Tongue Release – 4 Exercises

Today I’m bringing you not one but FOUR exercises in one video. I want to give you all the support I can because, wow, tongue tension is a huge challenge. So many singers deal with tongue tension and, because it’s inside the mouth and we don’t see the tongue in action, it takes a high level of physical self-awareness to spot it and even more to fix it.

In this video, I’ll share with you four ways you can encourage a more released tongue position:

1. Tongue Stretch – Very simply, just stretch your tongue. Straight forward, toward one ear, toward the other ear, up toward the nose, and out while you yawn.
2. Tongue on the Lip – On any musical figure, sing with the tongue actually out on the front lip. In this position, you’ll be better able to notice hardening or retracting of the tongue as you move through the pitches you’ve chosen (I use an arpeggiated octave Do Mi Sol DO Sol Mi Do).
3. Tongue Slurp – This is disgusting, but put the tongue up behind the top teeth and then slurp a bunch of air underneath (like Hannibal Lecter). Now, find those parts of the tongue that got cold when you slurped and lift them up and sideways, up over the back molars. Voilà! Now the tongue can stay out of the throat without sticking out of the mouth in the front.
4. La-Ya Scales – This is the only vocalise with specific pitches in today’s video and it’s straightforward – a 9 note scale (Do to high Re and back) on “La-a-a-a-Ya-a-a-a-La-a-a-a-Ya-a-a-a-La”. Begin by isolating the tongue movement for L and Y to just the tongue, not the jaw. You’ll feel a rocking back and forth, with the tip of the tongue up behind the top teeth for L and up in the back for Y. Now add the vowel and pitches, and you’re on your way! This exercise works to create coordination in the tongue so you can use it when you need to for diction, and also keeps the tongue busy so it can do less of it’s usual balling-up-in-the-neck act.

Thanks for practicing!