Pitch bend and vibrato

Two of the techniques that mark the advanced player from the beginner are pitch bend and vibrato. Like mustard with beef, these two techniques can really enhance your playing but can also swamp all subtlety if over used.
Pitch bend is essentially a wider and brasher version of vibrato so we might as well look at the two techniques as one. It is all about the manipulation of the reed by the bottom lip and how much you squeeze the reed up and down.
(Before we go on it is worth pointing out that vibrato on sax and clarinet is created by variations in pitch not volume; volume variation is the type of vibrato used by flute players and is achieved by variation in blowing pressure.)
The best place to start is the mouthpiece - on its own! The horrible duck quack noise you used amuse your friends with is the key to building your pitch bend and vibrato technique. Here goes:

1. Blow what feels like an 'ordinary' note on the mouthpiece
2. Then try to blow a higher note by squeezing up a little harder with the bottom lip. NOTE, if you squeeze too hard you will simply close the tip opening and no air will pass into the mouthpiece and you will get no sound. (Neighbours think: 'that's good - do that.')
3. Then go back to your first try and this time very gently and subtly let the squeeze from the bottom lip losen. Hear the pitch start to drop. Keep letting the squeeze losen and see how far down you can get the pitch to drop.
4. Try being more violent and wobble your jaw/bottom lip a lot and hear the sound vary in pitch quite wildly.

OK, so far so good. What many of you will have found is that you can get higher - a bit - but not much lower. When you let the squeeze from the bottom lip losen the sound just konks out. Well persist, because what you are trying to do is let that squeeze off bit by bit but keep the reed vibrating at ever lower pitches. In fact, once you have mastered this technique you will be able to play an octave range from the highest to the lowest pitch using just the mouthpiece. The good news is you can then amaze your friends by playing happy birthday on just the mouthpiece; 'Look Mummy, no hands' (Neighbours think: 'This just gets worse.')

Keep trying this exercise. You will find that you can't keep it up for long because playing the low pitches on the mouthpiece is not very pleasant and makes your brain vibrate. (Neighbours think: 'phew.') You won't get there straight away but keep coming back to it for a few minutes at a time and it will happen for you.

Once you have got the idea of how to bend the pitch on the mouthpiece you can start to apply pitch bend on the notes of your repertoire. You will find that the notes with fewer fingers down bend further and more easily.

Vibrato is just gentle pitch bend applied to longer notes. You can use vibrato to warm up your musical interpretations. It often best used on longer notes where you might start pure, then add a slower, small amount of vibrato which gradually gets faster and wider.

ADVANCED ADVANCED PLAYING
All of this does not take into account the role the throat has in controling pitch and tone quality. To develop a good throat technique you will need to read the next blog - coming soon!