Singing Lessons: 5 Tools To Tame A Tense Tongue
Do you feel fatigued after singing?
Are you experiencing hoarseness?
Do you have unwanted pressure around the area of the larynx?
You may have tongue tension.
The tongue is necessary for singing – making vowels, consonants… sharing those lyrics we love so much. But, sometimes the tongue may be tense or tight, especially at the tongue root, causing additional pressure or tension on the larynx, which houses the vocal folds. This could cause a chain reaction and show up in our vocal production… as an audience member, we may hear it as unnecessary pressure in the tone, we may sense the air not moving as freely as possible, or the timbre or the color of the voice will be effected. As a singer, you may feel fatigued or hoarse after singing.
If your goal is to find your true voice – then allowing the tongue to operate in a relaxed and neutral manner may be beneficial.
Last week I gave you 5 strategies to relax your jaw – today we will concentrate on allowing for a relaxed tongue…
5 Tools for Relaxing Your Tongue
Like stretching before you run or exercise – the following tools are to be used as part of your warm-up… pick one or use all – feel what works best for you…
Click on above video for tongue exercise demonstrations…
Identify Neutral Position
1. Yawn – Tongue Out
2. Chew
3. Four Corners
4. Tongue Curl
5. Tongue Curl with Pencil
The tongue is an integral part of your divine singing instrument. Take some time this week to nurture its role, and share your insights in the comment section below. And if you have a tongue tension relaxation exercise to share – please share that also with us in the comment section below. I love when we can all help each other.
Always Rejoice In Your Voice™!
Xoxox, Tricia
October 10, 2014
Love this! My favourite is the tongue curl – you really feel the nice tongue extension at the back. The curl with the pencil was challenging (pencil keeps jumping out!), but feels great. Some other ones are:
– with the balls of your thumbs, gently massage under your chin near the root of your tongue – really relaxing!
– try tongue twisters – red leather, yellow leather, etc.
– pretend that your tongue is really fat, heavy and limp when doing vocal warm ups. 🙂
October 13, 2014
I am so glad, Therese 🙂 I really like the tongue curl too! It is easy to feel that stretch. That pencil one took me a while to coordinate. I had many “popping out” incidences before my tongue cooperated. Thank you for sharing your tools. Great ideas!