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Hi everybody!
My name is Justin Stoney and I'm the founder of
New York Vocal Coaching here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 64 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you guys as singers
by answering your questions from all over.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later
but our question for this week comes from Ana F. in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
And Ana writes, "Dear Justin, I love the vibrato videos
that you've done in the past.
And I'm wondering if you can help us to develop our vibrato
and to make it faster?
Now that's a great question Ana.
And I thank you so much for that and the kind words too.
And we're definitely going to work more on vibrato
today and in the future.
So let's get back on track with it!
What is vibrato?
Well first of all it's easier to show than to describe, right?
♪ Ah ♪ [Straight tone]
That's no vibrato.
♪ Ah ♪ [Vibrato]
That's vibrato.
Right?
It's a little pitch bend or oscillation, alright.
It doesn't change the note so much that we hear a big difference.
♪ Ah ♪
That would be a huge change.
But we have...
♪ Ah ♪
Asmall up-and-down movement of the pitches.
That's what vibrato is.
Vibrato can help free up your instrument
and also give you a very cool stylistic effect.
Which we're going to need for really all styles of music.
So that's what vibrato is, now how is it done?
Unfortunately, there's a few different vibratos, alright.
There's one that comes actually from the breathing system,
which I can't really recommend.
There's also one that's a laryngeal vibrato
that we're gonna be talking about a bit more in the future.
That's not such a negative thing.
But the best vibrato is one that comes from the vocal cords themselves.
Different movements of the vocal cords,
when your vocal cords move,
they have a pitch bending effect, right.
As the cords stretch out, the notes go higher
and as they thicken up the notes go lower
so when the vocal cords are free they can move
in a small motion that causes that vibrato.
So that's how it's done.
There's also a jaw vibrato that you sometimes see
which is not so positive also.
But the vibrato that we're gonna be focusing on mostly
is the one that's done by freedom to the vocal cords.
So let's talk Ana about what might be blocking your
vibrato system from happening.
One thing might be forcing the sound.
Too much chest voice, too much heaviness,
too much strength.
That thickness makes it hard to do vibrato.
That's one thing that could be happening.
Another thing might be too much squeeze,
too much compression on the vocal cords.
That also will prevent them from having that give
that lets them move freely for vibrato.
So not too much squeezing of the actual cords.
The other thing could be tension, alright.
It could be neck tension from thrusting the neck.
Maybe you have jaw tension or tongue tension
or tension in these long muscles here.
These are your sternocleidomastoids, whoa...
[hits piano]
These guys often block singers from freedom
and also the freedom that vibrato requires.
And then finally, maybe Ana, I don't know how long
you've been singing, but sometimes just
having lots of experience moving the notes around
with your voice can lead to vibrato.
Sometimes if you're a new singer out there
and you don't have vibrato yet,
I tell you just stay the course because as you
develop freedom and agility with your voice your vibrato
often just comes in on its own.
But today we're also going to have a great exercise.
It's gonna help you guys get more freedom
to the vocal cords so that your vibrato gets either faster
if it's too slow,
or comes in maybe for the first time if you've been
having problems getting your vibrato to work.
But first I'm going to show you some vibrato in a song.
This is another, I've done a John Legend song in the past.
I think that John Legend has a very nice vibrato
as a pop and R&B singer.
So I'm gonna use another John Legend song.
This is "All Of Me" by John Legend.
And just listen for some of the vibrato nuances
that I'm using and later I'm going to describe
kind of some of the things that's going on.
So this is "All Of Me" by John Legend.
♪
♪ What would I do without your smart mouth ♪
♪ Drawing me in and you kicking me out ♪
♪ I've got my head spinnin' ♪
♪ No kiddin', I can't pin you down ♪
♪ What's going on in that beautiful mind ♪
♪ I'm on your magical mystery ride ♪
♪ And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me ♪
♪ But I'll be alright ♪
♪ My head's under water but I'm breathing fine ♪
♪ You're crazy and I'm out of my mind ♪
♪
♪ Cuz all of me loves all of you ♪
♪ Love your curves and all your edges ♪
♪ All your perfect imperfections ♪
Okay, that's a little bit of "All Of Me" great song to sing.
And you hear lots of different vibrato nuances and choices.
Now what does too slow vibrato sound like?
Well...
♪ Cuz all of me loves all of you ♪
Now you probably know some singers like this right?
Too slow of a vibrato, right?
♪ Cuz all ♪
We want to be able to control that vibrato speed.
So like I say, some of the things that prevent vibrato or slow it down
is that push of the voice.
Cause if I'm pushing too much chest voice on those notes
it will slow the vibrato down or prevent it.
Now sometimes people, like I said, squeeze and have too much
compression to the voice and that is going to stop the vibrato,
bully it out or maybe slow it down.
The other thing is neck tension, jaw tension, and all kinds of larynx tension.
So we want to make sure that we have good alignment
and freedom in the surrounding areas of the voice as well.
So that's just some sense of what vibrato sounds like again
applied to a song.
And you hear the slow version, you hear the fast version
and all kinds of nuances.
Now how do we get our vocal cords free enough
to make vibrato happen?
Now we're gonna get to an exercise.
Today we're going to recruit staccato
in order to help you guys get vocal cord agility and freedom.
When we have staccato pitches it helps the cords re-articulate.
And that re-articulation helps them to learn to
move faster just like vibrato.
So today here's our exercise.
It's just gonna be on a single note h-e, he, single note
staccato and vibrato.
It sounds like this...
♪ He-ee ♪
Alright, so that's guys down there.
Ladies up here...
♪ He-ee ♪
And we're gonna do it together.
Staccato leading to vibrato.
Here we go!
♪ He-ee ♪
So nice.
♪
You got it.
♪
Yep!
♪ He-ee ♪
Right.
♪
Yep.
♪ He-ee ♪
Right on!
♪
Good.
♪
♪ He-ee ♪
Super nice!
♪
Yes.
♪ He-ee ♪
Good for you.
♪
Yep, keep it up!
♪ He-ee ♪
Right on.
♪
Mhm!
♪
So nice.
♪ He-ee ♪
Right on.
♪
Yes.
♪
Good job, hang in there.
♪ He-ee ♪
Right on.
♪
Super nice.
♪
Good, a few more.
♪ He-ee ♪
Yes.
♪
Good for you.
♪
Last one...
♪ He-ee ♪
♪
Awesome stuff.
That was so great.
Good job with that staccato leading to vibrato.
And I hope for some of you it sped up your vibrato
or got your vibrato starting to move for the first time.
So Ana, this was a fantastic question.
I think you helped a lot of singers out today by asking that.
And so, go ahead and practice that exercise.
And I hope this has been helpful for you
guys today as singers.
If you have questions that you'd like to see us
answer on the show you can send an email to
Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
And we just encourage you don't lose the joy,
don't lose the passion.
Don't you dare let people tell you that you can't sing
because you and I, we both know that is false.
Not true!
You can do it, stay committed, keep practicing, [♪]
find a great voice teacher in your area [♪]
or if you guys are in the New York City area [♪]
you can study with one of our staff here at [♪]
New York Vocal Coaching. [♪]
If you like these videos we just encourage you to [♪]
download our free app. [♪]
It's for iPad, iPhone, hopefully more in the future [♪]
but all kinds of free articles, videos, tips, resources, [♪]
all kinds of stuff to help you guys get to the [♪]
next level on your vocal journey. [♪]
So check out that app or you can visit [♪]
www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
We'll see you next time. [♪]
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