Klarinet Archive - Posting 000216.txt from 2005/08

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Vibrato, color, vibration (was Stolzman & Copland Concerto)
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:25:15 -0400

<<<If is true that "laryngeal" vibrato creates intensity vibrato and
jaw/lip vibrato creates pitch vibrato, how exactly is it that flute
players are able to produce pitch vibrato? Unless you've come up with a
completely new way to play the flute, I cannot fathom how one would
apply the principles of jaw/lip vibrato on an instrument lacking a
reed/mouthpiece combination.>>>

Here's the Reader's Digest condensed version: There are three
measurable qualities in the air supply of a wind instrument: pressure,
volume, and speed. All three are inter-related. A change in pressure
will cause a change in speed, etc., through all the possibilities. In
teaching this concept I often use the "analogy of the garden hose." If
you have a garden hose with no nozzle on the end, the stream of water
will come out slowly, and fall right on the ground. If the city decides
to increase or decrease the water pressure, there will be a
corresponding change in the behavior of the stream of water. But, if
you add a nozzle with a very small opening the ambient water pressure
will cause the stream of water to be much faster and to travel much
farther.

A change of this sort in the wind stream of the flute (for example,
blowing harder, or making a smaller aperture) will cause changes in the
response characteristics of the instrument. A faster stream of air =3D
sharper pitch and more high overtones in the sound, hence a variation in
tone quality. And, the reverse is also true. So, if the flute player
uses any part of the anatomy to affect the air stream, there will be
resulting changes in the intensity of the tome produced, and there will
necessarily be changes in the pitch as well. (Conversely, a change in
pitch also will cause a change in tone quality, but for a different
reason. Each note on a woodwind instrument has a nominal pitch or
frequency, determined by such factors as the length of the vibrating
column, the natural resonance frequency of the tube, and perhaps the
cut-off frequency for that note. As the player varies the pitch from
that level, the number and intensity of overtones in the harmonic
structure of the tone will also change; hence, a resulting change of
perceived tone quality.)

<<<I suspect your casually referenced "cineflourographic studies" back
me up, but I would be more than happy to look them up if you would
provide the full references.>>>

Would a partial reference do for now? Chris Weait, bassoon professor at
Ohio State University did one of the pioneering studies in this field.
His work was written up in an article in the Journal of the
International Double Reed Society. [Weait, Christopher and Shea, John.
'Vibrato: an audio-video fluorographic investigation of a bassoonist,'
Applied Radiology, vol 6, Jan-Feb 1977 (repr in CME, vol 20, Autumn
1978)]

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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