EE vowel

john

Ok so when I'm singing Ee vowel, I was always wondering where my tongue should be. because as Ken instructs smile as much as you can when singing EE vowel, my tongue isn't naturally flat to the bottom of my mouth(which we are supposed to when singing AH AE or OO vowel as I suppose). so please tell me how my tongue should be when singing EE vowel. thanks!

highmtn

EE is a wider vowel than AH.

So your mouth is wider, your jaw will have to come up just a bit to provide that width.

Try to keep the tongue in the base of the jaw, but the jaw will come up a bit to allow the mouth to become wider.  The tongue may rise just a bit, but the idea is to keep the airway as clear as possible, with regard to the tongue. 

Go ahead and widen the mouth for the EE and allow the tongue to rise only as much as it needs to in order to get a nice, bright EE sound.  You can't keep the tongue as low as you can for the AH vowel. 

All the Best!

Bob

john

Thank you so much. Also, when i do ah or aa vowel, i get tension around my jaw and cheeks. Is this normal? I think im getting tension because im trying to keep the mouth as wide as possible

highmtn

@john, 

Instead, try "almost" as wide as possible.  

The "as wide as possible" is there because most students will "think" they are wide and they really aren't.  If you're so wide that it's too wide, then back off just a skoshe on that openness until it's a little more comfortable.  

We have to start out slightly stretching out of our comfort zone, but once we find a nice wide-open improvement, we can relax into a good, healthy openness that isn't so extreme. 

See if you can do that, remain nice and open, but reduce your tension from possibly overdoing it.

Bob

john

Thanks bob! Perfect answer