E Vowel Sound

Middle

Hi 

I am a newbie to Ken's lessons but they make the drive to work more bearable and I am having fun. I am on the first DVD and doing both the Diva warmup and the Dude warmup. The thing Im struggling with is that on the DVD Ken shows the AAH - I think of a doctor looking down your throat with a tongue depressor - with his tongue really flat on the bottom of his mouth. I find this pretty difficult to do because if I keep the tongue behind my teeth my tongue bunches up in the middle. I can just about get something approximating what Ken does on Aah. But when I go to the Eee vowel sound my tongue alway comes up in the middle. So my question is - do you have to keep your tongue completely flat against the bottom of your mouth for all vowel sounds.

Hope that makes sense.

Best

Middle

highmtn

@Middle,

Welcome to the KTVA Forums.  The EE vowel is an exception.  It is the widest vowel and your mouth and will widen.  In order to widen, your jaw can't be as open as it can for the AH and the AA.

Notice when the doc is using the tongue depressor he/she never says "Say EE!!!"

(If you go to an ENT to have them look with a scope at your cords, they always ask you to do an EE)

So it's OK that your jaw comes up some and your tongue can't be as low in the jaw, because the EE is different than the AH and the AA.

Good question.

By the way, if you have just purchased KTVA, you should request an upgrade in your forums status.  Copy and paste into an email to ktvaforums@gmail.com a copy of your KTVA purchase receipt(s) and request a forums upgrade.  There is a lot more student information on the KTVA forums than you can see as a "Member". 

All the Best!

Bob

streeter

Middle said:

Hi 

I am a newbie to Ken's lessons but they make the drive to work more bearable and I am having fun. I am on the first DVD and doing both the Diva warmup and the Dude warmup. The thing Im struggling with is that on the DVD Ken shows the AAH - I think of a doctor looking down your throat with a tongue depressor - with his tongue really flat on the bottom of his mouth. I find this pretty difficult to do because if I keep the tongue behind my teeth my tongue bunches up in the middle. I can just about get something approximating what Ken does on Aah. But when I go to the Eee vowel sound my tongue alway comes up in the middle. So my question is - do you have to keep your tongue completely flat against the bottom of your mouth for all vowel sounds.

Hope that makes sense.

Best

Middle

Keep your tongue as flat as possible. It might not be able to stay as flat as Ah but you can get it really close. Keep it as flat as you can at the back of the throat so you don't choke up.

Flat as possible for all vowels. Throat as open as possible.