Vibrato

[Winslow Yerxa <76450.3230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This Is-it-vibrato-or-is-it-tremolo thing is way overblown. WHOA -
let me restate - it misses the point.

Rkt dug one of my old posts out of the archives in which I said that
vibrato is FM (Frequency Modulation or pitch variation) and tremolo is
AM (Amplitude Modulation or volume variation). But I also quoted from
the Harvard Dictionary of Music in stating that both terms have been
used for both practices.

The main point is this:

The human voice naturally modulates a held note. This pleasing quality
is imitated by instruments, and it can be accomplished by both AM and
FM. As long as it sounds like the voice modulation, it's vibrato. If
it goes over into something other than that, then maybe another name
is appropriate.

The big problem with the word tremolo is that it has at least three
meanings:

   - AM, as above

   - rapid reiteration of a single note (an extreme form of AM,
     perhaps?)

   - rapid alternation of two notes more than a scale degree apart
     (same texture as the previous meaning?)

Some players have incorrectly stated that the harmonica can't do FM.
Of course it can. Any note that can be bent, even a tiny bit, is
capable of FM vibrato.

ALL notes on a chromatic can be bent at least a semitone (except in
the unvalved top octave), so the chromatic has greater potential for
consistent note-to-note FM than the diatonic.

On the diatonic, half the notes are considered bendable (the
higher-pitched reed in each hole), and the other half not (the lower
pitched reed in the hole). Yet even the non-bending notes can be
depressed enough in pitch so that the combination of AM and Fm
produces a credible vibrato.

Both bent and overblown notes can be varied in pitch (although the
only way to go with some notes is UP). Again, with care and taste, the
right combination of AM and FM can be found for just about any note,
and vibrato on bent notes is quite common.

Winslow Yerxa
Harmonica Information Press
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