How to Relax Your Tongue When You Sing

Have you ever wondered how to relax your tongue when you sing? Or do you wonder why tongue tension could be an issue when singing? Well this is the article for you.

What is Tongue Tension?

Tongue tension can be an issue because if you tongue tight and blocking the back of your throat it can effect your resonance of your voice. Tongue tension will give you a more “Kermit the Frog” sound. You can get an idea of what this feels like if you pull your tongue back and say the letter “r”.

What is a Good Tongue Position for Singing?

When you watch good singers often times when they sing an Ah or Oh sound you will notice a dip in their tongue. That creates more space in the throat for the voice to bounce around in their mouth. For your vowel AE, EE, i, IE, OO, your will notice you tongue will be in a more neutral position. For consonant M, N, T, D for instance your tongue will raise up. With singing you want your tongue to be in a neutral position with it not too close to the teeth or too far back in the throat. It is more common to have the tongue blocking the back of the throat giving you a more muffled sound.

Release Your Tongue: Exercise 1

The first exercise you can do is to stick out your tongue and rest your teeth on your tongue. Next put your hand on your chin and tuck your chin down to release your tongue. Place your thumb on the soft tissue under your chin to make sure your muscles are soft and pliable underneath. Next do a siren sound going up and down your full range. Work on getting used to the feeling of you tongue being free from the back of your throat. When your tongue is free from the back of the throat you will have space for the sound to bounce around to create a pleasant sound.

Stretch Your Tongue: Exercise 2

When I was in junior high I remember going to a vocal workshop with my dad. That is where we learned this vocal exercise. It is kind of crazy. Start off by singing on an Ah sound and eventually sticking out your tongue at the top of the scale and stretch out your tongue as far as you can. My dad and I would often sing together and sometimes tour and this was our favorite exercises to do while driving to where we were sitting at a traffic light. The looks that you get from people in the cars next to you is hilarious. While this may be a funny exercise it is very effective in opening up your throat so you have a good resonant space in your mouth.

Relax Your Tongue: Exercise 3

When working on relaxing your tongue make you tongue like jello and stick it out. Next start singing “Nay” in an arpeggio sound and repeat the top note three times. This will help to make your tongue nice and relaxed.

Together all of these exercises will help to make sure that you have a nice relaxed tongue. This will create a beautiful space for your voice to bounce around and create a luxurious thick sound.

I hope you loved today’s lesson on “How to Relax Your Tongue When You Sing”. Please check back regularly for more piano and vocal tips for your musical adventure.

Linnea Loves Music