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From: fjm/cja
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 07:02:34 -0700 (MST)
Subject: vibrato

On Thu, 24 Oct 1996, Mike Curtis wrote:

> Wrong. If you look up vibrato, it includes volume and pitch variations,
> "A pulsating effect, produced by the rapid reiteration of emphasis on a
> tone, and on bowed instruments by a rapid change of pitch corresponding to
> the vocal tremelo"; from The International Websters New Encyclopedic
> Dictionary of the English Language.

Vibrato from the latin vibrare, to shake. Actually if you research
vibrato you find that there is more than a little confusion as to its
application in the language. In singing vibrato is definitely considered
to include pitch modulation. Tremelo is the rapid reiteration of a
single pitch. There's also the Fender amplifier controversy, Fenders are
labled with vibrato which they do not in fact have. Virtually every amp
book I've ever seen mentions that Fenders are labled vibrato but really
have tremelo. The Vox amps having true vibrato with pitch shift.
Tremelo and vibrato meant the same thing until the begining of this
century when their meanings diverged. In fact tremelo was the generally
used word for vibrato. Violins use the left hand to produce what is
called vibrato, it would seem pitch alteration would be included.
Strictly speaking Mike, you're not incorrect vibrato has meant amplitude
modulation. Currently though it seems to me that the musical consensus
for the term is frequency modulation coupled with some amplitude modulation.
BTW we've been down this road before. There was much discussion of these
two terms and I typed out large parts of the Harvard Dictionary of
Music's articles on the two terms. A search would yield results. fjm