Anyone Can Sing | Take A Minute To Sing Episode 6: Horizontal Vowels

Horizontal Vowels

This episode of “Take a Minute to Sing” covers what I call the “horizontal vowels”. These are sounds heard in the words “bat”, “bet”, “bit”, and “beat”.

Start by singing the “AH”, shaping the mouth like you are biting an apple. The jaw is dropped in a bit and the blade of the tongue (the front part) is touching in the groove below the bottom teeth. The back of the tongue is relaxed upward toward the soft palate.
Rehearse extending on a single pitch the words
“bat”, “bet”, “bit”, and “beat” gradually closing the teeth a bit more, but never completely. The “EE” vowel should have at least a little finger’s opening between the teeth.
Always start each vocal exercise by preparing the air by expanding the waist, lining the spine long and loose, lifting the palate, and loosening the jaw.
Start on a pitch in the middle of your range which is not too high or low.
Practice producing a clear, relaxed sound, working not to force the tone.

As always, if anything hurts or is consistently raspy, stop and seek the advice of a professional. A few sounds were left out to help simplify the exercise, but can be added later. The word “bath” is a little more open and less nasal sounding, so it is the first one to come after the central vowel sound “AH”. Also the vowel sound “AY” as in “bay” comes between “bet” and “bit”. This is like a diphthong (two vowels) “AA” and “EE”. Practice saying “bay” slowly and pay attention to when the mouth changes shape. The International Phonetic Alphabet gives specific symbols for each of these sounds and should be checked out for further study.