Five Types of Vibrato: exploring the possibilities on doublepipes

Barnaby Brown introduces a taxonomy of vibrato, dividing an expressive world full of diversity into five continents. Four are shared with other musicians; one is inhabited only by doublepipers. These five continents are: 1. Diaphragm vibrato (d-vib) 2. Arm vibrato (a-vib) 3. Mouth vibrato (m-vib) 4. Finger vibrato (f-vib) 5. Interference beat vibrato (i-vib) Continents 2–4 contain distinctive nations. Mouth vibrato, for example, includes jaw vibrato and lip vibrato. Finger vibrato includes slightly leaking, slightly covering the first open hole, and completely covering one or more of the lower holes. Cultural bias typically prevents us from giving all vibratos equal opportunity. We narrow our options before even knowing what they are. Barnaby advocates waking up to our cultural conditioning, levelling the playing field, and welcoming all vibrato types to the aulos revival. Each class of vibrato is demonstrated by turning up and down two variables: the vibrato's presence in the sound and its speed. Intrinsic differences between the five classes are identified and discussed. This taxonomy was developed in collaboration with the Australian spectral composer Austin Oting Har (www.austinotinghar.com). The scores shaped by this collaboration are due to be premiered at Berlin Atonal in 2021. They use the abbreviations d-vib, a-vib, m-vib, and i-vib, and graphic indications for the variables of presence and speed. ===== Filmed in Cambridge, UK, 13 October 2020