THE VOICE CONNECTION
SOUND OFF

Welcome to The Voice Connection Sound Off; a forum for users of books like Raise Your Voice, Melody to Madness, The Ultimate Breathing Workout, and Unleash Your Creative Mindset, as well as a place for Vendera Vocal Academy members to interact.

This message board was created so that singers could come together and "sound off" to help support each other during vocal development and the creative process of unleashing the creative spark that occurs when writing and producing music. Currently, myself and vocal coaches Ben Valen, Ray West, and Ryan Wall are here to respond periodicially to your questions, with new vocal coaches coming soon. But, feel free to help each other too:)

This board is here for you to ask questions about my and my fellow coach's books, videos, and MP3 programs, as well as offer others help with our vocal techniques. You may also post videos of yourself and your band to share your music and ask for critiques.

Please refrain from negative comments, profanities, spamming, and inappropriate criticisms of vocal methodologies, vocal coaches, and singers. All negative posts will be deleted and subject to banning without question. I will not respond to negative posts, because, as Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” With that said, positive criticism is welcome because that is how you'll grow as a singer during the training process.


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Tongue during singing

Hey guys.) Could you help me - I heard a lot that tongue should stay relaxed and almost invisible during singing BUT I keep him relaxed but also I use him a lot to support variations in my voice and also to avoid straining and keep my voice in head resonance - do you have same experience?

Thanks!

Re: Tongue during singing

If the back of your tongue if too high, it will impact your sound negatively. Always listen to the words you sing for clarity. If they don't sound natural (as you would hear them spoken) then your tongue is probably tensed. The tip of your tongue should slightly touch the back of your front lower teeth and the sides too between enunciation. How your tongue rests after saying the sound of letters "l", "K" Gn", etc is the position the tongue should revert back to between enunciation. Hope that helps!

Valerie

Re: Tongue during singing

There's some great tongue relaxation exercises in RYV that you should do every time with your Vocal warm-up. They are part of your VSR (Vocal Stress Release).

Another great set of tongue relaxers is the "NG" sound as in the word "hung". Start at a comfortable high sound and slide down. As you slide down feel the root of your tongue relax and just sink. The root is the part that's actually IN your throat. As you continue to do the slides just let your tongue sink into a nice "zen like" peaceful relaxation.

Now that you've got the "root" of the problem taken care of, we need to work on the middle. Slightly stick out your tongue - lay it out there like it's taking a nap, not like you're about to raspberry someone, just a relaxed "my tongue is so big it doesn't fit in my mouth", like feet hanging off a bed. Now hold your tongue with your teeth, not hard just enough to keep it in place. And do some "hmmmmm" again starting high and sliding down. Again feel your tongue relax.

During these exercises you may start with your tongue flexing and trying to help with the sound. Keep relaxing until the sounds are made independently WITHOUT your tongue flexing or moving at all.

AS long as you don't feel tightness and tension in your tongue OR your tongue getting in your way - you're probably over thinking the whole tongue issue.

Many people also recommend "tongue strengthening" so that your speech articulation is sharper and crisp. I move and flex my tongue around just as a habit during the day - and don't forget your stretches and crazy face exercises from the VSR.