10 things you need to know about vibrato

1 Vibrato has always been used

‘Vibrato is such a natural thing to do, it is hard to imagine it not being used at any time– or in any culture– where people have bowed stringed instruments.’

Simon Fischer, The Strad, June 2008

2 Good tone should come before vibrato

‘One important reason for developing a full tone before introducing the vibrato technique is that, for the tone to be beautiful, the amplitude of the string’s vibration and the vibrato’s width should match. A small, narrow vibrato can sound lovely when the string’s vibration is also narrow and the tone is soft; however, the same narrow vibrato used with a loud tone produced by wide string vibrations will sound harsh and strident. Equally, a wide vibrato used with a soft tone can sound ridiculous and cause the student to back off from it.’

Phyllis Young, The Strad, September 1999