What is vibrato? and should I have vibrato when I sing?

A question I receive from many young voice students is "What is vibrato, and is it a good thing?"

First, the technical answer: Vibrato is simply the oscillation of pitch in a human voice.  Even though you may be singing a certain pitch, all voices make slight pulsations above and below the target pitch.

Is vibrato desirable?  The answer: most of the time.  First, while vibrato is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the human voice, the rate of vibrato determines how 'attractive' we find the vibrato.  The desired rate of vibrato is somewhere between 5-7 'beats' per second.  Anything slower than that tends to sound like a wobble, with wide variations in pitch that distract from the beauty of the sound.  A much rarer form of vibrato is  a very fast rate, and has the same undesirable effects.

Should vibrato be consciously produced?  Not initially.  Vibrato begins mostly in high school students, when the voice has matured enough to produce vibrato.  Even after that, vibrato should never be the focus, as a well-supported, free voice will naturally produce an even vibrato on its own.  Only on occasions will addressing vibrato directly be necessary.

Vibrato does vary depending on the musical genre, though all choral, musical, and classical singers should strive for a clean, even vibrato.

DWS