Vibrato

I'm having difficulty with my vibrato.Does anyone have any tips or exercises for me that might help it?

I play viola and ive been playing since i was 8 so i guess vibrato is a rather advanced thing but i what year are u

not to be rude but vibrado is vary hard and takes years to master. some will do it in some hours some will never get it. just keep working on and you will get it

What a lot of teachers seem to do is have their students slide from one pitch to another, doing slow long glissandos. Eventually you want to make the glissandos shorter and to a lower pitch, going gradually faster. Eventually you should be doing a vibrato.

For me, I learned it naturally.

It took me about 8-12 months to learn vibrato. I think I was about 11 years old and I started violin when I was 5-6. I have to disagree with the above post that you either get it or you don't. I believe that everyone can learn it, it's just that everyone does vibrato differently. You have to work with what your hand can do. Like the previous post, I would suggest that you slide your hand slowly with one finger (your favourite!) on the string and bowing so you can hear the slide. Do this slowly from the very back of the fingerboard up and then back down, then gradually speed it up. As you speed it up, make the interval in which you are sliding smaller. The faster you go, the smaller the slide until you have your finger down on a specific note. You can also try laying your arm against the wall so your wrist is held immobile and then lay your hand against the wall so your wrist is straight. Wave your hand towards you keeping your wrist against the wall. Do this slowly then work it up to a faster speed so it looks like you are doing "air vibrato." Keeping your arm/wrist against the wall is to keep your wrist from flopping around.

It's kind of hard to explain all of this in writing . . . but I hope some of it made sense!

Another technique you might try to help you master the movement is to place some kind of ball between your wrist and the top of the violin body. This helps keep your entire arm and shoulder from moving.