Cello Vibrato Ideas Beta!
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Several years ago, I had a student who was having difficulty with vibrato. I threw all my exercises at him to no avail. His vibrato was tight and basically non-functioning. We had entered the vibrato crisis zone!
I attended a violin pedagogy seminar where a debate broke between the violinists regarding which way to start the vibrato motion, towards the bridge or away from the bridge, forward or backwards. A little light went on in my head and I realized I had never carefully considered this question on cello and wondered if this would make a difference for my student who was struggling. As it turned out, the question of whether we focus our efforts on "pulling" or "pushing" when vibratoing unlocked the mystery for my student and he played his senior recital with a decent vibrato - certainly much better than it had been.
This resulted in my coming up with some additional vibrato exercises that you may want to store in your mental filing cabinet. They helped my struggling student and for the past three years I've been teaching these to my younger students with success. My older students have also found it useful to experiment with them. I have also changed the way I think of vibrato as well.
The Main Question: Do We Push or Pull?
I always thought of vibrato on the cello as consisting of a quasi "pushing" motion towards the bridge with the tension release going the other direction away from the bridge. This is what Janos Starker himself taught, one of my pedagogical heroes.
After the debate that broke out at the violin seminar, I began to experiment with starting the vibrato motion as a "pull" or a movement away from the bridge and the release towards the bridge. The more I thought about it, the more logical it seemed; the motion that takes more energy is the one going against gravity, which is to "pull" towards the scroll away from the bridge, and the motion that takes less energy is the one going with gravity or towards the bridge. If we think of cello technique in terms of tension and release, shouldn't the "tension" portion of the movement be against gravity and the "release" be with gravity?
Thinking of it this way, the "push" becomes a "fall" during which the arm can let go and allow gravity to do much of the work or, in some cases, perhaps all of the work.
Exercises Designed to Use Gravity in Vibrato
One of the reasons I think these exercises helped my student is because his arm and hand could let go and release the tension when moving his arm towards the bridge. Below are the exercises I use. They are more easily demonstrated in the video than explained.
Robot Wave: I've written about the "forgotten motion" in vibrato elsewhere on this site. When vibrating in the lower position, the upper arm must rotate in the shoulder socket. To learn about the "Robot wave" please see my other article on vibrato. To accommodate the utilization of gravity I now think of the downward rotating motion to be a "fall".
Power Tower: This is named after the ride at Cedar Point in Ohio in which you essentially free fall straight down (it's all about the gravity). While doing the robot wave, gradually bend at the elbow, continuing the same motion. When your hand is near the neck of the cello, glide your thumb on the neck of the cello (this is more easily seen in the video) thinking of a "fall" using gravity towards the base of the neck. I pronate my hand, so I don't Karate chop the cello!
The Bees are Coming! This exercise isn't new. Carl Donakowshki, Professor of Cello at James Madison University introduced me to this exercise as "crazy vibrato". This is a glissando motion up and down the string while bowing that will incorporate the "robot wave" motion and the "door on a hinge" motion in which the forearm moves as the active motion with the elbow as the hinge or what I sometimes call the "pivot joint". The reason I call this "the bees are coming" is because when you have a whole group of cellists trying it together is sounds like a swarm of bees, especially if done on the A string!
To feel the use of gravity in vibrato, I added the "fall" to this exercise. Focus on the up or the pull and allow the arm and hand to fall towards the bridge. Use long bows to keep the hand and arms separate in the mind.
Also, do not squeeze with your thumb. In fact, I recommend not even touching the thumb to the back of the neck.
Drag Racing: The purpose of this next exercise is to allow the rotation of the forearm in vibrato as a "passive motion". Some cellists use an active motion in the forearm as well, which is fine - many great cellists have done this - but I think first learning it as a passive motion helps release tension. Passive motions are like kryptonite to tension. The basically cannot coexist in the same place.
To "drag race", you use the "bees are coming" exercise but moving more slowly while pulling the string down - I recommend starting with the 2nd finger. Also, I recommend using a "thumbs up" position so you feel the connection between the hand and forearm as one unit.
The drag of the friction on the finger will result in a rotating motion in the forearm and a pivot around the finger, if relaxed, as a passive motion.
A vital point is, of course, to "fall" and release tension when "dropping" towards the bridge.
Plant the Finger: While "drag racing" plant the finger and allow the forearm and hand to rotate around the finger, utilizing gravity and the "fall" when rotating towards the bridge.
Authored by Jamie Fiste, Cello Professor at Central Michigan University.