Mumble mumble - say what?

Thursday, May 16, 2019 by Kirsty Procter | Technique

New Zealanders! I'm sure we are not alone in the world, but most of us are extremely bad at articulating. I might get in trouble for saying this, but my husband talks without moving his bottom jaw at all - how he is intelligible while speaking like this is a skill in it's own right, and quite simply beyond me.

Because of our rampant misuse of articulation, this is often one of the first key skills our singers learn: "are your lips moving forward on your R's and W's and Ou's?;" "Is your jaw dropping when you sing Ahh and Aye?"; "is your tongue performing that L?"; "is your TH a TH or a F?"

And it's not just about me churning out a whole host of well spoken citizens. For singers, how we articulate impacts on two key areas: can anyone actually understand what we are singing; and if you aren't moving your mouth appropriately, your mispronunciation is going to manifest in TENSION.

TENSION!?! The T word is the enemy of singers world wide and it shoots dead free, relaxed and liberated singing tone everywhere.

Do you sound Nasal? You probably need to change your articulation. Do you mumble? You definitely need to change your articulation. Does your jaw tense while singing? You probably need to change your articulation. Unless you're Bob Dylan. If you're Bob Dylan you can sing with a sock in your mouth and I won't say a word.   

Here is a little exercise to get you started. Repeat Red Letter, Yellow Letter over and over. Your lips move forward to kissing position on R and OW, and slightly forward on the er's. You will feel your tongue moving on the L's. On your Yell-ow you should feel your relaxed jaw lower as you say 'OW' at the same time as your lips come forward. Try it in slow motion at first, feel the movement and then gradually speed up.

Happy articulating.

Love - Kirsty