Sorry, another topic with this old chestnut of a title.

At what stage do you usually start teaching vibrato, My daughter seems to have got the idea that she won't start learning it until Grade 5, which seems a bit late to me, I'm sure I have read somewhere that it needs to be confident and well established by G5, am I right?

I was encouraged to use it from late grade three, although I had been trying it myself at home and making an absolute mess of it so my teacher had to take it hand to correct it. I would imagine some exercises on it need to be considered by grade 4, though, so that it can be used in grade 5 with expressiveness.

Allan

We started on day 1. I still can't do it properly, but I guess it's starting to develop.

Which instrument does your daughter play? I imagine vibrato on cello is taught at a different level to violin/viola vibrato.

She plays cello, and we have recently changed teacher, her previous one was part of group lessons and was intending to start soon. She is Grade 3 ish.

Cello is arguably musch easier to vibrato on than a violin, I would have said late grade 3, but I would say ask the teacher....................?

Ah, that's me jumping the gun again then! My advice was based on my violin lessons.

I have justed started cello lessons and did vibrato from day one, but am not starting out right at the beginning because of my other instruments and previous string experience so I'm not much help I'm afraid!

Have a word with the teacher.

Allan

As a multiple string player myself, I would say that vibrato on the cello (and double bass for that matter!) is easier to do. Personally, it's someothing that I never had to be taught even on the violin and I was fortunate that I developed the technique naturally without any intervention from teachers.

As for 'when' it should be taught is a very individual thing. All pupils progress at varying rates and one needs to ensure that they have developed good left-hand technique and reasonably good intonation before tackling the issue of vibrato. It should not be used to mask poor intonation for example. Gripping the neck of the instrument (whether consciously or subconsciously), or assuming the frying pan hold (where the hand supports the underside of the violin neck) and the tension that ensues in the hand, is one very big barrier to achieving a successful vibrato. Many students suffer from one or even both of these problems and it is also one which inhibits good shifting and intonation. This needs to be tackled first, before even thinking about vibrato.

Similarly, on the cello, a gripping of the neck (upward pressure from the thumb) will inhibit shifting and also the rotational motion in the hand and forearm that is the key to vibrato.

Totally agree with Amanda - it is such an individual thing. I only play the cello so haven't got the advantage of comparison with other instruments but I think if they start before they have got other certain technical/postional things sorted out it could really inhibit the vibrato developing properly. Much better to wait that little bit longer and get a better result. Having said that, I think they would expect to see vib by GradeV.

Hi there thanks everyone for all the replies it has pretty much confirmed what I thought. The main problem I've got is that I don't do the cello lesson run as I teach piano so never get to speak to the teacher and we all know what it's like trying to get unmusical hubby to ask questions like this, he doesn't know his vibrato from his pizzicato.

I'm pretty sure my friend hardly used it at all on her g5 exam in December But I could be wrong. Vibrato is much easier on a cello!

I have a friend who used vibrato in her grade 3 exam but personally I haven't been thought it yet though I 've been messing around on my own and can get a fairly good one already. But if I'm right you should be able to play with vibrato from grade 5 onwards. I've also heard of students using vibrato at grade 3 to 4-ish levels in exams and ended up not getting very good remarks about it.