Technique questions

Mark:

For octave tongue splits, check out David's "Artist Study - William Clarke" here on the site. And there are some other lessons with octave splits.

A scoop is generally a note start bent, then raised to the reed's regular pitch. Re vibrato and tremolo, welcome to decades of controversy. E.g., my first instrument lessons were on cello. "Vibrato" was when the player twisted the fretboard finger back and forth, so that the pitch of the bowed note varied up and down. Same with B.B. King's classic sound when he pushed a string back and forth with his fretting finger. "Tremolo" was an electronic trick where the volume varied up and down at a fast pace. Something the Hammond Organ folks came up with long ago.

Leo Fender was, of course, an engineer, not a musician. So when he figured out a way to add tremolo to his electronic circuits, he called it "vibrato." My first Fender amp, purchased in 1965 (still wish I had it) was a "Vibrolux Reverb." Named for its tremolo circuit, labeled "vibrato" on the knob. (And its spring reverb. Great for the surf music I was playing at the time.)

For a harp player, generally "vibrato" is when you change the pitch up and down with quick bending, and "tremolo" is when you use your breath (throat, diaphram, or like Jason Ricci, your abs) to change the volume.

But the two words get switched back and forth all the time.

Guess it's just one more thing for which we can thank Saint Leo Fender!

Re players like William Clarke and Paul deLay, work on those 4-hole blow and 5-hole draw octaves, and you'll create a powerful sound that not all players are good at.