How to Sing Vibrato

Developing a Natural Vibrato

Widen the back of your throat. Open your mouth and stretch out the back of your throat as far as you can go. Start by mimicking a yawn, widening the back of your mouth without tensing or straining your throat muscles. If your throat is closed, your voice won't flow and your tone won't be warm and rich.

Relax all of the muscles in your body. If you are not relaxed, you will not be able to sing with vibrato. Release all of the tension in your body through relaxation exercises before you start singing to strengthen your natural vibrato. Vibrato should come naturally if you relax. Avoid straining the muscles in your mouth or the rest of your body for a clear sound. If your larynx is tense, it won't be able to waver back and forth as you sing, which is what produces vibrato.

Sit or stand up straight. Good posture is essential for maintaining a strong, clear vibrato. Sit or stand with one foot slightly in front of the other, and your neck, head, and back all in a straight line. If you're sitting, sit on the edge of your chair with your back straight and your head facing directly forward. Do not look down, even to read your music sheet. To practice keeping your body relaxed and spine straight while engaging your breath support muscles, lay flat on the floor on your back while singing.

Breathe steadily and evenly. Shallow breaths can ruin your natural vibrato's strength. When you need to breathe, take steady and even breaths while filling your lungs as much as possible. Engage your abdominal muscles to support your diaphragm. Achieving vibrato requires plenty of consistent breath.

Sing from your diaphragm. Take a deep breath in from your lungs and, opening your mouth, sing while breathing out. Keep your shoulders level and while you sing, try to focus the sound in the center of your stomach rather than your chest. If you feel like you're forcing the sound or your throat hurts, you may not be singing from your diaphragm. Try to sing not from your chest but downward, towards your stomach.

Listen for a fast pitch oscillation when you sing. Vibrato is a quick variation in pitch that develops naturally as your voice matures. While following the proper singing technique, listen for this variation in your voice—the more you practice, the more likely your vibrato will develop. Not every person's voice has a pronounced vibrato, even among professional singers. If your vibrato is softer or less pronounced than others you know, you may just have a subtle vibrato. Unlike some singing techniques, vibrato is more developed than taught. Practicing proper singing, breathing, and posture techniques can help you develop a vibrato over time. You may find it helpful to use an app like Spectrogram or Singscope while practicing vibrato. These tools can show if the variations of your pitch occur evenly, which indicates you're singing with a natural vibrato.

Troubleshoot for any issues if you don't hear a vibrato. If you still don't notice a vibrato sound while you sing, check your posture, muscle tension, and breathing. Adjust for any errors that you notice and try singing again. You may not notice vibrato right away, as it takes time to develop. By practicing the right posture and singing technique, however, you can develop and strengthen your vibrato over time. If you're putting too much tension in your jaw, for example, that can inhibit your vibrato. Let your jaw relax and try to sing with vibrato again.

Strengthening Your Technique

Do warm up exercises before you sing. Warming up your voice can help avoid vocal strain and naturally bring out your vibrato. Before you practice a song, try any of these singing exercises for at least 5-10 minutes: Hum at a pitch in your lower range, then slowly open your mouth and transition from humming to singing. Put your lips together and exhale while vibrating your lips, then vocalize up and down while still exhaling. Try different tongue twisters like, "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" or "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

Practice abdominal breathing. Abdominal breathing can help even out your breaths and sing from your diaphragm. Place a hand between your chest and lower stomach and breathe out. You should feel the center of tension in the middle of your stomach. Practice abdominal breathing at least 5-10 minutes a day to help you sing from your diaphragm.

Try voice exercises designed to improve your vibrato. Voice exercises can strengthen your vibrato's tone and versatility. Do any of these exercises or others made to improve your vibrato at least 10-20 minutes per day: Place your hands at the bottom of your chest, just above your belly button, and sing a note of your choice. As you're singing this note, push on your stomach with your fingers repeatedly at a rate of around 3 to 4 cycles a second. Hold a finger on your larynx (around the center of your throat) and wiggle it up and down while singing on a sustained pitch. This will result in a wobbling sound similar to a vibrato that can help train your muscles to develop a true one. Switch between two notes, one note and another a semitone away, at about 6-8 cycles per second. If you can't quite sing that quickly, keep practicing and switching between tones as fast as you can.

Maintain your vibrato at different volumes. Try singing with vibrato loudly, then quietly, and continue switching back and forth. If you find yourself struggling, practice controlling your air flow with lip trill exercises--close your mouth and let air escape in quick bursts as if you were blowing bubbles or raspberries. Look for lip trill exercises online if needed.

Take singing lessons to improve your overall voice. Strengthening your singing voice will help you naturally develop vibrato. Sign up for singing lessons by an instructor who understands vibrato and can work with you to make your weaknesses strengths. Most recreation centers and community colleges offer singing classes from professional instructors. Meet with at least 3 different voice teachers before choosing the one that's right for you.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Keep your vibrato subtle. Singing a song entirely in vibrato can become overpowering. Try to use vibrato as a way to emphasize certain lines rather than the way you sing the entire song to help your singing voice sound more versatile. A music instructor can help coach you to figure out which lines would or wouldn't sound good with vibrato.

Use vibrato selectively. Although many pop, musical theater, and classical songs benefit from vibrato, some songs sound better without it. If you're not sure whether a song sounds good with vibrato, look up live recordings and see which lines professional singers emphasize with vibrato.

Relax your jaw while singing vibrato. One common mistake people make while using vibrato is tensing their jaw, which can cause your jaw to wobble. If you feel your jaw tensing up, relax the muscles as much as possible and avoid moving them up and down with your voice. This mistake is called "jaw vibrato" or "Gospel Jaw" because it's more common among Gospel singers.