The Tongue and Formation of Vowels

This is my first technical post on voice lessons, and I think a necessary one.  A few days ago, I had my first voice lesson with a new student.  He was very aware of what topics he wanted to cover in lessons.  The first topic he wanted to tackle was the 'ee' vowel.  In his own opinion, he thought his 'ee' vowel needed some work.

You may find that 'ee' or 'ah' or some other vowel is particularly weak for you.  It tends to be extremely frustrating; after all, what is so hard about singing an 'ee' or 'ah' vowel?  Yet I find every student has a vowel that just doesn't resonate as well as the other vowels!

To fix a vowel, numerous factors have to be taken into account.  However, the biggest culprit is a 'tight' tongue that is not moving the correct way to form the problematic vowel.  The tongue is the primary creator of all vowels; only some vowels involve changes in the lips, and NONE involve movement in the jaw.  Therefore, to work on a weak vowel, the most common solution involves some sort of exercise to get the tongue moving correctly for each vowel.

In my next post, I will detail exactly how the tongue moves for each vowel, and a few exercises that help my students in lessons.  Until then,

DWS