Learn to play Breath Vibrato on your Pan flute

Breath Vibrato on the Pan flute is an easier way to produce a vibrato in the notes, in fact, it doesn’t take long to develop , then you can further move on the hand vibrato

You must have heard it probably before in some Pan flute music

but you may wondering what it is exactily or how it sounds like, here is an example

Breath vibrato clip

You can use this type of vibrato along the with the hand vibrato, which is explained here

How to start Breath Vibrato on the Pan flute

It’s quite simple, you start by saying “ha” while you blow, like this:

Breath vibrato approach

and then once managed, you followed a rhythm, in quater notes, eight notes and so on

• Start blowing a note, and push the air with your stomach muscles as well as pronouncing “ha”, there you have just done a pulse, just one, the idea is to keep it steady
• After that , try on the other pipes, and notice how the sound varies as it goes up or down in pitch, it has different subttletiles and colours
• Listen to Andean Music, this style feature this vibrato in almos any song in comparison with classic style from Romania or European music
• Listen alot to south american players or other players other than the so typical hand vibrato

A mix of this two techniques is crucial to learn play expressively and with grace,

Exercises and Warm-up to learn this techinque

It is recommended that you master first a slow rhythm and let the timing develop naturally, keep practing, that’s all you need.