I`ve been playing cello for about 5 to 6 years and I`m beginning Haydn`s Cello Concerto in C Major and I have a lot of trouble doing vibrato in high positions because I`ve never had to since now. Can someone please help me?

I`m just learning how to do that myself; I`m working on St. Saens` first cello concerto. It`s kind of hard to explain, but I`ll take a wack at it. I started with getting familiar with third finger where the a harmonic is. That`s the note I learned the vibrato on first. What kind of happens is I let the weight of my hand rest in third finger, but don`t add so much that your knuckle shoots off in the other direction. My other fingers kind of get off the fingerboard and out of any position and just hang in the air. Start by moving your lower arm back and forth really slowly. You want to kind of pivot at the elbow; try not to use your upper arm. Do that until it feels natural, and slowly speed it up. As for other fingers, consult your teacher. By the way, my teacher also tried to get me on Hydn C: is this thing loved by all teachers or what? He`s put every student he`s had through it. I only did the second movement and then he found out I didn`t really care for it and let me switch to St. Saens, which I absolutely love. He thinks I`ll practice something I love more than something I don`t, and I think he`s right. ;-)

The way I see it, the higher pitch you go, the harder you have to press when you do vibrato.

-Sean, Oh and I have 9 years experience, not like that matters.

Sean, how high are your strings?? I`m going on my sixth year of experience myself and haven`t heard that from either my school teacher or my teacher teacher. Pressing harder as I go up doesn`t do anything except make my vibrato more narrow. Is that just a differnt strokes for different folks thing or what?

I`m not saying that you press soo hard that you pass out, HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

I mean if you press too lightly on the higher positions you might make a screeching sound. If you put the same amount of pressure on the G or C string as you do high on the A string while trying to do vibrato you wont get the same results. Each string requires a little bit different amount of pressure when you do vibrato, especialy if you go high up the fingerboard and I learned that myself.

You vibrate in thumb position the same way you vibrate in any other position. The only difference is the fact that your thumb is on top of the finger board, instead of underneath. It should always be the same rolling motion though. Questions? disagreements? e-mail me.



Titus

i think how hard you press depends on your cello. if the distance from the strings to the fingerboard is too huge, its diffcult. some cellos you can just slide all the way down and you don`t feel very painful. best for Elgar Cello Concerto!

hey man.. ive been playing for 6 months but dont let that fool you....im like in level 3 now...so i still suck but pretty good in less dan a year....and for the vibrato...umm...it`s the ARM not the wrist. you shake your arm but try not to move your whole body...

try this: vibrate in first position on a finger of choice. now try gently rocking the hand but keeping the rest of your knuckles pretty much in-line with the finger you are trying to vibrate with. Feel that? that`s the feeling of balance you want; try it in any position and regardless if it`s high or low, try to attain that slow rocking motion. a controlled broad vibrato is what you want, not a shrill trilling sound. in vibrato, balance is of essence and your arm must be relaxed. good luck!

oh btw. there are two types of vibrato: a wrist, and arm. the arm vibrato, IMO, is an easier route to a controlled vibrato. i personally use a combination of both. oh yah, if you find that you screech as you shift higher, don`t try to press harder with your left hand as that won`t really do much. instead, play closer to the bridge so that the string has more distance to vibrate.

the wrist vibrato wasn`t really meant for cello it seems..

also sean, you don`t have to really press harder, it does help to have developed callouses though...

so vibrating in high positions... its the same as anywhere else (more or less). The motion starts from the elbow. Make sure your elbow is raised & your wrist is not bent (there should be a straight line from your hand to your elbow). This will help considerably. Also, try and get it with the left hand first & later add the bow in.