Vocal Tips by Larry Bridges

"You’ve talked a lot about shaping your mouth when you sing vowels. Can you give me some exercises to work on that?"

Learning the classical vowel positions is important because it will help you understand how to get the most sound with the least amount of effort. These exercises will identify the "pure" vowel sounds, which means one sound and one mouth position. Start with "Oo" as is "food" and sing a five tone scale. Begin in the upper-middle of your range and work downward by half steps. Work your way down near the bottom of your range. Go back to where you started and work your way up just past the "break". Repeat with the following vowels, remembering to round the lips forward, open the teeth, slightly pull in on the cheeks, and progressively open the mouth with each vowel sound. "OO" as in "book", "OH" as in "bow", "Ö" as in "bird" (German umlaut—the tongue is slightly curled to make the "r"), and "AW" as in "ball". Continue with the middle of the vowel spectrum by singing "AH" as in "Bach", where the throat is open, like a surprise, and the jaw is relaxed down and in. Finish with the "EE" side of the vowel spectrum. Think of smiling in the center of the face, progressively close the teeth, but never completely, as you get to the end. "a" as in lamb, "ae" as in "bat", "EH" as in "bet", "IH" as in "big", and "EE" as in "bee". This covers most of the vowel sounds in English.

Do a new exercise, using the note pattern "C-E-D-F-E-G-F-A-G-E-F-D-E-C-D-B-C". Use the same vowels, but think of a different word that uses the same vowel sound, and this time extend your range a little more.

Copyright 2006 Larry Bridges. Used by permission.