Vibrato for the Flute

Hello, it's Amélie. Today I'm going to talk about vibrato. First thing first, what is vibrato? Vibrato is a slight change in the pitch. So going a bit higher and a bit lower than the note. You can see it pretty well if you check string players, they move a little bit on the string. For us it's more difficult to see because it's all inside. I would start my vibrato. So first thing, I would not start vibrating if the sound is not round and stable. If your sound is not open with an open throat, don't start vibrating yet because you'll just sound like a little goat, like this. So the sound has to be open already. And then you add the vibrato. Some research has shown that the vibrato is indeed somewhere near the throat. But if you start it there and you think it's there, it's going to be too goat-y. So I would say start with the muscles that are around the diaphragm area, in the belly, and go... With a note that is easy, like a C, you can make it very wide in the beginning. So open throat, you start slowly. I will put my metronome at 72 and do one vibration per beat. There we go. And I do a C. Now I'll do two vibrations per beat. Now three. Four. This one was a bit more difficult. Sometimes, practice five because you don't want to have a robotic vibrato that's always four per beat. It's a bit boring. You have to be able to go slower, faster. If you want your vibrato to be expressive, you need to be able to play with it. Go slowly and then going a bit faster. Here you take a note and then you play with it once you master it. So just remember, open throat, no goat. If it sounds like this, stop right away, maybe start next week. Rewatch the video so you don't get bad habits. I hope this helps. If you have any further questions or comments, just put them in the comment section below. Thank you.