Learn Vibrato With a Triangle

Video Transcript

"I'm going to demonstrate a technique for playing the triangle called vibrato. This is going to give you kind of a tremolo sound. It's what an opera singer does when they hit that high note. Kind of fluctuating between two different notes in rapid succession. So it kind of blurs the distinction between the actual pitch. So, since the triangle already creates a somewhat indefinite pitch anyways, what it's going to do is kind of push and pull the volume a little bit. And this is played by basically waving your hand very quickly behind the triangle. Now you'll notice I changed my holding technique a little bit. I've go the triangle hanging from my thumb, which is going to give me a little bit more room to move my hand like this. And it's also going to keep the triangle steady. It's going to keep it from spinning quite as much as if I were holding it like this, the traditional way to ring out. And I'm going to talk to you about another technique in a second using that holding technique. But right here, here's an example of your triangle vibrato. Once again, for your ears. And I don't know if it's as much me pushing the air influencing the sound waves with my hands like this, as much as it is, you notice the triangle actually shakes a little bit. And that has something to do with the vibrato as well. The other technique I told you I was going to talk about is, when you're holding it and the triangle has the freedom to spin like this, you can actually influence that spin by hitting the triangle right here and kind of pushing it when you play it. Here's that technique. You're going to hear kind of a vibrato feel to with the triangle spinning. Just the way that it's sending out vibrations through the air. Now I don't know how well this is going to pick up on the microphones, but every time the triangle turns, it's sending out vibrations through the air, sound waves in different ways. Here it is for you one more time."