Vibrato
Another important expressive technique which is common in all styles of sax playing is vibrato. Vibrato is a method of altering the quality of a note once it has been sounded. It is usually heard as a slight wavering of the pitch and volume of a note.
Vibrato may be fast, slow or anywhere in between. The speed and width of vibrato are a matter of personal taste and often depend on the musical situation. There are several methods of producing vibrato on the saxophone.
These involve movement of the diaphragm, the larynx, the jaw, the tongue and the lips either alone or in combinations. The easiest way to begin playing vibrato is to imagine you are a singer and to vibrate the larynx in a similar method to a singing vibrato. It is a good idea to exaggerate the vibrato at first and then ease off when you have control of it. Another method is to vibrate both the diaphragm and the larynx in a similar movement to laughing. Yet another method is to move the jaw up and down while you are holding a note.
Vibrato is a very personal thing and may take some time to develop. It is probably a good idea to work with a teacher when you are learning vibrato, as it can be difficult to obtain a good vibrato sound at first. However, once you have some control of it, vibrato can add a lot of character and warmth to your playing. Another important aspect of learning is listening. You can learn a lot about vibrato by simply listening to players you admire and imitating their sound. By this stage in your playing, you should be listening to albums featuring sax playing every day.
A good way to begin adding vibrato to your playing is to alternate between a note which has vibrato added to it and one that does not, as demonstrated in the following example.
Another good exercise is to begin a note without vibrato and then gradually add some vibrato to it.
The next stage is to play a riff and add vibrato to some of the notes. In general, it is more common to use vibrato on long notes, particularly at the end of a phrase.
