Episode 6 - How To Reduce Tongue Tension - Jeff Alani Stanfill 

Wonderful! I'm happy to hear that!!!

Thank you Ana! I'm thrilled you found this helpful. 🌞

You’re very welcome! More to come. 🕺🎶🎶🎶

Thank you Rachel! I'm glad you are finding these helpful. Stay tuned for episode #13 "How to add speed and agility to your singing voice". Should be up later tonight! 😎

Thanks Rock Star ⭐️

Thank you so much Lilian! I have more tutorials coming soon so please stay tuned and thanks so much for watching! Peace and harmony to you. Jeff

Thank you so much! More to come. Stay tuned. 😀

Thank you so much Revery! I really appreciate that. More videos will be coming out very soon. 🌞🎶🎶🎶

Ha ha nice exercise.your great

I'm happy you are finding the concept helpful!

Lori Joachim Fredrics Thank you Lori!

Thank you!!!!

Thank you!! :-)

Matthew I've heard you sustain high notes beautifully!! Thanks man!!

Is the tongue position with the pencil underneath supposed to create the "yawn" position?

Aww! Thanks so much for your awesome comment, and thank you for subscribing! :-)

Thank you Gerson for watching! More videos coming soon! Peace, Jeff

:-)

Doulos Iam Thanks so much! Happy to know you found the video helpful! Pass it along to your fellow singers! I'd really appreciate that. Peace ✌️Jeff

Roger that! actually I already saved your instructional playlist :) thanks!

That is an excellent topic! Thanks for the recommendation. I will put that in the line up for sure! :-)

Hello Claudia. Yes, a tense tongue creates a tense solar plexus which in turn locks the diapraghm. I'm happy you are getting a good rsult with the exeercises. Thanks so much for you kind and thoughtful comment!

Nodiah Brent I'm really happy that you are enjoying the videos! Thank you. I suppose you could describe the sensation of the tongue release as a humming sensation. Certainly you are experiencing more resonance with the tongue stretched out of the pharyngeal space so much. All that extra room allows the vocal folds to vibrate freely. Just make sure you are singing with an even flow of air as you practice with the tongue out! Thanks for watching! Peace, Jeff

Thanks for your reply. In that case, I think what I'm sensing as humming is really the sensation of sound in the upper cavities (as opposed to sound trapped in my throat). I imagine you can practice singing a song with the tongue simply stretched out over the lower lip if you want to keep your hands free to play the piano. Is your instructional CD/DVD geared to fundamental vocal rehab? Is there different material on each?

Great analogy Nodiah! The instructional program "Let Your Voice Soar" is designed to lay out the basic fundamental of the Swedish-Italian vocal technique through videos of voice lessons with 4 singers and me and an audio component with lots of great vocal exercises. The program is currently only available as a digital download which contain everything on the actual DVD/CD. We've sold out of the hard copies. You can purchase the digital download from my website at www.voicesoaring.com for 15% off the $55.00 pricetag by adding "voicesoaring" in the check out code. Thanks so much for watching! Peace and happy singing to you. Jeff

Thank you so much.

Hello avdbmj! First off, by doing these exercises you are immediately reducing the muscular tension that causes the root of the tongue to become rigid, therefore reducing tongue tension. You will notice that after doing the exercises the tongue will feel loose, less rigid and more pliable. You will slowly develop a sense of what a free tongue feels like and you will carry that sensation over to your singing. If you notice rigidity in the tongue while singing, you can pull out your trusty pencil and do a few of these exercises to loosen the tongue up again. I hope this helps you! Thanks for watching and please feel free to share these videos with your fellow singers! Peace, Jeff

Great question. The tongue should never be right or stiff. Just like our bodies need to be elastic and always moving while singing, the tongue can be gently moving as long as it doesn’t alter the vowel when it is supposed to be supporting the vowel shape. A free tongue equals a free resonator. Thank you for your question and glad you’re finding the exercises helpful. 🕺🎵🎵🎵🎵

Hi David. I have had several students throughout the years who were tongue tied and the exercises presented in my tutorial here helped them tremendously. Remember we are stretching the entire tongue here, not just the underside. Let me know if that answers your question! 🌞🎶🎶🎶

Thank you so much Mishari!! 🌞

Mishari Beragdar

Unfortuantely we cannot give our amazing master class with David Phelps away for free. It is already priced at the very low rate of $45.00. We hope y9ou will invest this small amount of money into a master class that will truly change your voice in so many ways. Peace and blessings.

It's worth it. I just bought mine today.

@HRISHABH JHA: Only take the exercise up as far as you can comfortably. Make sure you are feeling a sigh of air across the root of the tongue as you are singing. This IS a singing exercise so if the air stops, the tongue is going to grab and possibly produce friction in the throat. If you stop the air when you are trying to sing a phrase without the pencil, you will feel the tension. The vocal cords work solely on the fact that air is moving through them, so if the air stops, there is no reason for them to vibrate. I hope this answers your question and produces better results. Peace, Jeff

Thanks jeff!! i really appreciate the way you reply to everyone. About my problem i think you're right. But i don't know how to maintain that steady flow of air while singing. I tried doing the scales on hhhaa sound. but that did't help. Actually sometimes i sing really well. the resonance, voice, breathing everything feels just right. But then sometimes i don;t know something happens to my throat. it feels as if something is holding back my throat from doing what i want it to do. at that time whatever i sing or whatever exercises i do, it just doesn't sound good. doesn't feel good. And eventually i stop continuing my practice. please help me out. I am really struggling with this. I am from India. And here we have our own style of music that requires rigorous practice. I feel unable to do progress because of this problem. Please help me out. thanks again!

Chamod, ideally the tongue should have a slightly arched shape to it gently touching the lower front teeth. A groove in the tongue can sometimes be an indicator of tongue tension and can create artificial space in the back of the throat. Try letting your tongue rest on the lower front teeth while singing and make sure it doesn't stiffen up or bacom e rigid. Hope that helps you! Peace and happy singing!

Hi Sophyx. When you practice, the tongue needs to have a feeling of being slightly arched and out of the pharynx. If it is depressing, you are putting pressure on the larynx which will cause a lot of fatigue.

ok, thank yo so much for your advice :)

Hello there. I think if you observe almost any singer singing, you'll notice a vein appearing. Some appear smaller than others but mine are quite large and it has never interfered with my singing at all. It's really due to blood being fed to the muscles around and inside the vocal apparatus to keep it runnig smoothly, just as an athlete's body will show veins when he or she is running, lifting weights or doing other physical sports. Now if a singers throat appears to over-swell with lots of veins showing, then you have a problem. That signals strain. Hope that answers your question and hope you are subscribed to the channel. Lots of future episodes coming. Thanks so much for watching and commenting! :-)

@@JeffAlaniStanfill Thank you! Yes, I have subscribed to your channel. I am also a fan of David Phelps.

Wonderful! Thanks so much for subscribing!

jet_black heart yes, you should be able to do any exercises standing or sitting.

@@JeffAlaniStanfill no that's not what I meant . I meant can I do all these together in one session?

jet_black heart yes, you should be able to do all of these exercises in one session. Just listen to your voice and make sure you are doing these exercises to reduce tension rather than introduce tension. Hope that answered your question! 😊

Alright i feel way more free now with uh ah / whatever you demonstrated here. It doesnt feel pulled anymore and it's pretty strong and doesnt pop into falsetto now. However, i cant do the pencil thing with my hardest to pronounce past e4 area (EE AND OO) :(

+Christopher Phillips ee and oo want to flip into falsetto there.

I mostly feel the vibration on the hard palate while the tongue is laying out on the pencil. The pharyngeal space is more open as the tongue is out. The allows for more free vibration of the vocal folds.

Hey Teri! You can definitely put your tongue behind the lower front teeth if it is comfortable to do so. You can use literally anything like a pencil such a chop sticks or a straw. I like pencils because they feel good. I am so happy you are enjoying the tutorials! Please feel free to share these with your fellow singers and/or voice coaches. Thanks so much. Peace and harmony to you :-)

abhishek kumar Hello. If you are referring to the side to side tongue exercise on the NG then what you are likely experiencing is a release of tongue tension which can often feel like a burning sensation. I would encourage you to keep at this. When I first did that exercise I also experienced an uncomfortable feeling, but eventually the tongue let go and freed up. Hope this helps and thanks so much for watching, and be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already and got that little notification button to be notified of the latest release. Keep singing and let your voice soar!

+Michael Mayne I recommend doing this as part of your complete vocal warm up IF you are dealing with tongue tension on a regular basis. Once you feel that the tongue tension has reduced, than you can cut back on it and only use this exercise when necessary. It's a great tool to have in your vocal exercise tool kit for times when the tongue becomes unruly! Hope this helps!

+Shann Mack Jr Hi Shann! Getting rid of tongue tension permanently is something you may have to work at for a while. By using the pencil under the tongue, you'll feel how free your tongue feels when you put it back in it's normal resting place. Then you'll want to monitor your tongue while singing to make sure it doesn't become rigid, stiff or hard. I use those three terms a lot in my teaching because nothing in your body should become rigid, stiff or hard when singing, especially the tongue. I like to imagine the tongue as soft and spongey. Once you begin to understand this concept, your voice will begin to soar to the sky! Hope this helps. Jeff

Thanacha, that is a very good question. The tongue should (in my opinion) always feel soft and spongey, not rigid and hard while vocalizing or singing a phrase. The pencil under the tongue isolates the tongue so that it doesn't ruin the party so to speak. I will often have my students vocalize with the tongue out so they can be sure they are getting the feeling a free soft tongue. If that doesn't work, we will resort back to the pencil under the tongue. Hope that answers your question and thanks for watching! Peace, Jeff

ramadevi arroju unfortunately I would not be able to help you with that as it seems to be something associated with your diet perhaps? So sorry.

+Jitske Trijntje Hello there. Thank you for your question. I just did an entire episode on the developing nasal resonance through the "ng" ring. When you speak the words ring, ping, ving, ming, sing, you will notice that the tongue lifts against the roof of the mouth closing off the pharyngeal space, or back of the throat. That closure traps the air in the cavity momentarily and allows the vocal cords to close more precisely, which creates a ringing sound. We can capitalize on that sensation and add it to any sound. We want the throat to be free and open as we sing, which we get from singing the Italian vowels, but we need to add a degree of ring on top of that open feeling in order to get it to travel forward. In the 40's and 50's, a lot of singers of that day used this concept to help the voice stay forward on the microphones from that time period. Listen to early Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald and you will hear them close on the ng if it was the last 2 letters of a word in a phrase. Today we still want to access that feeling. I use the concept of the "ng" fpr very young singers who have not developed cord closure yet. It helps them to find the closure and reduces breathiness. Was that helpful?

: much more beyond the ng I read here, ring is just a name for the vocal 'trick' on the ng. Did not know all the info you gave on this aspect, I shall read it more seriously next day, sleeping time now. Bye for now and thanks a lot for the communication! And for those unexpected tongue exercises: beautiful.

...Jeff Alani: did not really understand this in your answer: 'but we need to add a degree of ring on top of that open feeling in order to get it to travel forward': in order to get the sound to travel you should instead: not-close the phar.-area with the back of the tongue..close but travel: how does it go together? I understand very well the educational aspect of the ng, my teacher thought me it, I use it still and until now ... just to warm up, smoothly the cords/muscles.

+Jitske Trijntje Did you watch the video I made about the "ng" ring? It is clearly defined in that video. Please check it out and let me know if you still need clarification. Thank you!

+Jitske Trijntje Today it is often called "twang" in many vocal programs, it is a buzzing overtone in the voice that is produced not only by NG, but also on other nasal consonants like N or M

Keyur, we are working on a series of new videos that will focus on all aspects of singing from posture to vocal, so we will definitely feature one for the neck and spine. Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe and please turn the notifications bell on if you haven't already! Peace and harmony to you. Jeff

That’s a good thing. You do not want your tongue to depress as you ascend a scale of phrase. It comes up to allow the larynx to tilt so that the cricothyroid can tilt to stretch the vocal fold for the higher notes.

Rohan Bhora for that you’d need a speech therapist. Have you searched RU-vid for tutorials to help you?

Mike Hopkins Hey Mike. I’m happy that are able to do the exercises with the pencil. If you are trying to sing the melody of a song with the pencil, you are not going to pronounce the words, but instead you will sing the melody with the feeling of “uh” with the pencil. Then when you take the pencil away and sing the words, you hopefully will have the free tongue and the slight lowered laryngeal position which will allow you to transition through your vocal registers freely. When singing that “uh”, make sure your tongue doesn’t depress down to accomplish this! I hope this helps and thanks for watching! Hope you are subscribed to the channel and be sure to turn on the notifications button for the latest updates. Peace and happy singing! Jeff

Make sure you are feeling breath move across the root of the tongue as you sing. If the air stops the tongue becomes rigid. This is a great concept to also teach you to keep a consistent flow of air as you vocalize.

Jeff Alani Stanfill Ok Thank you