Ok, I Really Am Bad at Blogging!

So about that promise to start blogging...

As you can imagine, having two little ones running around has caused quite the time crunch.  I am finally getting around around to my commitment to resuming my regular blogs on technique. 

I want to focus my attention on the "ee" vowel, which can cause considerable issues for singing. In particular, male singers seem to particularly struggle with tongue tension when singing "ee."  The result of all this tongue tension can be a muffled tone, strained high notes,  and nasality. 

One of my favorite exercises to combat this is to hold your jaw down and alternate between the "ah" and "ee" on a scale. The key is to only move your tongue to form the two vowels.  The jaw should remain immobile.  Try it. It's a lot harder than you think!

After using his exercise for a few lessons, most students can produce a better "ee" vowel with noticeable reductions in tongue tension. As with all vocal exercises, you need a good teacher to tinker and adapt this exercise for your vocal needs. 

DWS