As I have read, everyone is born with "natural vibrato"...ok there can be rare exeptions. And as I further discovered, it can be practiced(by relaxing whole of your body and so on...), I haven't talked with my teacher about this yet. A couple of years ago I experienced some slight vibrato at the end of holding a straight tone, and this for many times, after one year it even came at the beginning of my tone, this happened many times when I was singing in a choir. For now I have strengthened my voice a lot, my sound has gone much more sonorous, my singing technique and range has improved, but I have no vibrato. When singin with my teacher, it sometimes appears, and by giving it more air I could somehow strengthen it, but that's all. So my question is simple, am I able to develop "natural vibrato" on myself? Has anyone of you done this before? I have a superb voice, but it would sound even more superb with vibrato?

No voice is superb without vibrato.

hmmmmmm...my choir director could have written that last comment. She certainly thinks no voice is superb w/out vibrato. I beg to differ. I do not normally sing with vibrato, my opinion is that not all music sounds natural with it. Now I can add vibrato by usually concentrating on hitting the notes from above with plenty of air to support it.

"Now I can add vibrato by usually concentrating on hitting the notes from above with plenty of air to support it."

Is it spontaneous or you selfproduce it?

I'm not really sure on whether you can develop natural vibrato, but isn't it produce by the diaphragm? I'm pretty sure it is, because when I produce vibrato my diaphragm shakes. All I can say really is stand up straight, with feet soulder width apart and hands by your side. When you hold a note, make sure you really focus on the note, and when you breathe, make sure you breath right down to your stomach. If you do this, try to make your diaphragm shake - this should produce vibrato.

But as I said, I'm not sure on this area, so I don't know if it can be developed or gained somehow, you would have to speak to a singing teacher, but who knows - what I said is worth a try I suppose!

Good luck with your vibrato!!

Laura
XxX

Most people have no clue what vibrato is or how to produce it. Most who do know, really don't know what they are doing and will just parrot what they were told like "diaphram support" or "open throat". Bottom line is vibrato is a skill that you need to learn and refine. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Start with the sound you make when you continuously laugh hahahahahaha like a machine gun. Then refine it refine it refine it.

The action is controlled by the vocal chords, and the diaphram just supports it. If you only use diaphram for "vibrato" you'll get a pulse of less than 5 Hz and the pitch/amplitude shift will be too wide. Real vibrato is 5 Hz to 7 Hz.

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Another thing - there is no such thing as natural vibrato. How many 5 year olds with no singing training have vibrato? It's learned and we all have the capability to produce it. If you can laugh continuously and smoothly at 5 to 7 laughs per second, then you can refine that into vibrato.

My annoying talented-younger sister (whose 12 almost 13 and thinks she's so much better than me at singing and always corrects me singing (her: it's flat! me: I know...sheesh!"), etc.) says that vibrato is just something that comes eventually after singing for awhile, I guess...I mean, I can do a little vibrato but not as much as she can.

Just stumbled ocross this forum.. and would like to add. Ive been trying to use vibrato for about two years of singing. I now can, secret... relax and stop trying, if you keep your voice focused in the front of your mouth and use your breath as if your were playing a recorder it works, I think you have to be sure of what notes your hitting to be confident and relax. Keep your voice in your head and to the front where your lips are. Good luck

^^^^ Oh yes, that's very true!! I find vibrato is hard to do if you're consciously thinking about doing it!

Just wanted to add my two cents here. As a voice instructor, I wish to note that vibrato occurs when the voice is working freely and without undue strain or tension. By far the most important aspect to easing tension is proper breathing, but other factors play a part, such as keeping the jaw loose and the larynx low.

Work on developing a good technique, and try not to focus on specifically developing a vibrato. The more your technique improves, the more often you will find the vibrato creeping in very naturally. Above all, don't try and force a "fake" vibrato into your voice. I think all listeners would rather hear a beautifully open and free straight-tone sound as opposed to a pushed, tense sound with forced vibrato.

Good luck, and keep singing!

Speaking of vibrato, I'd like you guys to listen to the song I recorded a few days ago, and tell me what you think. Am I doing it right or wrong? There are parts of the song where I can confidently say that it does not sound forced or anything, especially at the end. Hope you check this out and help out. :-)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UL4uuqNjQPU

Don't be too harsh about flats though, as I did the song in one take and had no chance to redo the weird sounding parts. LOL. :-)

I'm not pop fan, but you are great. But I was keeping something else in my mind, when I referred to vibrato, 'cause I think such vibrato is not a problem for me also.
But what's most importnant, is that I realized I had overestimated my problem. When listening to bass/bariton opera singers, I found that their vibrato isn't really like that I had dreamed about and it gives me a bit relief. I even found that I can do it same way they do it. It's just that men, especially lower voices, cannot produce fast vibrato. Men have wider vocal chords and it makes them more difficult to produce fast vibrato. After all my whole question was how to produce fast vibrato, because I was used to hear those ringing high sopranos. The answer is that I can never do it so fast.