By: Yvonne Debandi
Vibrato can be a tricky thing. In fact, throughout the scientific industry there is still somewhat a dispute over exactly what vibrato is and why it exists.
However, let's discuss what we do know.
a) Vibrato is the natural or forced fluctuation of a tone.
b) Breathing muscles seem to be responsible for vibrato creation.
It is possible to forcefully create a vibrato using your diaphragm muscles, it is also possible to manipulate other parts of the voice organ to force vibrato creation. However, we recommend vibrato be created with much less effort.
We support the following position about vibrato:
A free and focused tone will naturally possess a minor fluctuation in pitch which will serve to warm or intensify the sound. That doesn't mean that one should not learn how to manually control and use vibrato at will, but simply that its natural development is of primary importance to a singer's training.
So how do you get that free and focused tone that leads to natural vibrato without actually concentrating on vibrato specifically? You learn the facts about singing and master some basic skills directly associated with vibrato creation. Two basic skills which deserve your attention are:
1) Breathing properly for singing (Singing Is Easy, Lesson #2 - Breathe By Number).
2) Supporting the tone with the diaphragm (Singing Is Easy, Lesson #4 - Diaphragm Dance Trilogy).
Nine times out of ten we are able to solve all vibrato problems (and many other fundamental singing challenges) with concentrating on these basic skills. It makes sense since these skills are part of the very foundation of voice production. Once these development steps are taken and you understand how easy it is to make everything work together, you will surprise yourself one day during rehearsal by accidentally creating a tone beautifully enhanced with natural vibrato.
Follow these steps and the vocal training exercises available to you in the Singing Is Easy course to develop your full singing voice - which includes your natural vibrato!
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