Hi,

I've been playing violin for about five months now and have just started learning my pieces for grade 1.
I'm really enjoying playing, everthing so far has been quiet easy(I'm glad to say)
I was just wondering at what time other violinist started using vibrato? I haven't tried it yet - but i was just curious to know when others started using it?



Lisa

I believe that most violinists start to use vibrato around grade 5 standard. As it is required for Grade 5+

I may be wrong though ...

No you're right. It's grade 5 but I did it on all my grade 4 pieces.
I personally think grade 1 is too early to introduce it. It takes a lot of practice and needs to be done carefully and not too much!

I started learning, it midway between grade 3 and 4.....that way....by grade 5....your vibrato is much securer and easier to do.

I started learning vibrato when i did my grade 3 so i was about 10(?). It's nice to be able to do it though



HK x

I started to learn vibrato when I started to learn the cello. I'm not great at it but a year into playing i can get a sound that reasonably resembles vibrato out of the instrument. I find on the cello I needed to build flexibility and strength (the right kind not the death grip kind) for the vibrato and that takes time to develop. So if you're likely to be acquiring skills quickly, it makes sense to me that you get cracking on vibrato.

In terms of actually learning - for me the biggest turning point was watching a really good cellist doing it. I could suddenly see and understand what I was aiming for.

I started violin at the beginning of this year, learning with the school and now im around grade 2 standard. We've started learning vibrato but only arm vibrato. From other experiences, i dont think its a good idea to start something like vibrato until you're ready, even if you really want to because then its more likely you'll get it wrong and have to go right back and learn it from the basics later at a higher level. But hey, we learn with 4 other people in the class, what can i do?

I have occasionally accompanied children who were already using vibrato effectively by grade 2. I would expect a teacher to want to see a consistently good left hand position and hear good intonation in first position as a minimum before introducing vibrato, but I'm not a string teacher. I did sit in on years of my daughter's excellent violin lessons, but can't now remember when she started using vibrato.

Absolutely, 100%.

IF you have totally secure intonation by grade 2 and your left hand and arm has suffciently well developed muscular control to achieve vibrato, then it can be introduced.

Vibrato must NEVER be used to mask bad intonation.

You're right of course. I should have said that my intonation has always been pretty good, and that I'd worked through my intro book for a few weeks to get it set properly before I started with vibrato. But it was within about a month of starting that my teacher started to introduce it (and I have no illusions that I'm much good at it now!)

A MONTH?????

As I said my intonation is good. lol. I started playing in Jan this year, and am now playing grade 6 /7 pieces. I've been a fast study on the cello.

His position is that vibrato is part of playing, and that it should be built in from the start. We also started early on shifting etc.

But I don't think I'm a typical cello student. I'm not saying I'm particularly gifted, but I have other musical skills which I brought to the instrument. Most significant of which I think is the ability to sight sing - which gives me a pretty big advantage in intonation. That said, there are clear gaps in my playing. For example, I have trouble playing in groups still, because of lack of practice, and I get into a terrible panic if I have to play solo 'bits' in group playing. I'm fine playing solo - can do most pieces when alone.

Sorry, drifting off topic there!