Question:
I am 71 years old and I still enjoy singing. I would enjoy it more, including singing duets with my wife in church, if I could get rid of unwanted vibrato in my voice. Any thoughts on how I might reduce the vibrato in my singing voice? Sure would appreciate some help here. Thanks.
Answer:
Excess vibrato is always the result of inadequate support and imprecise coordination of the breath and vocal cords.
Now, we NEVER want to grunt when singing, but if you put your hands on your lowest ribs at the side of your body and grunt you will feel the expansion and work of the ribs that stabilize the torso. You want to have this work engaged the whole time you are singing, without gripping the voice or the abdomen, including the anal sphincter and genitals.
You can practice it by sustaining the “S” sound. Keep your hands on your ribs and use only enough air to create the hiss on “S.” Feel that your ribs keep expanding the whole time you exhale.
Then you can use vowel chanting to practice the same thing. Start in the speaking range with the sound “EE.” Think of speaking the “EE” with a straight tone, NO vibrato. Once you can make a good, long “EE” with no shaking, start to alternate it with “OOH.” This should set up a little pulse or spin in the sound and that will be a more natural vibrato.
Do not think of increasing the vibrato or it will go back to the shake. It will naturally spin more and it will be faster and steadier when it does.
If you can spring for a lesson or two with a singing teacher or voice coach to help you with this I think you might find it faster and easier to achieve. They should help you refine phonation, improve breath support and balance resonance. If you record your lessons you can take the exercises home and practice.