How do you get your flute students to move from count vibrato to a more natural vibrato? (I teach beginner flute class after a day of elementary music and may be moving up to JH next year.)

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Good question! I normally don’t teach vibrato in elementary or middle school. I’ve found it affects pitch and tone too much, when I’d rather get them learning to count new rhythms, learn new notes, play in tune, and musically, too. There’s so much to work on with beginners! 😊

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No. The JH directors play Tuba and clarinet. I’m not sure what is going through their little flute heads. LOL. That is a good thought though.

As others have mentioned, it's generally not best to teach it to beginners. They have to have solid control of their air (support, speed, angle) in order to successfully progress through vibrato. That aside, if they are stuck doing rhythmic vibrato, about the only technique I've found that seems to work is to continue dividing the rhythm further (sextuplets, septuplets, etc) until they cannot further divide the rhythm. There's no way to teach "natural" vibrato unless the student already has natural vibrato.

Additionally, the words you use can help. I find phrases like "try and make it more shimmery" or "we want this to sound vibrant" can sometimes help them relax and get out of their heads about it. Vibrato is a tool that helps create a desired effect, so having a quality of sound or image to aim for sometimes helps.

*side note: Please don't EVER tell flutes that vibrato is part of good tone. I was told that in middle school and high school and it simply isn't true! It's a wonderful tool in the Flutists arsenal, but part of learning vibrato is learning to control it enough to play without it.* (Flute player here, hopping off my soap box)

Thank you so much! That is so helpful.

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