Exposition

The Art of Vibrato (2025)

Teodor Casiean
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About this exposition

Main Subject: Violin Research Supervisor: Janet Krause Title of Research: The Art of Vibrato Research Question: How violinists learn and improve their vibrato? Summary of Results: Vibrato is a fundamental aspect of violin performance, an ornamental tool used for enriching tone quality, emotional expression, and stylistic interpretation. Despite its importance, no comprehensive guide exists that addresses vibrato in its entirety, encompassing its technical foundations, stylistic variations, and expressive potential with various excercises that improve all the different vibrato techniques. This research aims to fill this gap by providing a thorough exploration of vibrato as both a technical skill and a tool for artistic expression. The study delves into the physiological and acoustic principles behind vibrato, examining how factors such as hand, wrist, and arm coordination impact tone production. It also explores the different types of vibrato—wrist, finger, and arm—highlighting their distinct characteristics and their influence on sound. Additionally, the research investigates how vibrato interacts with bowing technique and left-hand positioning, and offers insights into the role of vibrato in enhancing emotional expression across various violin repertoire that violinists will perform in halls with different acoustics or even in open air. By consolidating these aspects into a single reference, this work provides violinists with a valuable resource to deepen their understanding and mastery of vibrato, ultimately enriching their performances. Teodor Casiean started the study of violin at the age of seven in the city of Iași, Romania with teacher Iacob Lucian at “Colegiul Național de Artă Octav Băncilă” and also with Andrei Chirilă and Vlad Hrubaru, Concertmaster and respectively Principal Second Violin at State National Philharmonic Moldova Iași. Teodor graduated High School in 2019 winning multiple prizes and mentions at national and international competitions such as 1st Prize at “International Competition of Music Interpretation Emanuel Elenescu” 2016, Mention at “Olimpiada Națională de Interpretare Muzicală” 2017, 1st Prize at “Lira de Aur Suceava” 2018, 1st Prize at “Primăvara Artelor Bacău” 2018, and many others. He had the privilege of being guided in lessons and masterclasses by models such as Remus Azoiței, professor at Royal Academy of Music London, Liviu Prunaru former teacher at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and Gabriel Croitoru professor at UNMB Bucharest. Teodor was and still is an active member of the Romanian Youth Orchestra for more than ten years performing with them many times on many stages around the world such as Romanian Atheneum State, Symphony Orchestra Thessaloniki Hall, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and many others. In 2019 he started studying at UNMB Bucharest under the guidance of Professor Ioana Croitoru and graduated the Bachelor Program in Interpretation of Music - Violin in 2023. In that same year Teodor was accepted in the Masters in Classical Music - Violin program at Royal Conservatoire Den Haag. In his still ongoing master years Teodor collaborated multiple times with Residentie Orkest Den Haag. Today he follows the tutelage of acclaimed violinist and teacher Lisa Jacobs and Wouter Vossen, Konzertmeister of the Residentie Orkest.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsviolin, vibrato, sound, left hand
date20/02/2024
published14/07/2025
last modified14/07/2025
statuslimited publication
copyrightCasiean Teodor Ioan
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2539123/2539122
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


comments: 1 (last entry by Janet Krause - 10/03/2025 at 12:31)
Janet Krause 10/03/2025 at 12:31

 

. I don’t want to be unnecessarily tough on you but I feel the paper is a bit too basic. I know you ran out of time but it would be great to add something about vibrato in relation to modern music practices. I think this was your plan as I understood it but you just ran out of time to think it through properly. Just to say modern day violinists use vibrato a lot is a bit too basic. You mention once that it is possible to play non vibrato, but what does this do to the sound. poco vibrato? How do contemporary composers regard the use of vibrato And incorporate this in their works. I think it would be a great addition if you could get your hands on that paper by Johannes Leertouwer. Do you not know anyone at AMsterdam Conservatory? Otherwise you could send him an email asking if you can read it. Even if I didn’t know that you had run out of time, I would still feel the paper has more possibilities. Your bibliography is unclear. Put the books in a clear list, one below the other. Tlitle the footnotes. I think you can easily expand it a bit more to make it more interesting. Now, it reads as a book about the history and types of vibrato. The conclusion should include more your reflections on the process of writing the paper as well. What do you think you have contributed to the violin world? You wrote a bit about yourself and what you have learned but that could be more. Are you pleased with the paper? etc. Unfortunately, you were so short of time, there was no possibility for me to read the conclusion before you submitted it.You don’t have to list the contents of the chapters In it, just a general synopsis of what you have learned.So, I think a few more hours of work will upgrade the paper a lot.

 

You need to rewrite the section about bow vibrato. This is not clear.

 

All in all, I cannot approve the paper as it stands at the moment.

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