Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Stumped: How to achieve vibrato on the piano

I hope that at least some of the responses above were tongue-in-cheek!

Liszt occasionally used the term vibrato in piano music; I believe Sonetto 104 contains another example, in the passage that's in C#. I'm sure it doesn't mean a tremolo, and especially sure it doesn't mean wiggling the key back and forth -- which would have no effect except possibly to wear out the bushings faster! I take it to mean "vibrating", in the sense of going for an especially rich sonority: full pedal, lots of weight deep into the keys. The passage jazzyprof quoted, and the one I mentioned in Sonetto 104, both contain big chords that indeed have a lot of potential to, well, vibrate.

I just noticed that the pieces you have mentioned were originally songs. Maybe the instruction was meant for the voice and just mistakenly carried over to the piano pieces.

My take on it is that we should think about what vibrato accomplishes on the violin. It enhances the resonance of the sound.

Then think of the piano in Liszt's day - it was not as resonant as today's instruments.

I also think performers should feel free to interpret it in different ways. I think the laissez vibrer interpretation makes a lot of sense. I can also see how a tremolo could work to great effect as well - especially given that there's also a crescendo on the dotted whole note in question.

Which brings up the question - since a crescendo on a whole note is impossible, what does Liszt want? Does he want us to just "feel" the crescendo inside? If so, then we can interpret the vibrato similarly and "feel" the vibrato inside. If he wants an actual crescendo, then we definitely need to tremolo or add a little extra rolling around on the chord.

Also, I see this as being related to a number of discussions we've had recently on the lack of creativity by so many performing musicians today. We seem so intent on "getting it right" that we refuse to entertain the idea that there are a variety of creative solutions that are valid. Maybe we need a little less reliance on dictionaries and different editions and a little more imagination at the piano.

I just checked the edition of the song version, and there is no "vibrato" indicated on the vocal part - in fact, the singer has finished by that point in the score. Also, I have never seen "vibrato" written on any vocal music.

Shake your head back and forth violently. Then you will hear the vibrating. And when you perform it, have the whole audience do it at that point. Then they will hear it, too.

While holding the notes firmly, wiggle your hand back and forth vigorously. Post a recording and MarkC will swear he can hear it.

Geez, people. Doing a physical vibrato was part of Liszt's performance style because the pianos on which he learned to play returned a slight change in pitch to the movement. That Liszt did this is documented. The indication is literal.

Is that right? Which pianos were those? Can you provide us with some of that documentation you're describing? I've not ever heard this before...I mean I've read of Liszt doing all sorts of things at the piano, but I've not ever heard this before.

Geez, people. Doing a physical vibrato was part of Liszt's performance style because the pianos on which he learned to play returned a slight change in pitch to the movement. That Liszt did this is documented. The indication is literal.

So, while the pianos may not have been physically able to produce a true vibrato, Liszt apparently thought that rocking a finger on the key has an effect on perceived tone.

Maybe Liszt had a whammy bar installed on his pianos?

A search on the internet returned this passage from Three Essays on the Fundamentals of Piano Playing:

Liszt occasionally wrote "vibrato" on his piano pieces. Apparently he believed, as have others, that rocking the finger on the key, as a violinist rocks his finger on a string, will produce such an effect. Since, after the string is struck, the only connection between key and either string or soundboard is via the massive frame, it would be difficult to explain such an effect. It is more likely that the performer's ear would be affected. Perhaps Liszt was sufficiently acute psychologically to realize that the sight of a rocking finger would convince some listeners that they were hearing a vibrato.

So, while the pianos may not have been physically able to produce a true vibrato, Liszt apparently thought that rocking a finger on the key has an effect on perceived tone.

Maybe Liszt had a whammy bar installed on his pianos?

A search on the internet returned this passage from Three Essays on the Fundamentals of Piano Playing....