Tongue tied

As you all know, we must sing with freedom. While singing is not a relaxed activity it does require the releasing of any tension that may be extraneous or detrimental to our singing.

One of the main culprits when it comes to unhelpful tension is the tongue. If the tongue is not free and flexible it cannot properly shape vowels or articulate consonants.

I do tongue-freeing exercises with all of you, usually toward the beginning of our singing (Session 1), in order to encourage a release that will carry over to the rest of your singing as well.

In exercises like la-la-la and da-da-da the tip of the tongue moves to the front part of the roof of your mouth (the alveolar ridge) or even to the teeth. The freer the tongue is the faster you will be able to do this.

In exercises like ga-ga-ga and ya-ya-ya the middle and back part of the tongue moves up and down. Do these exercises quickly with the jaw as released and uninvolved as possible.

Then you can do combinations of these exercises, again as quickly as you can manage and with release at the jaw: ya-la-ya-la, di-ga-di-ga.

Those of you who can trill your r’s can use that as well. I always like to go from a trilled r to a vowel so you can get as close to “real” singing as possible.

Another thing to consider is that, since the base of the tongue is so near the top of the larynx, if the tongue is pressed too low it will push down on the larynx. While we do often want the tongue to be flat and out of the way for our open vowels, we don’t want it to be held in a way that depresses or excessively lowers the larynx. One helpful image I’ve read to help with this is to imagine that the tongue is falling forward. You may think of the tongue as being weightless or even floating in your mouth as you are sustaining vowels.

Knowing how involved the tongue is in our singing, it’s a good idea to regularly “check in” and see if it is free or if it is carrying any undue tension. Freeing exercises like the ones discussed above are great to incorporate into your regular routine.

Happy singing!

Now go practice.

Practice Analysis

As we kick off another semester and are establishing new routines based on our schedules this spring, it’s a good time to analyze our approach to practicing.

This article presents some thought-worthy ideas on the subject:

http://snip.ly/KSjJ#http://www.artoffreedom.me/how-long-should-you-practice-every-day/

One concept that particularly struck me was "quality over quantity.” It’s good to remember that while we have to practice often, it is more important to practice well than it is to practice a lot (the quality of the minutes spent practicing are more important than the number of minutes spent practicing).

I also appreciate the notion that we should consider how our musical practice fits in with our life priorities. Does your singing make you a better human being? Does it contribute to society? How? Practicing those elements of our singing are just as necessary (arguably MORE necessary) than the elements of our singing that make us “marketable.”

What perspectives do you take from the article? What might you adjust or give more focus to in your own practice routine based on what you read?

Now go practice.