Articulating voiced consonants from the wrong place can kill your high notes! Enunciating these sounds tightly is a very common limiter of vocal range resonance. So, let’s talk about why and what we can do about it.
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High notes require the vocal apparatus to stretch and thin the vocal folds, and need a relaxed open throat channel to allow the high frequencies to resonate where they are most comfortable. Tension in the base or root of the tongue as well as tension in the soft palate and jaw can override the free movement of the larynx, and tighten down the throat channel, interfering with where the frequencies of sound can resonate. Guess what voiced consonants can do unless you create them right?
Voiced vs Unvoiced Consonants
OK let’s back up a bit. What are voiced consonants? They are consonants that use vocal cord vibration (they are sounded) as opposed to unvoiced consonants, which are articulated with tiny puffs of breath. (It’s a whole other subject, but that’s where popped ps and ts come from when you don’t control that breath!)
Here is a quick list of voiced vs unvoiced consonants:
Voiced | Example | Unvoiced | Example |
---|---|---|---|
b | be | p | pea |
d | do | t | to |
g | gone | c,k | con |
j | Jerry | ch | cherry |
v | van | f | fan |
w | wide | x | tax |
z | zoo | s | sue |
l | lie | ||
m | may | ||
n | now | ||
ng | sting | ||
r | road | ||
y | yay |
I’ll be doing another post on the problem of gluing unvoiced consonants so they sound like voiced consonants, also from a tight jaw and tongue.
If you want to dig a little further, check out this great resource for $3 at Phonics Pow. No, I’m not an affiliate. I just think it’s a cool offering.
How NOT To Articulate Them
Don’t form these consonants at the back of your mouth. Here are signs you’re doing that:
- You aren’t opening or moving your jaw very much.
- Your tongue is bulking up at the back, or root.
- Your laryx is over-raising for high notes.
- Your high notes feel strained and sound tight and thin.
Tips to Articulating Voiced Consonants On High Notes
In the middle of words: actually – DON’T! What I mean by that is, just minimize or insinuate them instead of over-defining them. Up there, they will sound right! Try singing high notes on the following phrases twice, articulating each a different way the second time:
- Change ‘Don’t harden your heart’ to ‘don’t ha’dn yo haht’
- Change ‘Help me I can’t hide the fire’ to ‘he’p me I can’t hide the fiah’
In the middle of lines: If there’s a voiced consonant on the end of a word, try putting it at the front of the NEXT word, and use it to pop that next word open, not closed. For instance:
- Instead of ‘turn on the radio’, try ‘tuh-non the radio‘.
- Instead of ‘going out of my mind’, try ‘goi-ngout-a-my-mind’.
Pay special attention to ‘n’, ‘r’ and ‘l’. They are known tongue root grabbers!
- Here’s a phrase with all three: ‘Behind the red line’. Try singing it ‘Behi-nthe re-dline’.
1st ninja tip:
If you're experiencing tightness: Try singing while placing two fingers up under your chin to suggest to your tongue muscle NOT to tense up there at the root. Be sure you allow your jaw to move freely, though.
Pay double attention to minimizing and loosening any cluster of voiced consonants – I mean, 2 or more of these potential saboteurs in a row. For instance:
- ‘You’re glowing like a lighting bug’. Be careful not to tense the back (root) of your tongue!
Don’t Over-Correct!
Yes, we are borrowing a bit from classical technique in that we’re letting vowels remain more open. However, don’t over-correct so that your style sounds too formal. To illustrate with my song again, if you over-do this strategy then
‘Buy a one way ticket on a west bound train’ may end up sounding like a formal choir version:
‘Ba-ya-wah-nwae-tahkah-tohnah-weh-stbow-ntrain’.
2nd ninja tip:
I’ve found the best ways to get this balance of loose but not TOO open articulation right is to keep a little chewing motion rather constant in your jaw. That keeps you from over-tightening, but keeps your articulation sounding authentic for contemporary genres, not formal.
I’d Love To Know…
OK so try some of this and please let me know how it works for you!
In the meantime, if you’d like to really dig into my vocal training, check out my courses in Power, Path and Performance vocal training.
See ya for another vocal technique or performance ninja tip, recording secret, songwriting strategy or career expert interview – next time on All Things Vocal… for voices with messages that matter!
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