Can anyone here get vibrato out of the Clarinet? I heard it done in person and on some notes it really sounds beautiful! Is there a way I can practice getting it/how do I do it?

Yeah of course. It does sound pretty and that's why I do it but it's only for fun. Like I wouldn't use it for contests because most professionals think that it's not right for the clarinet.

If you want to practice it, don't use your mouth to let less and more air in. You probably already know that but still. Just make waves in your air and at times, use more air and at other times, use less air.. Your stomach sould be doing all the work basically.

It's done the same way as on saxophone. With the jaw, NOT the stomach or air.

yeah, I use vibrato, it really brings a piece of music to life. It is a combination of your stomatch, your jaw, and your tounge

hmmm....if hump is right about the jaw thing, sorry. my band director said to always use your air.

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this got me flustered so I looked it up and there's not just one way of using vibrato.

-Diaphragm Vibrato. By "puffing" (try a good Santa Clause 'ho ho ho') with your diaphragm, you can get some pitch variation in your sound. The difficulty with this method is that it also greatly changes the volume of your sound as well as the pitch. It works, but doesn't sound very smooth.

-Throat Vibrato. Again, you puff air, but this time do it mainly by using your throat
muscles. This has much the same effect as diaphragm vibrato, but you also loose some tone control. (Remember, tone is largely controlled by the shape of the throat and oral cavity.

-Jaw Vibrato. You use your jaw in an up and down motion similar to saying 'yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah'. This method gives maximum pitch varition, with little else being altered.

I have a friend who actually wiggles his wrist slightly to accomplish clarinet vibrato. I haven't tried it myself but it seemed to work. What do you guys think about this method?

that's ridiculous. just my 2 cents.

I use a technique that may seem a tad strange i slide my lip up and down the reed slightly but fast this is not very nice iv come to relise...i wish i could use my diophram but i just cant do it. I have been playing for a while and i am fairly good,its annoying to be unable to do something so simple.

I just vibrate the clarinet with my hands.

Hey, it's not so profesional, but it works, and I've only been playing four years, so doing those sorts of things work for me.

I have always been told that clarinet players aren't supposed to have a vibrato. ????
-Amanda

i figured it's not worth making a new thread for this...
My parts[bass clarinet] for Thoroughly Modern Millie call for vibrato in a few spots, and I when I try it[using my jaw] it messes up the note in general, not just the pitch- like i have trouble keeping the note speaking. i'm using a Vandoren 3 reed on a selmer C* mouthpeice.
my friend who plays bassoon suggests using my diaphragm instead.

am i doing the vibrato wrong? should i try something else, or just keep practicing it?

There are multiple way of doing vibrato, but diaphragm is not one of them. It's often called that, but it's actually the result of the action of the vocal cords, and is the same action as naturally occurs in singing.

I would recommend againt the lip sliding vibrato one of you described because lip placement is actually very important, and you shouldn't be changing it constanltly.

If you want to learn jaw vibrato, it would be a good idea to talk to a good sax player who knows how.

Air vibrato, as described above, and jaw vibrato are the only two forms of vibrato I would recommend for clarinet.

I found that if I started out really slow and over exagerating by using the jaw to bend down and back up that if I gradually sped up and shorted the bend I got a pretty good vibrato. My sax teacher (I play clarinet and sax) called it more of a concert vibrato but >_> I'm still trying to get it more jazzy

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Well clarinets usually dont have vibrato in a typical band but its good for jazz =)