5 Helpful Exercises to Reduce Tongue Tension When Singing
Like most young singers, I struggled with tongue tension when I first started training and occasionally have to revisit this issue in my own singing. In fact, most singers suffer from a bit of tongue tension at some point in their careers. Tongue tension or tongue root tension (you may hear it both ways) could be caused by our accent, how we shape our vowels, singing too loudly, too much breath pressure or other breath support problems, muscle coordination in the larynx, unhelpful techniques, anxiety, etc.
What is tongue tension and why is it not helpful?
Tongue tension is really what it says in the name, the tension in the tongue or at the tongue root. The tongue is connected directly to our noisemaker, the larynx, via the hyoid bone. Any excess tension in our tongue can pull and push our larynx and drastically impact our ability to sing a smooth scale and hit those high notes that we all want to hit flawlessly. Furthermore, tongue root tension can affect the tone and resonance of our voice by crowding into and constricting our throat space. As a singer, you will rely heavily on your resonance to help boost the sound waves that are being created at the level of the vocal folds. This boost gives us power, clarity of tone, and coordinated vocal efficiency. I’ve found with my students that reducing tongue tension can significantly improve range, control, and freedom in the mix and head voice.
How do you know if you have tongue tension?
It is very likely that if you haven’t addressed tongue tension before in your singing, then you don’t know that you have it. You may already know that something doesn't feel quite right or that your singing is effortful and tight. This may be due to tongue root tension. The best way to find out if you are suffering from tongue tension is to have a lesson with a good diagnostic teacher. Voice teachers are trained to listen and look for issues like tongue tension in the singers that they work with.
If you do not have access to a voice teacher, here are a couple of ways to quickly identify root tongue tension. While these tests don’t replace working with a voice teacher, they can be helpful in self-diagnosing tongue tension issues.
Place your thumb underneath your chin just behind the chin bone. First, swallow so that you feel the tongue move. You should feel a downward push or downward pressure when you swallow. That is your tongue. Our tongue is much larger than what we can actually see in our mouths. Second, sing a phrase or vocalise. Did your tongue push down or was there downward pressure when you initiated the sound? This could be tongue tension. Normally, we want this spot to remain soft as we sustain a tone on a vowel. You will, however, feel this spot move as you articulate between vowels and consonants.
Look in a mirror and monitor your tongue. Does your tongue drastically retract towards the throat when you sing or sustain a tone? Does your tongue cup in the center as you sing or sustain a tone? While not as obvious as the first identifier, this could also be an indicator of tongue tension. Again, in a perfect world, we would not see much, if any, movement in the tongue as we sustain a tone on a vowel. We do see movement when we articulate between vowel sounds and consonants.
How do you fix tongue tension?
Here are some of my favorite ways to tackle that pesky tongue tension. Voice professionals have many different ways of dealing with tongue tension issues, the following exercises are just a few and specific to my teaching. I have found that my students have had success in relieving their tongue tension issues by incorporating these exercises into their daily practice.
1. Use Consonants
Use consonants that move both the front and the back of the tongue. Monitor the jaw with your forefinger or hand to make sure that it doesn’t move. The jaw should hang relaxed, down, and back. Consonants that are great to use are G, L, K, D, T, J. Use syllables on the following musical patterns: Gah-Lah, Kah-Lah, Kee-Lee, Dee-Gee, Jah-lah, etc. Move the exercise up or down by neighboring semi-tone.
2. Alternate Front and Back Vowels
Alternate front and back vowels. Monitor the jaw with your forefinger or hand to make sure that it doesn’t move with the vowel change. The jaw should hang relaxed, down, and back. Use alternating vowels on the following vocalise pattern: eh-ah, ee-oh, ee-ah, etc. Move the exercise up or down by neighboring semi-tone.
3. Move the Tongue While Singing
Move the tongue around inside of the mouth while vocalizing the cardinal vowel sounds on a 5-tone scale. There are a number of ways that you can accomplish this exercise but my favorite is to place the tip of the tongue between the bottom lip and lower teeth then run the tongue from one side of the mouth to the other while singing. I have found this to be a particularly effective exercise for my students to help release their tongue tension. It helps to tire the tongue so that it will simply relax in the mouth but also the act of moving the tongue continuously while singing seems to build in the muscle memory of a “tension-less” tongue root. Move the scale up or down by neighboring semi-tone.
4. Sing Scales with a Curled Tongue
Sing a full scale up and down while curling the tip of the tongue back towards the uvula. This scale can be sung on vowels such as /ah/ or /uh/. After you have sung the scale a few times with the curled tongue, thrust the tongue out of the mouth (as if to say aahh) and sing a few scales this way. This is a good balance for the curled tongue exercise. Lastly, sing a few scales with the tongue in the correct position for the vowel. How does this feel? Move the scale up or down by neighboring semi-tone.
5. Use a Rolled “R” or a Voice/Unvoiced “TH” with Vowel
A very useful exercise for singers with tongue root tension is to sing a descending five-tone scale beginning with either rolled “R” or a voiced/unvoiced “TH”. As you make the required vowel, your tongue should relax back into the correct position and be free of tongue root tension. Work the following two patterns up and down through neighboring semi-tones.
These exercises can really help you to release the tongue, find freedom in your singing and most importantly build an awareness of what the tongue is doing. Tongue tension can return so you may want to maintain these exercises as part of your daily practice. If you are really struggling with it, it may be caused by an issue somewhere else and you might need help from a voice professional.
It’s not easy figuring this out alone so please get in touch if you need help, or leave me a comment below for discussion. If you would like to schedule a 1-on-1 voice lesson with me, then drop me a line here. I teach locally in Knoxville, TN and internationally online!
Learn more about me by visiting the “Meet Blayne” page.