Learn Violin Vibrato in 5 Easy Steps
I distinctly remember my first vibrato experience. I was around 9 or 10 years old and right at the end of book 2. My teacher had been telling me we should start vibrato soon, and I put it off as long as I possibly could, because, quite frankly, I was scared! I performed at a local violin festival and upon receiving my comment sheet from the judges, read just one short sentence: “time to start vibrato!” Thus my vibrato journey began.
Although I can’t remember all of the details of the learning process (as this was about 20 years ago), I do remember that my teacher explained that when we use vibrato, the points of contact change from three to two. I took this idea way too far and ended up completely changing my hand frame for the worse! This was extremely frustrating and took years to correct Thankfully, after years of practice, I was finally able to cultivate a vibrato I’m proud of.
When teaching vibrato, my mission is always the same: do not develop habits the student will eventually have to undo.
There are three key principles behind violin vibrato.
Vibrato is a backward motion. This means that when using vibrato, the finger should always be moving backward, or below, the desired pitch. Our ear naturally picks up the highest pitch, so if the vibrato is going above the desired pitch, the note will sound sharp.
There are two types of vibrato- arm vibrato and wrist vibrato. In my experience, one or the other comes more naturally to each of us, so if you’re just starting out, try both and see which one feels best. Once you’ve decided, focus on using just that type until you feel relatively comfortable with it to avoid confusion.
The points of contact in our hand change from 3 to 2. Up until this point, you have been touching the instrument in three places: the thumb, the inside of your first (index) finger, and whatever finger you’re playing with. Now, you are no longer going to touch the violin on the inside of the first finger, so the two points of contact are the thumb and whatever finger you have down on the string. Don’t exaggerate this (like I did!)! It should be just a small space, just big enough for a credit card to fit through.
Learn vibrato in five easy steps
Each step can be done with both wrist and arm vibrato.
Step One: Knocking. Pretend like you are knocking on someone’s door. When knocking with the wrist, notice that the wrist does not move back and forth; instead, the wrist acts as a hinge for the rest of the hand to move. When knocking with the elbow, notice that the wrist moves as well. This is a good thing! It means that you are allowing your hand to be free and not holding unnecessary tension.
Step Two: Knocking on the violin with the thumb released. Place your violin in playing position and repeat the same knocking motion as in step one with your left hand in its position, allowing your thumb to be free.
Step Three: Knocking with the thumb in place. Repeat the same knocking motion while the thumb stays in one place. Since the thumb is stationary, the range of motion will be smaller.
Step Four: Rolling the finger. The basic vibrato motion is rolling the finger from the tip onto the pad. Start by placing your finger on the tip and use either the arm or the wrist to roll it back onto the pad. Your first knuckle should be very flexible.
Step Five: The pizza exercise. This is a great first exercise for practicing the vibrato motion and developing speed. For this exercise, I use words to help describe the rhythm of each step. The first step is “pizza” or quarter notes. Place your metronome on at 60 (you can go slower if you need to) and practice moving your finger back and forth with each click. The next step is “pepperoni” or eighth notes. Practice moving your finger twice with each click of the metronome. The third step is “I would like a slice of pizza” or sixteenth notes. Practice moving your finger four times along with each click of the metronome. The final step is as fast as you can. Move your finger as fast as you can for 2 clicks on the metronome. Practice this exercise without the bow first, and add the bow only when the motion is more comfortable.
Watch the video below for a visual demonstration of each step.
