"TREMOLO" OR "VIBRATO"?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

"TREMOLO" OR "VIBRATO"?

i, A correspondent asks: "What ia the difference between 'Tremolo' and 'Vibrato'"? The answer depends upon whether we are speaking of an instrument such as, say, the violin, or the human voice. (In this connection, inhuman).

On stringed instruments played with the bow the true tremolo is achieved by moving it rapidly up and down, whilst vibrato is a throbbing effect produced by the string player on sustained notes by the rapid oscillating motion from the wrist of the finger stopping the note. According to a writer in "Grove": "As an emotional effect produced by physical means it has obvious dangers, but no string player's technique is complete without its acquirement."

The same writer has this to say about the application of these two terms in vocal use. "The production of the true tremolo (rapid reiteration of a note without, variation of pitch) is one of the most difficult technical feats of the singer. But here, terminology has become confusing, and this, as it appears in such ornaments as Caccini's trillo, is generally known as vibrato. On the other hand, the true tremolo is commonly applied to a wavering of pitch in sustaining a single note which corresponds to the string player's vibrato. Both have been used as legitimate means of expression, but the second, since it often appears as a result of technical incompetence, is peculiarly liable to abuse. . . . Vibrato, more commonly called tremolo, seems to be a natural property of some voices and has been cultivated (often with deplorable results) by others. Obviously the first necessity of the singer with a natural tendency to waver in pitch is to secure control. The vibrato tends to appear in moments of emotional intensity, and such appearances in a voice generally under control have their force< The artificial singulation of emotion is as offensive as the incapacity to sustain a note at its true pitch." The above quotations have been given at some length in the hope that offenders may "read, mark, etc."