VibraAaAaAtoOoOoOo
February 23, 2008 10:07 PM Subscribe
Why is vibrato appealing?
Is there a physical/physiological/psychological/or any other kind of explanation as to why people find the vibrato appealing?
Is there a physical/physiological/psychological/or any other kind of explanation as to why people find the vibrato appealing?
I've always thought part of it had to do with the fact that if you do vibrato, you can 'simulate' a chord, if you do it right. That said, it always seemed to me more like being a vocal showoff.
posted by delmoi at 10:12 PM on February 23, 2008
posted by delmoi at 10:12 PM on February 23, 2008
Because its different than the norm. Note how nobody plays with vibrato on every tune. For me, some songs work with it, some do not, so I don't use it all the time, just for a change of pace.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:18 PM on February 23, 2008
posted by Ironmouth at 10:18 PM on February 23, 2008
I think it's because a pure unwavering tone, while it has its place, is largely boring to hear. And delmoi, a properly done vibrato is not about being a vocal showoff, it's about producing the most pleasing sound.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:18 PM on February 23, 2008
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:18 PM on February 23, 2008
A number of reasons. It hides slight intonation problems of the person playing/singing. It also hides lack of tuning amongst a section of instruments (say, a string section in an orchestra). In addition, it's more musical in the sense that a long sustained pitch is boring unless something else is happening (e.g. harmonic shift underneath, dynamic variance, vibrato, etc.). It also adds distinction to the performance (it's near impossible to create the same vibrato twice).
It's actually the slight distinctions that give music its color. If musical instruments or voices didn't produce overtones on top of the fundamental pitch, they would all sound the same to us (i.e. they would all have the same "timbre"). It's also been shown in experiments that if you play a recording of just the middle of a sustained pitch (i.e. the attack and release cropped off), it's much harder for listeners to distinguish between different instruments/voices. Vibrato doesn't consist of a series of attacks/releases, but the constant slight change of pitch may also keep listeners aware of the shifting overtones (and therefore, timbre).
posted by aswego at 10:23 PM on February 23, 2008 [5 favorites]
It's actually the slight distinctions that give music its color. If musical instruments or voices didn't produce overtones on top of the fundamental pitch, they would all sound the same to us (i.e. they would all have the same "timbre"). It's also been shown in experiments that if you play a recording of just the middle of a sustained pitch (i.e. the attack and release cropped off), it's much harder for listeners to distinguish between different instruments/voices. Vibrato doesn't consist of a series of attacks/releases, but the constant slight change of pitch may also keep listeners aware of the shifting overtones (and therefore, timbre).
posted by aswego at 10:23 PM on February 23, 2008 [5 favorites]
I think aswego has it. I always used to wonder why clarinets always sounded out of tune, or were the instruments most likely to sound that way, until I realized it was because they didn't use vibrato.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 10:37 PM on February 23, 2008
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 10:37 PM on February 23, 2008
That's a big question. You're asking for a single reason for a whole family of musical phenomena. (Compare: "What's so special about chords, anyway?" "Why do people get all worked up about rhythm?" "Sometimes songs repeat things — what's up with that?") But here, let me throw some things out there:
Sometimes it's about making sound carry farther. Just as moving objects are easier to spot than still ones, changing sounds are easier to hear over steady ones.
Sometimes it's about conveying emotion. Think of the way human voices tremble when we're out of breath, and all the different emotions that can leave you breathless. There's a lot being evoked there.
Sometimes it's about conveying humanity in general. People singing or playing wind instruments tend to throw in a little vibrato without even trying. So we tend to hear perfectly level tones as sounding.... well, artificial. The vibrato applied to keyboard instruments (synthesizers, pipe organs, that great Hammond organ vibrato, whatever) is often about taking a little of the artificialness away.
Sometimes it's about conveying a visual impression — of shimmering light, unsteadiness, ethereality or what have you.
Sometimes it's about the cultural baggage that goes along with a particular style of playing. More vibrato on a violin makes it sound more "classical," with all the connotations that carries. The rotating speakers on a Hammond organ make it sound more "soulful." There isn't necessarily anything "classy" or "soulful" about the vibrato sound itself — but the fact that it's become traditional in classical music on the one hand, and soul and gospel on the other, has given it those associations.
Sometimes the cultural baggage comes from a piece of technology and not a playing style. Old film and old records tend to warp a little, each in a slightly different way, giving you little fluctuations in pitch. So now, a musician who wants to remind you of an old film or an old record can throw in those fluctuations on purpose. (The THX trailer is a great example of that — the little pitch wobble at the end reminds you that it's not just any sound system, it's sound for films.)
I dunno. I'm sure there are more things it's been used for. It's just a technique — the whole point of art is coming up with new and interesting uses for the techniques you've got. So whatever list we give you is bound to be incomplete anyway.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:50 PM on February 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
Sometimes it's about making sound carry farther. Just as moving objects are easier to spot than still ones, changing sounds are easier to hear over steady ones.
Sometimes it's about conveying emotion. Think of the way human voices tremble when we're out of breath, and all the different emotions that can leave you breathless. There's a lot being evoked there.
Sometimes it's about conveying humanity in general. People singing or playing wind instruments tend to throw in a little vibrato without even trying. So we tend to hear perfectly level tones as sounding.... well, artificial. The vibrato applied to keyboard instruments (synthesizers, pipe organs, that great Hammond organ vibrato, whatever) is often about taking a little of the artificialness away.
Sometimes it's about conveying a visual impression — of shimmering light, unsteadiness, ethereality or what have you.
Sometimes it's about the cultural baggage that goes along with a particular style of playing. More vibrato on a violin makes it sound more "classical," with all the connotations that carries. The rotating speakers on a Hammond organ make it sound more "soulful." There isn't necessarily anything "classy" or "soulful" about the vibrato sound itself — but the fact that it's become traditional in classical music on the one hand, and soul and gospel on the other, has given it those associations.
Sometimes the cultural baggage comes from a piece of technology and not a playing style. Old film and old records tend to warp a little, each in a slightly different way, giving you little fluctuations in pitch. So now, a musician who wants to remind you of an old film or an old record can throw in those fluctuations on purpose. (The THX trailer is a great example of that — the little pitch wobble at the end reminds you that it's not just any sound system, it's sound for films.)
I dunno. I'm sure there are more things it's been used for. It's just a technique — the whole point of art is coming up with new and interesting uses for the techniques you've got. So whatever list we give you is bound to be incomplete anyway.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:50 PM on February 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
All of which is probably right, but I can't help noticing that "VibraAaAaAtoOoOoOo" actually reads more like tremolo.
TremoloOoOoOoOo and vibratoooooooo are different effects.
posted by flabdablet at 10:57 PM on February 23, 2008 [9 favorites]
TremoloOoOoOoOo and vibratoooooooo are different effects.
posted by flabdablet at 10:57 PM on February 23, 2008 [9 favorites]
As everyone said above, it's mainly to add interest.
As a trained vocalist, I've tried to eliminate vibrato on several occasions, and honestly, it even bored me.
Now, it can absolutely be OVERused (I'm thinking Carmen "Goat Girl" Rasmusen from the early seasons of American Idol, for an example), and that should be avoided. But removing vibrato entirely would remove quite a bit of vocal color from a performance.
posted by angeline at 11:00 PM on February 23, 2008
As a trained vocalist, I've tried to eliminate vibrato on several occasions, and honestly, it even bored me.
Now, it can absolutely be OVERused (I'm thinking Carmen "Goat Girl" Rasmusen from the early seasons of American Idol, for an example), and that should be avoided. But removing vibrato entirely would remove quite a bit of vocal color from a performance.
posted by angeline at 11:00 PM on February 23, 2008
I've always thought part of it had to do with the fact that if you do vibrato, you can 'simulate' a chord, if you do it right.
No, I don't think you can.
It hides slight intonation problems of the person playing/singing. It also hides lack of tuning amongst a section of instruments. In addition, it's more musical in the sense that a long sustained pitch is boring unless something else is happening
All of these are true.
But also, the answer is that vibrato isn't appealing to everyone in every style. It goes into and out of fashion. The vibrato used by singers and string players in early 20th century art music tends to sound exaggerated to our ears. Musicians in the baroque era didn't use vibrato much, if at all.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:15 PM on February 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
No, I don't think you can.
It hides slight intonation problems of the person playing/singing. It also hides lack of tuning amongst a section of instruments. In addition, it's more musical in the sense that a long sustained pitch is boring unless something else is happening
All of these are true.
But also, the answer is that vibrato isn't appealing to everyone in every style. It goes into and out of fashion. The vibrato used by singers and string players in early 20th century art music tends to sound exaggerated to our ears. Musicians in the baroque era didn't use vibrato much, if at all.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:15 PM on February 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
In many singers, vibrato is the natural result of a trained voice and proper breath control. It is possible to suppress vibrato but it is not good for the voice over the course of a long singing career. See this article for a bit more info.
I imagine that people develop a taste for vibrato as a result of its natural presence in vocal music. That is translated into vibrato and tremolo in instrumental music.
posted by rhiannon at 11:23 PM on February 23, 2008
I imagine that people develop a taste for vibrato as a result of its natural presence in vocal music. That is translated into vibrato and tremolo in instrumental music.
posted by rhiannon at 11:23 PM on February 23, 2008
A prolonged vocal note without vibrato is grating on the ear, especially when it's sung at a high volume. To me it seems like almost any person can sing a note loudly, but it takes talent (i.e. vibrato) to impart beauty into a loud noise.
posted by HotPatatta at 12:27 AM on February 24, 2008
posted by HotPatatta at 12:27 AM on February 24, 2008
Interesting question. I have a master's in choral conducting and have trained a lot of people how to sing, so I hope I can help shed a little light on this.
First a few things about what has been said above. Vibrato is a skill, not a talent. For singing, you have to train your abdominal muscles to kind of shake in a controlled way as you're pushing the air out.
What is vibrato? It's a raising and lowering of the pitch in a regular cycle. For voices and breath instruments, this is caused by abdominal muscles; the resulting changes in air pressure makes the pitch go up and down slightly. For stringed instruments, it is caused by the player's fingers. For fretted instruments, usually the pitch rises, and then goes back to its original pitch instead of falling and then going back, or circling around the center pitch, because you can naturally bend the string up, but not down.
Vibrato is interesting because it is a form of modulation, which is a regular (wave shaped) change going back and forth. Vibrato is a change in pitch, going up and down evenly. If you know anything about guitar effects (or synthesizers), or have a friend who can demonstrate them to you, you can see some other kinds of modulation with phase shifters, tremolos, flangers, etc.
When I was in high school (early 80s), we had a music lab with a fancy new computerized synthesizer in it. The new exciting feature that this synthesizer had was that you could draw a wave shape, and then it could play it for you. This kind of synthesizer turned out to be really boring because it offered complete control over the color of the sound, but no control over how the sound changed over time.
The real interest in sound was consequently found to be in how it changes over time, so modern synthesizers feature all kinds of ways to do this. Vibrato is a short term change in the sound (usually a few cycles per second), but singers (and of course other musicians) can also effect longer term changes by controlling the amount of vibrato. For example a note can start out with no vibrato, and then gradually the vibrato can increase, and then slowly decrease, making a big wave shape out of many small wave shapes.
Change is exciting!
posted by strangeguitars at 1:13 AM on February 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
First a few things about what has been said above. Vibrato is a skill, not a talent. For singing, you have to train your abdominal muscles to kind of shake in a controlled way as you're pushing the air out.
What is vibrato? It's a raising and lowering of the pitch in a regular cycle. For voices and breath instruments, this is caused by abdominal muscles; the resulting changes in air pressure makes the pitch go up and down slightly. For stringed instruments, it is caused by the player's fingers. For fretted instruments, usually the pitch rises, and then goes back to its original pitch instead of falling and then going back, or circling around the center pitch, because you can naturally bend the string up, but not down.
Vibrato is interesting because it is a form of modulation, which is a regular (wave shaped) change going back and forth. Vibrato is a change in pitch, going up and down evenly. If you know anything about guitar effects (or synthesizers), or have a friend who can demonstrate them to you, you can see some other kinds of modulation with phase shifters, tremolos, flangers, etc.
When I was in high school (early 80s), we had a music lab with a fancy new computerized synthesizer in it. The new exciting feature that this synthesizer had was that you could draw a wave shape, and then it could play it for you. This kind of synthesizer turned out to be really boring because it offered complete control over the color of the sound, but no control over how the sound changed over time.
The real interest in sound was consequently found to be in how it changes over time, so modern synthesizers feature all kinds of ways to do this. Vibrato is a short term change in the sound (usually a few cycles per second), but singers (and of course other musicians) can also effect longer term changes by controlling the amount of vibrato. For example a note can start out with no vibrato, and then gradually the vibrato can increase, and then slowly decrease, making a big wave shape out of many small wave shapes.
Change is exciting!
posted by strangeguitars at 1:13 AM on February 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
Because it simulates extreme emotional states, ie. passion, joy, rage, grief, etc. It sounds as though the singer has Big Feelings coursing through them, resulting in a tremor in their voice.
posted by hot soup girl at 5:30 AM on February 24, 2008
posted by hot soup girl at 5:30 AM on February 24, 2008
To counteract the unsourced pro-vibrato page rhiannon linked to, here is a somewhat sourced anti-vibrato page. I've been trained in both choral and instrumental music and I have always been taught that vibrato is an affectation appropriate to some styles of music and highly inappropriate to others. The idea that it is a universally desired trait seems to be a wholly western, wholly late 20th century phenomenon.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:43 AM on February 24, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 6:43 AM on February 24, 2008 [2 favorites]
I forgot to finish my thought...which is to say, it's appealing because it's common and culturally acceptable. In cultures where it's not common, people tend to not find it appealing. When applied to styles of music where it's not usually used, say English choir boys or Baroque woodwind quintets, people tend to not find it appealing.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:56 AM on February 24, 2008
posted by hydropsyche at 6:56 AM on February 24, 2008
I've personally always thought that vibrato was pretty abrasive to most singing. At least noticeable elements of it. This is probably a combination of the style of music in which it is most commonly found, and the nature with which people use it. Flabdablet made an interesting point about the differences between tremolo and vibrato. Like most things i assume its appealing in moderation, the most prevalent example I think of however is its use in slide guitar. Producing a perfect tone with a slide is somewhat difficult with a slide, so most guitarists produce a vibrato tone. Too much sounds cheesy.
In a nutshell...
Vibrato has a time and a place, because it has a fairly unique and distinct character, it becomes easy to overuse. People enjoy it because of its relative complexity and subsequent place on the proverbial "music rack" of available sounds used in composition and performance.
posted by Texasjake987 at 8:41 AM on February 24, 2008
In a nutshell...
Vibrato has a time and a place, because it has a fairly unique and distinct character, it becomes easy to overuse. People enjoy it because of its relative complexity and subsequent place on the proverbial "music rack" of available sounds used in composition and performance.
posted by Texasjake987 at 8:41 AM on February 24, 2008
Piggybacking on those who don't think vibrato is in fact universally, objectively appealing. It seems that it comes in and out of style. For example, orchestras in the 30s really piled on the vibrato, so much that it comes off to our modern ears are pretty schmaltzy.
posted by mammary16 at 8:41 AM on February 24, 2008
posted by mammary16 at 8:41 AM on February 24, 2008
A prolonged vocal note without vibrato is grating on the ear, especially when it's sung at a high volume. To me it seems like almost any person can sing a note loudly, but it takes talent (i.e. vibrato) to impart beauty into a loud noise.
I disagree. A loud note is only grating without vibrato if it's out of tune or it's not meant to be loud, or something. It's not going to be grating just because it lacks vibrato. And singing in tune at a loud dynamic is not easy -- a lot of singers can manage to do it with vibrato but not the other way around, as many choir members probably realize. And I know a lot of musicians and music lovers who can't get into opera because they don't care for the wide vibrato that's so common among opera singers.
And I agree with everything hydropsyche said.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:40 AM on February 24, 2008
I disagree. A loud note is only grating without vibrato if it's out of tune or it's not meant to be loud, or something. It's not going to be grating just because it lacks vibrato. And singing in tune at a loud dynamic is not easy -- a lot of singers can manage to do it with vibrato but not the other way around, as many choir members probably realize. And I know a lot of musicians and music lovers who can't get into opera because they don't care for the wide vibrato that's so common among opera singers.
And I agree with everything hydropsyche said.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:40 AM on February 24, 2008
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psychological - reminiscent of vocal pitch effectss
posted by Monstrous Moonshine at 10:10 PM on February 23, 2008