So you've learned to play the violin or viola and are happy with how you play. What are you missing then? Vibrato - a sound that could be described as "that thing your music lacks". In this article we will discuss vibrato and how to perform it.
Steps
Step 1. Begin practicing vibrato only after you have mastered the position of the fingers and have memorized all the positions of the notes
Step 2. Understand how your wrist should move in order to vibrato correctly
Hold your left hand up as if you were about to play the instrument.
Step 3. As you hold your left hand up you should imagine that someone is holding a pencil a few inches to the side of your hand
Try moving your wrist and arm to touch the imaginary pencil. Keep in mind that while you are doing the vibrato, the only thing that should be moving is your wrist, back and forth. as if there were two pencils on each side and you were trying to touch them by moving your hand. This is the movement you need to use to do the vibrato. Your left hand should remain extremely calm as you do this.
Step 4. Try the tool
First of all you should try to perform the vibrato movement very slowly and without ringing. Vibrato is best when only one finger is on the string. You can try vibrato with any finger you want, although it is usually easier to vibrato with the second and third fingers. Do not try to vibrato with your fourth finger until you have mastered the other fingers.
Step 5. Keep in mind that your fingers should not slide back and forth on the string
Rather, they should move sideways on the keyboard. Always remember to move your wrist and not your arm. Also, moving the string across the width of the fingerboard shouldn't take too much effort. Since it is the wrist that performs the vibrato movement, the finger should move on its own.
Step 6. Try arching the string you are vibrating on
You will feel the pitch drop. This is because, when playing vibrato, your finger should first be on the starting note and then move across the fretboard, which will decrease the pitch. This is what causes the shaky sound you hear when performing a vibrato.
Step 7. To learn, do each movement slowly to develop muscle memory
Your finger should slide off the string so slowly that you can feel the pitch drop. After that, raise the pitch again.
Step 8. Practice slowly until it comes naturally to you
Learning vibrato can take time, but it's worth it.
Step 9. If you can't vibrato with your wrist, try your forearm
This will make it much easier to perform and, in addition, you will get a richer sound.
Step 10. To perform vibrato with the forearm, start with the first step in which you learn how to vibrato with the wrist, but instead of moving the wrist, move the entire forearm back and forth
Step 11. Once you have mastered the technique, take the violin and place a finger on the fingerboard and slowly move your arm back and forth while keeping your finger on the fingerboard
Step 12. Also make sure to swap fingers
It is important to learn the vibrato technique with all fingers.
Step 13. As you have mastered it, gradually increase the speed of execution
Advice
- If perfecting the vibrato makes you extremely frustrated (it does this to me) then it's best for you not to try it too long, but practice every day! The more frustrated you are, the more tense your wrist becomes and it will therefore be more difficult to perform the technique correctly.
- If you are not sure if you are doing the technique correctly, you should look for a teacher to help you learn or a more experienced musician, rather than continuing on your own. Once you learn the wrong method it will be terribly difficult to break free from that bad habit!
- The key to performing vibrato correctly is to have your wrist extremely relaxed so that it can move quickly.
- You can also develop mixed techniques between arm, wrist and finger vibrato.
- Each song may require a particular type of vibrato. For example, a slow piece might require a longer, fuller vibrato while faster pieces might require a lighter, faster vibrato.
- If you want to play vibrato in a song that is expressive but you can't, the best thing to do is get carried away by the music and relax your hand. So try to play vibrato and you will get fantastic results.
- Your arm shouldn't move while you vibrato, just your wrist. Sometimes it helps to have someone close to hold your arm and learn the correct technique.
- Use a shoulder rest to minimize the risk of shoulder injuries. Backrests are preferable to sponges as the latter may cause the instrument to move as you vibrato, making it more difficult. The back rests are as important as the bow you use to play your instrument.
- Note that for the violin and viola there are three types of vibrato - Using the arm, wrist and fingers. This article is about wrist vibrato, the most common type. There are people who cannot acquire complete mastery of the vibrato performed with the wrist or with the fingers but manage to acquire a very good vibrato technique using the arm.
Warnings
- If you do vibrato incorrectly, you can cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
- There is a risk of injury to the neck or neck when playing the violin or viola
shoulders. The backrests of course help to minimize the risk of the latter.
