Tone color, or timbre, is “the quality given to a sound by its overtones.” Any musical tone consists of its fundamental (the pitch we play) and a series of overtones.
From Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
What is tone color and how do we manipulate it?
Taken from an article by Leonard Garrison, Flute Talk, April 2010.
On the piano silently depress any key corresponding to an overtone and then play a loud staccato middle C. [Overtones: C, C, G, C, E, G, Bb, C] The overtone rings sympathetically with the fundamental. These overtones have a simple relation to the fundamental: the octave or second overtone has twice its frequency, the third overtone three times, etc. The overtones are then known as harmonics.
Tone color helps the ear identify a particular instrument. Each instrument has a characteristic pattern of overtones. Typical timbre on the flute changes with register: in the low register the fundamental is relatively weak and the harmonics are strong; the middle register has a balance between fundamental and harmonics; and in the upper register the fundamental is dominant and harmonics are weak. (Acoustical Correlates of Flute Performance Technique)
A sound without overtones is open, pure, hollow and sometimes dull. A sound with overtones is full, rich, brilliant and sometimes harsh.
Teaching Tone Color
Each flutist has a unique customary color due to physical attributes such as size and shape of the mouth and lips; conception of sound and the qualities of the particular flute. The third factor has less effect than the first two. Several flutists playing the same instrument can sound much different from each other than one flutist playing various flutes.
A good teacher encourages students to discover their own sounds within the limits of good taste. Young flutists should listen to many different professionals instead of modeling their sounds on one. Our goal as flutists should be to have control over an array of colors and use them wisely. Some suggest experimenting with various vowels and obviously “ee” sounds more brilliant than a vowel such as “ah” or “oh”. Another variable is the lip opening. A round shape makes the tone more pure, while an ellipse contributes more harmonics.
The biggest change in color results from varying the blowing angle and the airspeed. A steep blowing angle combined with higher blowing pressure produces more harmonics.
You can manipulate tone color with the upper lip. A relaxed upper lip results in the uncolored sound, and a firm upper lip that directs the air downwards and results in a more penetrating sound.
Artistry of Tone Color
The next step is deciding where to use different colors in music. In general, modern music requires more brilliance and Baroque and Classical music call for a sweeter tone, closer to that of a wooden flute. In tonal music, tone color should reflect harmony and key. Bach’s cantatas and Mozart’s opera show a consistent association between certain keys and specific emotions and moods in the text. Theoretical writings by Rousseau and Schubert also directly connect keys to affections. Since Debussy, French composers treat harmony more coloristically than functionally and their music cries out for a wide array of colors. A contrast in color is especially effective to underline a chromatic inflection. Many players use tone color to enhance dynamics. Others use color in the opposite way, by adding a little brilliance to compensate for the flute’s tendency to sound dull in soft dynamics and use an open sound to prevent shrillness in loud dynamics.
Flutists should learn to adjust color according to their role as a soloist or an ensemble player. A brilliant tone attracts more attention.
A complex and much debated question is the role of tone color in projection or the ability to be heard at a distance as distinct from others in an ensemble or an accompaniment. As every experienced flutist knows, the flute sounds much different to an audience than it does to the player. I have heard a former principal player of a major orchestra sound disconcertingly diffuse up close but project marvelously. Some players who use a lot of edge cannot be heard at a distance, but those who play without many upper partials also do not project.
Another factor of tone color is room acoustics. Different halls emphasize different frequencies, so a tone that projects well in one setting may not in another. You should always ask a knowledgeable listener whether a certain sound or tone color carries.
Research on Sound Projection
Research contradicts the common assumption that the fundamental projects better than the overtones. For the sound waver coming directly to the listener’s ear, the intensities of all the frequencies in the flute range fall off nearly at the same rate with distance. In a concert, hall higher frequencies in the indirect sound may be absorbed more than lower ones, so the performers may want to emphasize these to correct for the loss. Furthermore, listeners can infer the fundamental from harmonics: “For fundamental frequencies up to 500 Hz, the third, fourth and fifth harmonics, when present, are especially important. They are often even more important than the fundamental itself, which can be completely absent without changing the perceived pitch.” (Donald E. Hal) Dr. Neville Fletcher, a physicist with a distinguished history of writings on flute acoustics, wrote, “I would guess that projection is maximized when the strength of the harmonics between about 1000 and 3000 Hz is maximized. This will give a particular characteristic tone color to the flute sound.” The audience will hear a flutist more clearly when the flute tone contains a rich mix of fundamental and harmonics in the ear’s most sensitive range.
Trained musicians can identify a particular flutist on recordings because each player has a distinctive characteristic timbre. However, we should not become so attached to a particular sound that it never varies. Dare to employ a range of colors in conjunction with changes in volume and vibrato.
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William Kincaid
Comments on William Kincaid’s tone:
“When he played, I heard something startlingly noisy, a halo of white noise around the sound. This was the sound, I soon realized, that could cut through a giant orchestra.”
Charles Wyatt, professional flutist and student of Kincaid.
Michael Debost
Michel Debost describes tone colors with words like “…dark, light, pale, transparent, cloudy, stormy, somber, iridescent, shining, dull, gray etc.”
Flute Talk Sept. 2013.