To the vibrato people:
I suspect we are yet again experiencing confusion because of terms. There
is good vibrato - a natural part of a well produced free and resonant tone -
and bad vibrato - a wobble or the machine gun vibrato you mentioned.
Some people don't understand the difference, and this is were the confusion
comes in. I suspect that the anti-vibrato people are hearing wobble. A
wobble will sound out of tune. I've heard wobbles so big I couldn't tell
what the pitch was. The fast machine gun vibrato sounds so tense to me, I
can't bear it.
I perceive good vibrato as a part of the tone. It is not out of tune.
Oren Brown writes: In contrast to an excessive vibrato, a good vibrato will
contain intensity as well as pitch variation. The intensity alterations are
the result of the periodic amplification and rarification of the overtones
with the fundamental. I believe that the pitch vibrato results from the
action of the nerve impulses as they act on the intrinsic muscles of the
larynx in adjustments for frequency.
Richard Miller writes:
Most authorities tend to agree that 6 undulations per second seem to
represent the normal vibrato in singing.
In well-regulated vibrato, the pitch variant is seldom as large as a
semitone; its undulation pattern averages about a third of a whole tone.
This variation of pitch is perceived by the ear as a quality characheristic,
not as pitch vagaries.
He goes on to list physical causes of vibrato - good and bad. Pages 183 and
184 in The Structure of Singing. Check it out.
The other thing you must keep in mind about Lilli Lehman, is that when she
wrote, she did not have the science to tell her exactly what was happening
physically. Her definition of vibrato may have meant a wobble. We've seen
how Garcia's definition of falsetto has been confusing people for years.
The teacher who wrote would have a better understanding if she read new
treatises on vocal production based on research. Didn't we just have a huge
discussion about this???
cheers,
Jean Marie
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