Alan Harris Cello Vibrato Tips

[@tullochgorum]

How refreshing - a KZbin cello technique video from someone who actually knows what he's talking about! More please...

[@tweetpea100]

THE SAYING "YOU HINK, THEREFORE YOU ARE" or something like that, is what rings out loud in your wonderful videos. so much time for beginners in lessons is spent chasing after what we dont even understand in the first place !!

[@purecornsilk]

Oh My! What a gem to find! I have been struggling with vibrato and this tutorial has helped me sooooo much! Thank you...and yes, I wonder if he knows this quality vid is on you tube. I feel like I should be paying him for it!

[@ekimong]

“Casting the shift..” is such a great visual

[@Bigbug123456]

Vibrado to me can make a tone sound even more beautiful. I think it adds your own character to a piece and your own taste. When you vibrado, make sure you land on the correct note before you vibrado because if you vibrado out of tune it distorts the tone. Also, creating vibrado before you hit the note also distorts the tone..So when you add vibrado, make sure the tone is heard before you add vibrato to it.

[@jkimcello]

@SatchmoSings Maybe for old-schoolers. These days great musicians use vibrato wonderfully to add to the music, not cover it up.

[@ekimong]

Awesome!!

[@jkimcello]

@SatchmoSings While you have shown me very good examples of excellent performance practice, I could easily post a recording of both Toscanini and Furtwangler in which the orchestras use tons of vibrato in addition to the ever famous (tasteless) expressive sliding. Most great musicians CAN play without vibrato and most do when it's called for but when we have an excellent tool for expressing the intent of the music, why shouldn't we use it?

[@iep4657]

that guy is a dick. and goes all over youtube bashing vibrato. wtf is that about.. its a part of musical repertoire and expression.

[@rabemama]

A couple thoughts: I can see no point in shining the string in a "very accurate half step"? It should be mentioned that the point of doing the exercise is to create the muscle memory needed for vibrato. In your words you describe shifting as light, but your string is still pressed to the fingerboard and can't really be that light. In my student days, this kind of dual speak messed me up for a long time. I actually tried shifted very light! Perhaps what you mean is not too heavy or pressed.

[@pegschr]

thank you

[@SatchmoSings]

@jkimcello In the interim, Here's a 1930 recording of the strings of The Berlin Philharmonic playing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; the performance practices on this recording is quite correct in many ways.

[@rabemama]

Is vibrato a turning of the forearm or not? The world of cello technique will never improve if we keep calling everything an opinion. At some point we need to actually just be factual. Instead, Mr. Harris says he "believes" that it is not correct. We need people like him to call a spade a spade! How about we prove it wrong once and for all? Further, his assertion that the motions change according to the range on the fingerboard is easily tested and proven with statistics. He is correct!

[@sourman44]

nice cello...

[@MikeDrewYT]

Wild

[@Uwek212]

Wow look at his desk.

[@georgibaltov7386]

look at his massive hands!

[@SatchmoSings]

@jkimcello How can I tell from a 1929 recording that the Phil wasn't using any vibrato? Well, I may have overstated it however the answer is very simple; I LISTENED to the recording! bY way of a better example, I found a recording of Bach's Brandenburg No. 3 that is correctly played this way; let me look for it and I'll get back to you.

[@nickross101]

nice teddy bear

[@jkimcello]

Also, how can you tell from a 1929 Toscanini recording that the Phil was not using ANY vibrato? Typically most great orchestras wouldn't overuse vibrato in a classical symphony such as Haydn anyway.

[@SatchmoSings]

@jkimcello While I don't have that 1929 recording of Toscanini and the NY Phil doing the "Clock" symphony, here's Furtwangler again doing Haydn's Symphony no. 94. I can handily see why Toscanini, with difficulty, could admit that Furtwangler was great; he certainly gets the performance practice pretty darn correct. watch?v=1xEbdFghZCE&feature=related Where's Waldo? WHERE'S THE VIBRATO? lol!

[@tweetpea100]

SHOULD HAVE thought more about the fact my T NEEDS TO BE PRESSED HARDER. SORRY.

[@SatchmoSings]

@jkimcello I still maintain that's it's some stupid, reflexive habit; try playing expressively WITHOUT IT and then you're a REAL musician.

[@SatchmoSings]

Vibrato is usually a cheap way of having something sound "nice." Listen to Toscanini's 1929 recording with The New York Philharmonic of Haydn's "Clock" Symphony; the whole thing is performed with the strings NEVER using any vibrato and the strings are wonderful. When you can play a piece expressively WITHOUT using vibrato, then you are a REAL player! Vibrato, while necessary, is all too often a "fallback" cop-out of 2nd rate playing and singing.