Bebung

What it means

Bebung is a special vibrato technique possible only on the clavichord. On this instrument the metal tangent stays in contact with the string for the whole duration of the note, so the player can make the string tension, and thus the pitch, waver slightly by pressing the key with repeated, fine variations.

This direct mechanical link between finger and string does not exist on other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord or piano, where the sound continues independently of further key pressure once the note has been struck.

In the notation

In historical clavichord music, bebung is usually indicated by a row of small repeated dots or hooks above a held note, combined with a tie showing that this represents a single, wavering tone rather than several separate strikes.

Musical use

Eighteenth-century composers, especially within the empfindsamer Stil of keyboard writing, used bebung to give expressive, song-like passages a particular intimacy. It suits slow, expressive moments with held notes best.

It should be distinguished from the vibrato of string and wind instruments, produced by finger motion on the string or breath pressure fluctuation, and from the tremolo, which consists of rapidly repeated attacks of the same note.

Performance practice

When practicing bebung on a clavichord, press the held key with fine, even impulses without letting the tangent leave the string. Don't overdo the motion: the effect should be a gentle hovering, not an obvious rise and fall in pitch.