Violin Vibrato 101

Use vibrato, a little fluctuation in your tone, to clarify, intensify, or add emotion to a long note. Many violin instructors characterize the basic motion as "waving to yourself while you play," emphasizing wrist action in vibrato. In fact, though, as you learn, experiment with, and practice violin vibrato techniques, you will discover a range of delicate, intriguing sounds. Subtle vibrato effects, the equivalents of trilling and babbling, come from wriggling your fingertips against the fingerboard as you stretch out a note. Most common vibrato comes from the wrist, emphasizing variation between a note’s pure and perfect pitch and its slightly lower version, because you raise the note as you wave toward your face, lowering it as your wrist moves away. Closely associated with Romantic sublimity and melancholy, wrist-activated vibrato gives most notes a weeping or mournful tone - especially good for imitating yearning, heartbreak, or betrayal. Dramatic vibrato comes from putting your whole arm into it - plausible, possible, but very rarely a good idea or proper technique. Practice full - armed vibrato occasionally for the sake of reassuring yourself you can do it if you must; then, use your skill only under your master’s or conductor’s expert supervision.

Violin masters agree vibrato masks a multitude of rookie mistakes, it begins adding style and mood to intermediates’ more precisely pitched play, and adds just a little piquancy to a professional’s spirited performances. The more proficient you become, the less you need vibrato; as you turn pro, you reserve your best vibrato for flourishes and big finishes.

Flex first. Then, wiggle and wobble

"Mindset" matters. Master violin classes for those wanting to learn the violin often begin with relaxation and flexibility exercises. Muscle tension, psychological and emotional stress, nervousness and anxiety interfere with learning and peak performance. More and more violin masters teach the importance of living and playing "in the moment," right here and right now, with consummate disregard for the great big world all around. Many masters guide students through series of stretching and shaking exercises, loosening up their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, and shoulders before scales and warm-ups on the violin. Most students perform better after the master allows time for transition and adaptation to the universe of all things violin. Because vibrato depends on flexibility in your fingers and wrists, you will not execute your techniques precisely or stylishly if you remain tense and stiff. Relaxation and stretching also improve circulation to your hands and fingers, making them more supple and dexterous.

Vibrato vocabulary matters

Although dilettantes, lightweights, and guitar posers frequently use the terms inter-changeably, vibrato and tremolo are not at all the same - similar, maybe, and probably related, but not at all the same. Intensifying and stylizing your tone with vibrato, you vary the position of your fingertips against the strings as you draw your bow slowly to protract the note. Of course, given the physics of violin play, minor movements of your fingers produce minor variations in your string’s vibration, which your audience hears as vacillation between minor and major, the orchestral equivalent of a soprano’s quivering voice. Tremolo similarly alters the strings’ vibration, but you produce these trembling effects by drawing your bow quickly back and forth across your strings. Vibrato comes from your fingers and wrist; tremolo comes from your bow. Both effects add drama to your performance. Composers and conductors, however, typically reserve tremolo for a performance’s climax - its most dramatic moment.

Hailey Alton is a violin performer, music lover and teacher. For more great tips on "how to learn the violin" please visit learntheviolinfast.com for a Free 10 part mini course.