Correcting problematic vibratos.

The creation of vibrato is a result of the cricothyroid stretching the thyroarytenoids. When this is done naturally, the ocillating tension of the muscles causes a healthy spinning sound. There are a few poor techniques that singers can use that can be harmful. The first is using no vibrato at all. For this, the singer maintains a high laryngeal position and are often under-supporting their sound. Some exercises that can be used to combat this are those that include a gradual crescendo and diminuendo, as well as working on improving breath support and focus. For those singers that have a wobbly vibrato or faux vibrato, It is often that they are pushing too much air and are tensing. In this case, exercises that force them to crescendo and decrescendo quickly are beneficial because it makes them lighten their vocal production, causing them to be less tense. With the faux vibrato, singers can even be producing the vibrato with their abdominal muscles causing a lot of unnecessary tension. The same exercises can be used to combat this as with the wobble, but it is often caused by teachers telling the student to sing with vibrato without telling them how and what they are actually looking for. The last error is the bleat, or a pressed tone with a lot of airflow causing a high-intensity tremor in the muscles of the larynx. This is often accompanied by a tightness in the jaw and tongue and with the singer trying to control the vibrato with them. To correct this, it is found beneficial to instruct them to sing with a sighing quality and to work with decrescendos to relax the larynx. All of these errors in use of vibrato can be at least affected by use of sustained dynamic exercises and it is important for students to know that vibrato is a result of a balanced process of phonation and breath support; not something that is manufactured.