Developing Vibrato

My newer vocal students often ask me about how they can develop “vibrato.” Vibrato is that pleasing, wavy sound that happens in voices while singing. Vibrato is most apparent on long, held notes, and different styles of music use more or less of it.

Vibrato is a result, basically, of a natural oscillation (secondary rocking) that occurs in the larynx in response to the (primary) vibrations created by the vocal cords. That secondary rocking is what causes the pitch variations (wavy-ness) that you hear in vibrato. When you have the right amount of pressure on your cords (relatively light), the oscillation will happen naturally, and you will sound great!

If you try to “make” vibrato — by shaking your jaw or bobbing your diaphragm or adding tongue tension (or any other crazy method you find on the internet), I promise that you will either end up sounding like a goat (too fast) or you will have a pitch variation wide enough to drive a truck through (too big). Neither of those options are great. Trust me, it’s nearly impossible to create a natural sounding vibrato by employing an artificial method.

But, then how do you develop vibrato? Focus on developing good vocal technique — technique that takes the pressure off your vocal cords and allows them to touch lightly together and create the natural oscillation themselves.

Next question: So, then how do you control vibrato? You actually control it by choosing when to NOT have it — in other words, when to have a “straight” tone instead. To create a straight tone, you adjust the pressure on your cords in a way that helps to avoid the oscillation. That is something I would do together with a student in a lesson as it can be tricky — it requires increasing the glottal pressure just a bit.

If you’d like to work on vibrato on your own, you can try using the power of thought — use your mind to audiate what you would like to happen. You can even use your hand to coach your mind — move your hand smoothly when you want a straight tone or up-and-down when you want vibrato.

Here’s a link to a great article with lots more information: https://www.singwise.com/articles/vibrato-what-it-is-and-how-to-develop-it