There seems to be a bit of mystery about singing vibrato, especially for beginners.
It has gotten so frustrating for some singers that companies like Singing Success have actually built products around this one area. Their specific product is called Mastering Vibrato.
But once you really get it, and control and develop it, you can really add that distinction to your voice which separates it from all the others out there. Here I’ll do my best to give an explanation of this, however I will also make my recommendations in terms of getting some real professional advice on the subject as well.
First Let’s Understand What This Is
Leaving all the technical talk behind, vibrato is simply a result of the sound of your voice being released naturally and with ease from your vocal cords.
People tend not to sing with vibrato because they’re too tense and tight, or they have an overload and can’t control it.
I’ve included two simple videos by the famous singing coaches Aaron Anastasi, and Brett Manning below:
- Less is more
- Relax your voice
- Can be controlled
- Don't force it
- Don't bounce your stomach
- Try mimicking
- Subtle is best
- Exercise improves this
- Professionals control vibrato
- It can be learned
As you can see from the videos above, it's hard to teach vibrato in a few minutes.
If you really want to learn and improve this area, I suggest you read about Brett Manning's vibrato course here.
If you continue to research and understand this topic, you'll find out it's all about shifting between pitches, and more specifically the speed in which you do this.
This has actually been measured, as Aaron mentioned in his video above, and ideally you want to oscillate between two pitches at six times per second. That information is cool, but it's also a little pointless. Most people can't tell the difference between oscillating 4 times per second vs. 6. But that's just a bit of theory behind it.
The only way to really master this is through practice, however you need to practice the right material.
As I mentioned above, I can't teach you how to sing vibrato in a single article, and no one else can either. Bottom line, you need to get some coaching if you haven't mastered this yourself.
For this specific singing technique, I would recommend reading my review of Mastering Vibrato by Brett Manning.
It's by far the best audio course on this subject.
