Hi all

Thought I would post this here rather than in the teachers section as it may get a better response from the strings section rather than general teaching advice!

Background:
I have a student (inherited) who has been struggling to get to grips with vibrato for several months now. She is a classic worrier and likes to overthink every possible musical situation. She was unaware of vibrato when she came to me despite having passed Grade 4 and now we need to get it sorted relatively quickly so that she can move forward with a warmer tone and continue on towards Grade 5 which is now on the horizon. We are currently building repertoire around that grade and she would probably be ready to take the exam in session C if it were not for the vibrato issue.

She's very musical, now has good technique, plays with excellent intonation and rhythm and is keen to get it (vibrato) right but can't seem to do anything other than get her hand to move sideways - and even that takes several minutes of thinking about and isn't on a string of notes but just one slow down bow.

The approach I've taken is the "bouncing ball, waggling (not the best way of describing it, but you get the idea!) hand in the air, waggling hand along the violin, anchoring thumb and continuing to waggle and then putting any finger down and continuing the movement". She's good at this up to the anchoring stage and then it all goes to pot.

Does anyone have any other suggestions of how to teach vibrato - or how you learnt / are learning it? I've not had anyone not be able to do a reasonable job using the above technique before and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Catherine x

I'm not an expert - I'm only at the stage of "warming up" for vibrato. The exercise my teacher gave me was to use my right wrist as the violin neck and with the thumb (of my left hand) on one side and third finger on the other (like I was playing, but in front of me) to wriggle my finger - move it like I was doing vibrato. The aim being to increase the flexibility in the joins with out the tension of trying to make a good sound at the same time. I can do the exercise anywhere - in bed, on the bus, watching TV.

Maybe this would help.

When my daughter learnt vibrato I played her a host of youtube videos each showing a slightly different approach to learning it. This was in addition to the lessons she received from her violin teacher. My daughter eventually cracked it after a professional violinist friend came round and in just 1/2 an hour managed to identify a problem and teach a solution. Just saying that certainly for vibrato there seems to be more than one way to skin the cat and the key for us was trying a number of approaches until we found one that worked for her. Another professional violinist friend also commented that sometimes it's not the fingers you should be worrying about and that learning to relax the arm from the shoulder for him meant all the difference. I could imagine that a student who is naturally a worrier might somehow tend to stiffen up rather than relax.

Try eg. wrist/hand vibrato

I hope this helps!

This was the first thought that occurred to me, too, especially as you say she can do it up to the anchoring stage and then it all goes to pot. You could try some simple exercises to encourage relaxation before she tries any vibrato. Then get her to rest the scroll against a wall for extra support so that she is concentrating only on the vibrato action. I'm sure you have tried actually putting your hand over hers and doing the movement for her so she knows how it should feel, but you could also get her to think of it as a very small representation of shifting - which at her stage she will be very familiar with; that might help her to start thinking of it as an up and down movement rather than side to side.

Make sure she does it very slowly to begin with, say just two or four oscillations per bow. Make sure, too, that the movement is coming from the first knuckle, and that the wrist isn't collapsing. I'd also recommend starting with third finger, as many people find first finger harder; it also ensures that a good hand position is maintained throughout (and some pupils can start doing pretty weird things with the left hand when starting vibrato!) My understanding of the syllabus is that at Grade 5, some early vibrato should be in place, it doesn't have to be particularly polished or mature.

If all else fails, as you say she overthinks everything, have her try vibrato whilst thinking of something else.

I found my violin teacher was unable to explain in a way I could understand, how it should be done. I too am a worrier/want-to-do-it-right-er. (I've just done grade 4). I have found a combination of youtube videos from violinlab and professorv, and the book "viva vibrato", have all helped, along with the advice to listen carefully to how I'm sounding just as much as thinking about how it's done. After 6 months of daily exercises in front of a mirror, I can now do a scale in 3rd position with a relaxed in-time but slow-ish vibrato and add the effect to the odd long note in a piece. It's a long road for me! I agree with incognito, there may be many ways to get here and different methods may click with different players. It is tricky to press firmly enough on the string to sound the note clearly, yet still allowing the first joint to be floppy...I think it can take months to train the hand to do that.

Practising in front of a mirror is a brilliant idea, because your pupil will see as soon as her movement changes from how it should be to how it shouldn't be. It's one of those things that seems to just "click" relatively quickly for some, whilst others slog away for months. However, I think I would be wary of starting vibrato in 3rd position, since it's too easy to let the heel of the hand rest against the body of the violin.

Very good advice if that's a problem. My excellent and slightly bossy teacher would not allow such hand resting!

When I was learning viola, I found vibrato impossible, because when my fingers were on the fingerboard both shoulder and wrist joints were at the extremity of their ranges and locked solid. I adopted a radical solution: I gave up viola and (eventually) took up 'cello, on which vibrato was no problem.

Many thanks all for some excellent suggestions. I've looked at youtube and have found some clips I like.

We do lots of things in front of the mirror but I hadn't tried this one there so will see how that goes.

Some interesting points about the arm - I do tend to ask if the hand and fingers are relaxed but hadn't asked about the arm.

Lots to think about.

Thanks again, Catherine x

Before starting pupils on shifting and vibrato (which I introduce at about the same time) I make sure that there is absolutely no tension in the way the violin is held up and supported - ie, correctly up on the shoulder/collarbone (depending on pupil's anatomy) and an appropriate chin rest/shoulder rest set up so that the back, neck, jaw and arm are free and relaxed. We then do a lot of simple 'viva vibrato' type work and 'wobbling practice' away from the violin so that the pupil's vibrato is allowed to evolve naturally. I deliberately don't set out to teach either arm or wrist vibrato, just see what comes naturally to the pupil and work from there.

Vibrato is very much like learning to ride a bicycle without stabilisers - all too often, the harder you try (ie the more determined/tense you are), the more impossible it seems and the longer it takes.

When I learned vibrato, I had the same problem of trying too hard, and it meant there was a lot of tension not just in my hand but the whole way up my arm. My teacher used to make me count backwards from twenty, or in multiples of a certain number, or say the alphabet in french, or whatever, to make me concentrate on something else other than trying to do the vibrato, at the same time. It worked for me

I like that idea .... not thought of that one ...

Watch out, pupils !!!!!

Yes, I like that too.

I had a chat with the student in question at her last lesson and we've come to the conclusion that she learns quite visually. So, with that in mind we're going to use Viva Vibrato and see how that helps the process. She's gone off with the first few exercises to do and was quite happy with it all so far.

It has brought to light that she does tense up her left arm and we've done some "swinging around" with it to relax it whilst the violin is in situ (the violin being held up with her other hand on the body or by me to prevent disasters!) I think she was probably put up to a full size instrument too soon (not by me ) and had helped to hold it up by firmly anchoring her arm into her side.

It had a noticeable effect on her position changing which was our next item for the lesson - much smoother changes because she was less tense.

We'll see how well she's progressed next week - it's an interesting process - I love this investigative teaching!