The Tongue and Vowels, continued....

To sing all vowels with resonance and ring, several steps are necessary:

1) Is my tongue in the correct position for each vowel?  If a certain vowel sounds wrong (or feels difficult), the most likely culprit is tension preventing the tongue from establishing the correct position for that vowel.

2) Is my tongue touching the back of my front bottom teeth?  If not, then those vowels with a retracted tongue will sound less powerful or feel uncomfortable to sing.

There are several ways to fix a difficult vowel, but I HIGHLY suggest you do so with a voice teacher.  A good voice teacher provides a pair of critical ears that can give you the correct feedback and guidance.

1) Tongue Trill to Vowel: Sing a pitch on a rolling r, and then open your mouth to the vowel in question.
2) Alternate between a great vowel and the difficult vowel on one pitch.
3) Alternate between the difficult vowel and the closest vowel to it in terms of the arch of the tongue.  For instance, many people struggle with 'ee' but do just fine on 'a'.  'A' is very close to 'ee' in terms of the arch of the tongue, so alternating between the two on a pitch will often resolve the issue.
4) Know your anatomy...knowing how a vowel is formed by the tongue and lips will allow you to recognize when a vowel is formed incorrectly.

Other exercises may be used, but the above four, with the help of a voice teacher, will take care of most vowels with time. 

DWS