# Vibrato on flute



## 009

Hey, Baroque... Something has always puzzled me... How do u excatly do vibrato on flute( I know it's possible)...
Is it an involvement of the tongue( as in tongueing/fluttering ) or more of the lips actually? :huh: 
:lol:


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## Daniel

A good question! Tomorrow I will get the book!


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## Nox

...my daughter says it's the air flow that causes vibrato...


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## Daniel

I think I know what you mean...as I tried my first notes, I did it, but than it is a "wrong" vibrato, because only the volume and pressure is vibrating not the frequency :mellow: , or am I wrong?


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## baroque flute

Yes, pulsing on the flute is done basically by pushing air from the diaphragm, many times throughout the course of holding a note; instead of just plain holding the note you are sort of making it into many notes that run into each other without using the tongue. That is the best I can explain it. 

As far as vibrato is concerned I am definitely not a fan of it! <_< I like pulsing, but I dislike vibrato and have never done it.  The difference between the two, as far as I can understand, is that vibrato involves slight pitch change.


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## Daniel

I will look for the vibrato...hm but I think I like flute vibrato.


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## 009

> *Yes, pulsing on the flute is done basically by pushing air from the diaphragm, many times throughout the course of holding a note; instead of just plain holding the note you are sort of making it into many notes that run into each other without using the tongue. That is the best I can explain it.
> 
> As far as vibrato is concerned I am definitely not a fan of it! I like pulsing, but I dislike vibrato and have never done it. The difference between the two, as far as I can understand, is that vibrato involves slight pitch change.*


Hmmm... interesting. So there's a difference between the 2.


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## Harvey

The pulsing, I think, is kind of like laughing. Vibrato is moving the fingers in some way I don't know about.


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## oistrach13

I don't really know how it works, but I can do a pretty good vibrato on my recorder when my lungs (and mood) are in a good shape. it comes almost completely from my diaphram, the thing is, with the recorder, vibration in air pressure results in minute variation in pitch, I don't think it works the same on the flute though, I think it would only result in pulsing (if I understand that concept correctly). however, on the recorder I am supposed to be able to do something called a flattement (sp? french  ), which involved trilling on the edge of the hole, producing something like a vibrato, however, the way I understand it, they only use it in french music  .

perhaps an instrument more related to the flute (although I have no personal experience with it), would be the arabic nay, basically a reed (not bamboo), with seven holes in the front and two in the back (one of them is never touched, it makes the sound more "airy" and "open"). the way people vibrato on it is rather complicated, there is the same pulsing from the diaphram to give it that undulating feel, however, the lips are also used, as the nay is end blown, varying the embouchre produces a very defined pitch difference, I also understand that the throat or tongue is also supposed to be doing something :blink: 

horribly complex, (what is even harder is the arabic technique of playing in two octaves at the same time, which produces this throaty hoarse texture, very suitable for miserable music).

I would suppose the flute functions relatively similar, (regarding breath and embouchre).


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## MelodicDreamer

I always thought that vibrato on the flute had somethign to do with diaphragm??? I think that it eventually comes naturally to you anyway. This is just what I have been led to believe, perhaps I am wrong???


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## saxoboe

I agree with whoever said it's like laughing. Just keep pulsing HAHAHAHAHA over and over again. Start out slowly to make it even, and the more you practice, the faster it will get. That's what I learned for oboe several months ago. I still can't get it on oboe, but when I picked up the flute, I had an automatic natural vibrato. Flute's one of the easier instruments to get vibrato on.


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## Guest

Hi saxoboe, you have got it, right on, just keep breathing hahahahaha into the mouth piece it is easy, for fast vibrato let it come from the throat.


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## Conductor

Air pulsation is how I've been told for many years.


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## Yagan Kiely

Half the time, flute vibrato makes me feel sick (literally). Unless done well...


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## lakshwadeep

The way I learned vibrato was to do slow crescendos and decrescendos and gradually increase the tempo and decreasing the note lengths. So, a general method would be to cresc./decresc. for whole notes and then gradually go to halfs, quarters, etc. until they mesh into a relatively stable tempo. However, I agree that vibrato can be unnecessary, which is often the case in quick passages.


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