A simple exercise to boost your vibrato technique by increasing your control over the width of your vibrato.

This vibrato exercise can be done with or without the bow. If you’re shy about making weird sounds with your violin, then it’s best to do this without the bow (in other words, silently) – at least at first.

1. Place any one finger on a string (usually 2 or 3 on the A string is a good place to start).

2. At a very slow speed, start with a very narrow, relaxed vibrato motion. (At this slow speed, it might be better to call it “wobbling” rather than vibrato.)

3. While keeping a roughly steady speed, gradually widen the motion. Feel your finger tip rocking between tip and pad, and allow the distal joint (the one closest to the finger tip) to flex with the motion. You’ll probably max out at around the width of a half-step.

4. At this point, check to see if the speed is still about the same as what you started with. If it is, then gradually narrow the motion until you’re back to the same narrow width you started with.

5. Repeat steps 1. - 4. at a slow speed until you can do this comfortably and easily without tension or unnecessary work.

6. Repeat steps 1. - 4. with each of the other fingers (it will feel slightly different with each one)

You can stop there, if you want. You’ve already done a great deal to train in good vibrato motion.

If you want to go further:

A. Repeat steps 1. - 4. at a medium speed (still not quite vibrato speed), with each of the 4 fingers.

B. Repeat steps 1. - 4. at full vibrato speed with each finger, and on different strings.

Bonus:

Advanced violinists can also experiment with more subtle variations of the speed, all within the range of what sounds like vibrato. So no “wobbles” any more, just slower vibrato or faster vibrato with a gradually changing width.

If you’ve tried this out, leave a comment below to let me know how it went!