An Exercise to Unearth Your Vibrato
As Halloween draws eerily near, I find myself eager to share one of my favorite exercises for "finding" one's vibrato in nearly every lesson. One of the creepiest figures of Halloween, the ghost, has one of the most "natural" vibratos and students have fun imitating them in our warm-ups.
What is Vibrato?
Generally speaking, vibrato is a quick oscillation between pitches. The voice will subtly and quickly vibrate between two pitches of close proximity. Vibrato is one of many tools a singer has in their toolkit to add color to their sound palette. Commonly found in the classical bel canto style, singers of all genres will benefit from understanding how to create this vocal effect. Musical theatre students will access this technique when singing golden-age musicals, or even adding a quick sparkle of vibrato after singing a sustained straight-tone note at the end of a powerful phrase. Singers of Jazz and Pop also utilize vibrato for varying effects.
Although most of us can hear and distinguish straight-tone singing (maintaining a constant sound/tone without oscillation of pitch), many singers find that their vibrato remains elusive. Excess tension, or possibly inconsistent breath support often suppress the voice's ability to vibrate. Working to free up this tension takes time, but I am here to share with you one of my favorite exercises to help you "find" your vibrato.
Ghostly Howls
Yes, I know it sounds silly, but in this exercise, you will imitate a ghost:
Start with the vowel [u] (as in "oo" or "who"). Make sure the tip of your tongue rests against the back of your bottom teeth for the entirety of the exercise
Create a ghostly "oo" in the lower part of your voice and slowly slide up and back down over a few notes with a big, wobbly, sound.
Keep sliding from your lower register up and down, gradually sliding (howling) higher and higher.
Eventually, "howl" a simple octave scale, feeling like you are merely sliding between each note.
Many singers find it easier to access their vibrato with this exercise in the lower register, finding it fairly quickly. As you flip into head registration, be patient but keep pretending to be a ghost. The scarier and wobblier, the better!
Happy Halloween and enjoy spookily singing through the season!
