Vibrato help please!!
BREWERPAUL
I know it's not heavily used in traditional music, but I'd like to develop
a fiddle vibrato.
Trouble is, I seem to be spastic every time I try! In wiggling the finger
on the string back and forth, I continually pull the fiddle away from my
chin. I can do it just fine on a guitar, or even the fiddle held in
guitar position, but not in normal fiddling position. Any ideas on how to
overcome my difficulty would be greatly appreciated! Paul Troy NY
sing...@atl.mindspring.com
brewe...@aol.com (BREWERPAUL) wrote:
I am a relative beginner myself, teaching myself (aaagghh! The crowds
run away in horror!). On top of that, I AM "spastic" - I have
something called familial tremor. So, even if the left hand vibrato
never comes along, the right hand has a doozie :-)
Jokes aside: I practice my vibrato when sitting in front of the TV
doing nothing else, (no note fingering plucking or bowing) beginning
with just moving the fingers on the strings in one short back and
forth motion, then working my way into a slight shake. The fiddle is
not so inclined to leap away from my neck anymore. Eventually I have
gotten to where I can do third finger vibrato while bowing as long as
it is only short bursts. The second finger is thinking about joining
in...
The thing is to have patience. The hand has to learn how to have the
right cooperation between wrist motion and finger motion, but it is
like the guitar, once the muscles truly understand, it is easy.
As for my other shaking problem: I wear half pound weights on my
wrists. It's a bit hard on the bowing, but since starting to wear the
weights in June all my instrument playing has improved tremendously -
I have full control over my hands now in spite of the tremor. I had to
modify the weights though (the elastic type), so the inner wrist has a
fairly flat surface
Sandra Sparks
Barrie McCombs
BREWERPAUL (brewe...@aol.com) wrote:
: I know it's not heavily used in traditional music, but I'd like to develop
: a fiddle vibrato.
: Trouble is, I seem to be spastic every time I try! In wiggling the finger
: on the string back and forth, I continually pull the fiddle away from my
: chin. I can do it just fine on a guitar, or even the fiddle held in
: guitar position, but not in normal fiddling position. Any ideas on how to
: overcome my difficulty would be greatly appreciated! Paul Troy NY
It took me two seasons at fiddle camp to realize that you have to let the
base of the left second finger come away from the fiddle neck to allow
the fingers to roll enough to get the effect. I still can't do it well,
but it's coming.
- Barrie McCombs
- Guitarist in public, fiddler in the closet!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Barrie McCombs, MD, CCFP | Family Physician by day |
| bmcc...@acs.ucalgary.ca | Folk Musician during full moons |
| Calgary Folk Music URL: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~bmccombs/calfolk.html |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DJIRYL
>BREWERPAUL (brewe...@aol.com) wrote:
>: I know it's not heavily used in traditional music, but I'd like to
develop
>: a fiddle vibrato.
>: Trouble is, I seem to be spastic every time I try! In wiggling the
finger
>: on the string back and forth, I continually pull the fiddle away from
my
>: chin. I can do it just fine on a guitar, or even the fiddle held in
>: guitar position, but not in normal fiddling position. Any ideas on how
to
>: overcome my difficulty would be greatly appreciated! Paul Troy NY
I haven't had any classical training and calling my fiddling "mediocre"
would be a compliment. But I _can_ do vibrato. When I learned how to do
it, these things were most important:
1. The Wiggling of the Fingers. I practiced rapid side to side
finger rolling on my steering wheel, my other hand, chair arms - anything
that didn't try to get away.
2. Thumb Control. It helps if you very lightly support the neck with
the pad of your thumb. If you're in a full-digit-clasp, it makes it
harder for the rest of your hand to move.
3. Fiddle Gripping. This one's the kicker - you have to be able to
let go of the fiddle with your left hand and hold it with your chin. If
you're using your left hand to keep the fiddle in place it will come away
from your chin when you do the vibrato.
Good Luck,
Jeri
Henrik Norbeck
If you're learning vibrato, I hope you're not going to apply a
constant vibrato as classically trained players do, but apply it with
taste, as an ornament (like it was meant to be originally).
Henrik Norbeck, Stockholm, Sweden
henrik....@mailbox.swipnet.se
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/1789/ Irish & Swedish Tunebook
Timothy Kelly
Hi All,
On both the guitar and the violin families, the best and easiest way
to do vibrato is too not move the fingers, but move the wrist. That way
you get a not only a cleaner vibrato, but also can still hold the
violin.
Happy Vibrato
Timothy Kelly
MidiVox
--
MidiVox - Worlds 1st Real Time Voice to Midi. BioSensor Neckband
+ Rack Mount Brain.
Hum, Sing, Scat, Talk, Rap, Croon. AES Best in Show. EM's
Editors Choice. Keyboard "MidiVox Roars."