Flattement

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In music, flattement is understood as a baroque playing practice that was used in France in particular on the transverse flute , but also on other instruments. In German it is sometimes referred to as finger vibrato . It was first described by Jacques Martin Hotteterre in his Principes de la flûte traversière published in 1707 .

In the case of flattement, a kind of trill is played on long sustaining notes with a lower adjacent note , but the interval is less than a semitone . This is achieved in that a finger only partially closes a grip hole or an annular flap of the wind instrument with rapid repetition . The result is a similar "sound stimulation" as with vibrato , but in this case not through pressure fluctuations in the blown air, but through a special grip technique.

While the pitch of normal vibrato fluctuates in waves around the correct value, with flattement the correct tone alternates in quick succession with a slightly lower tone, so the pitch only deviates periodically "downwards". The pitch of the flattement can be corrected by blowing a little harder upwards, but the abrupt alternation of the two pitches cannot be masked. All in all, for these reasons, a normal vibrato, which is usually controlled with the diaphragm on wind instruments , has a more harmonious effect than the vibrato that occurs with flattement.

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