If your throat is closed, your voice won’t flow and your tone won’t be warm and rich.
Vibrato should come naturally if you relax. Avoid straining the muscles in your mouth or the rest of your body for a clear sound. If your larynx is tense, it won’t be able to waver back and forth as you sing, which is what produces vibrato.
If you’re sitting, sit on the edge of your chair with your back straight and your head facing directly forward. Do not look down, even to read your music sheet. To practice keeping your body relaxed and spine straight while engaging your breath support muscles, lay flat on the floor on your back while singing.
Engage your abdominal muscles to support your diaphragm. Achieving vibrato requires plenty of consistent breath. [6] X Research source
If you feel like you’re forcing the sound or your throat hurts, you may not be singing from your diaphragm. Try to sing not from your chest but downward, towards your stomach.
Not every person’s voice has a pronounced vibrato, even among professional singers. If your vibrato is softer or less pronounced than others you know, you may just have a subtle vibrato. Unlike some singing techniques, vibrato is more developed than taught. Practicing proper singing, breathing, and posture techniques can help you develop a vibrato over time. You may find it helpful to use an app like Spectrogram or Singscope while practicing vibrato. These tools can show if the variations of your pitch occur evenly, which indicates you’re singing with a natural vibrato.
You may not notice vibrato right away, as it takes time to develop. By practicing the right posture and singing technique, however, you can develop and strengthen your vibrato over time. If you’re putting too much tension in your jaw, for example, that can inhibit your vibrato. Let your jaw relax and try to sing with vibrato again.
Hum at a pitch in your lower range, then slowly open your mouth and transition from humming to singing. [11] X Research source Put your lips together and exhale while vibrating your lips, then vocalize up and down while still exhaling. Try different tongue twisters like, “She sells sea shells by the sea shore” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. "
Practice abdominal breathing at least 5-10 minutes a day to help you sing from your diaphragm.
Place your hands at the bottom of your chest, just above your belly button, and sing a note of your choice. As you’re singing this note, push on your stomach with your fingers repeatedly at a rate of around 3 to 4 cycles a second. Hold a finger on your larynx (around the center of your throat) and wiggle it up and down while singing on a sustained pitch. This will result in a wobbling sound similar to a vibrato that can help train your muscles to develop a true one. Switch between two notes, one note and another a semitone away, at about 6-8 cycles per second. If you can’t quite sing that quickly, keep practicing and switching between tones as fast as you can.
Look for lip trill exercises online if needed. [14] X Research source
Most recreation centers and community colleges offer singing classes from professional instructors. Meet with at least 3 different voice teachers before choosing the one that’s right for you.
A music instructor can help coach you to figure out which lines would or wouldn’t sound good with vibrato.
This mistake is called “jaw vibrato” or “Gospel Jaw” because it’s more common among Gospel singers.
