used way too much vibrato & in the 2nd video (Illényi Anikó)
her use of slightly less vibrato actually made it sound more "expressive" at least to me.
I'm NOT knocking Yo-Yo Ma at all! He is a legend in the world of cellist's. Just pointing out the
difference & MY opinion, as I perceived it.

Cello's a great analogy. I was very anxious to learn vibrato when taking cello lessons, since the vibrato, done properly, really gives the cello a voice. However, trying to manipulate the vibrato before having the muscle memory of where the note exists on the fingerboard is a classic exercise of trying to do too many things at the same time, with chaos as the result. My early experience with tuba is that attempting to get the pitch spot on is challenging enough... trying to do that AND get a pleasant vibrato is simply asking too much!

[Untersatz]

My early experience with tuba is that attempting to get the pitch spot on is challenging enough... trying to do that AND get a pleasant vibrato is simply asking too much!

+1

AND..........is vibrato even necessary outside of solo playing?

[Roger Lewis]

I tell all my students to first learn to play in tune - no vibrato. I've had some students come for their first (and in one case only) lesson, playing with a vibrato that would make a mariachi band proud. I asked them to just play a straight tone with no vibrato, and I would get back "What vibrato"? I play in a band where the euphonium player uses vibrato on every single note, and he's a good player, but it makes it hard to match pitch with a moving target.

The caveat that I give to all my students when the time comes to lear vibrato, is that using vibrato is like zipping your pants in public - you do it discretely.

It is a tool that is used to add expression, but first I make my students learn to play expressively using dynamics, breathing in the right places and by shaping phrases.

Happy New Year to you all.

Roger