Violin Video Lesson: How to Develop a Continuous Vibrato

So have a look at this. So just why did I play that excerpt from from Thais that slowly? Well, this video about continuous vibrato just might shed some light on why I did what I did.

Welcome to VirtualSheetMusic.com's Meet the Expert. My name is William Fitzpatrick and I am the Henry Temianka Professor of Violin at the Hall Musco Conservatory of Music which is located on the campus of Chapman University in Orange, California. I am as well Director of Music Share and the Music Share Young Artist program which is located in Irvine, California.

Well, to start off I must admit to having been confused by the phrase continuous vibrato when it was first introduced to me. It conjured up memories of hearing this church singer, soprano, when I was very young that had a vibrato so wide that you could almost... Well, let's just say that it was very, very wide. Every note that she sang had this vibrato. I must admit that it was not the most aurally satisfying event that I had ever encountered. So after that whenever someone spoke to me about doing a continuous vibrato, I just could not help but think about that singer.

So I tried very hard to understand continuous vibrato, but the idea that a vibrato never stopped just didn't resonate with me. Then one day it occurred to me that if I changed the word vibrato to the word gesture, new doors opened. New possibilities opened. And suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. I could finally see it happening. Well, what exactly did I see? Well, you will need to use your imagination a bit. But let's have a look.

All right, so let's say that there's this. This is a vibrato. See that's that imagination that you've got to use. All right. I'm going to take that vibrato from here, and I'm going to go to the next note which is here. So let's see. I'm vibrating and now I'm gonna go to the next note. Ah, you see, it didn't stop. Here, let me do it again. We're going this way and when I go back then I go over and there it is. Voila! A continuous vibrato. What would the alternative be? Here, let's do it again. Here and we're gonna stop, go over and then we're going to start again.

See, that's not as continuous as this to that. I had now found a way to understand continuous vibrato. I hope that you now understand why I was vibrating so slowly at the beginning of this video. Here let me you see it again. I hope that you now understand why I was vibrating so slowly at the beginning of this video. Here, let me let you see it again. You see from the F-sharp, the gesture goes all the way down to the open string and then comes back up to the B. Here. let's listen to it.

Oh and by the way, I'm not one to give out rules but here's a principle for you to think about. I teach to only vibrate a note when you have time to do so. For example, in your scales when you are doing one or two notes to a bow, it's very possible to vibrate and so we do. But from three or four on, it gets harder. So you don't. Why? Because there just isn't enough time. As you can see, I fall into that camp that uses vibrato in a scale.

Why? Well for one, when you play a piece you vibrate. So why wouldn't you do so in the scale? The scale, it's representing the piece. It's mirroring the piece. So, of course, you would do it in the scale. Well, at least, that's my point of view. But let's save that discussion for another time.

So we can go from one to two, two to three, three to four. But what about two to one, three to two, or four to three? Isn't that how the Tites started? Three to one to zero? So we've now talked about it both ways, but there are also notes that are connected through shifts. For example, F-sharp to C-sharp. Do you see what I mean? Even the other way. Okay, let's recap. There's a two to three or a four to three. There's even a four to two or four to one. I mean, we could even do four, three, two, one.

But I believe that things on our arms are not separate but connected. So try this with your right hand with the vibrato. Let's do four to one. When playing four, use a slow bow speed. slow vibrato and then take your finger however fast you do it. That's going to be your vibrato for the first finger and the bow speed will go faster. As if the vibrato is linked to our speed of the bow. The two things are connected. Here, let me do that again. Do you see what I mean?

So that's it for this video of the use or development of a continuous vibrato. If you have a comment or a question to ask me, please feel free to post it below. Here's hoping that you're becoming more aware of what your body is doing and that this knowledge is helping you practicing to become more and more efficient and effective leading you to better and better performances. Practice well.

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

Thank you for your comment, question or request!

Comment/Question deleted successfully.

Post a comment, question or special request:

Comments or questions must be between 3 and 10,000 characters long.

You may: Login  or  

Otherwise, fill out the form below to post your comment:

Add your name below:


Add your email below: (to receive replies, will not be displayed or shared)


For verification purposes, please enter the word MUSIC in the field below

---