Play The Cello ~ Don't Let It Play You
By now you should have a beautiful, wide vibrato. This video lesson will help you develop the full range of vibrato speeds so that you can color your music with more subtlety, energy, and emotion. Vibrato is the soul of tone. You should have already developed the proper motion in the previous lessons. If you start to feel tension return as you do this exercise, please review the pre-vibrato lesson to help relax your thumb!
Follow along with the video to test your vibrato control. Can you do all 4 speeds? Once you have the concept down feel free to mute the video and grab your own metronome. Set it at 100 bpm and work as long as it takes to dial in all 4 speeds. Don’t worry too much about how long each bow goes, this is a left hand exercise and the bow is just there to give our ear the information it needs to coordinate with the metronome.
One glorious visual example of vibrato is the 1964 recording of Rostropovich performing the Beethoven Sonatas at Usher Hall. Rostropovich’s vibrato was so fast at times that the cameras of the day literally couldn’t capture it. When he plays a slow vibrato the camera captures every detail but as he accelerates the speed of his vibrato on certain notes, his hand turns into a blur as though his vibrato magically became a hummingbird wing. A masterful example of complete control over vibrato speed. It is also some of the best music ever written for our instrument. Well worth a listen!
Pro Tip
YouTube allows you to slow or speed up any video on the channel. If you are struggling to succeed with the video at full speed just click on the gear icon or the three menu dots and select “Playback Speed.” You can adjust the speed to meet your current abilities or crank it up for extra credit!
In the music you are currently playing look for opportunities to use different speeds of vibrato. This is an especially useful pastime during orchestra rehearsals where the cellos hold long notes. Whether or not you are currently in an ensemble be sure to add vibrato in your scales when playing separate or two-notes per bow. The more time you spend intentionally working on this skill, the more naturally it will beautify and diversify your playing.
Vibrato is the soul of tone.
HAPPY PRACTICING!