7 DAYS OF 7 DIMENSIONS

DAY 6: ARTICULATION

THE SIXTH DIMENSION

Day 6 introduced us to the sixth vocal dimension. Here is a summary of what Richard and Ami discussed during the lesson, along with anatomical diagrams and downloadable MP3s for vocalizing.

What is Articulation? Articulation refers to the coordination of the tongue, lip, and jaw muscles, also known as diction.

Improving Articulation is important because it will help you:

Pronounce lyrics more accurately, regardless of volume and range of notes
Improve the emotional connection with your audience
Intentionally stylize your delivery by fine-tuning the sound leaving your instrument

ANATOMY OF ARTICULATION

Articulation is dependent on the articulator muscles, which can be broken down into three muscle groups: tongue, jaw, and lip.

Tongue articulators – manipulate the shape and position of the tongue (superior longitudinal, inferior longitudinal, and transverse, and surrounding muscles: palatoglossus, styloglossus, hyoglossus, genioglossus, and geniohyoid).
Jaw articulators – open and close the jaw (mastacian and mandibular depressors: temporalis, deep and superficial masseter, stylohyoid, digastric, mylohyoid, platysma and pterygoid).
Lip articulators – stretch, relax and modify the position of the lips (orbicularis oris and the surrounding expression muscles: levator oris and superioris, zygomaticus major and minor, depressor oris and inferioris, risorius, buccinator, and mentalis).

Why Your Larynx Needs to Float: The larynx, located at the top of the trachea, is suspended from the muscles above it. These muscles primarily consist of the tongue and jaw articulators, which means the position and movement of the tongue and jaw will often affect the position of the larynx itself. As a result, any tension or unwanted stress in the articulator muscles can cause unintentional tonal sounds, as well as general vocal fatigue. In order to express desired tones and lyrics that are comprehensible at the same time, it is vital that the larynx is able to “float” and be free to move.

VOCAL EXERCISE

Let’s explore the featured exercise from Day 6 with Ami. First, it’s important to take a moment to recognize the components of an exercise to help improve your practice and get better results.

Time to practice again! Play the MP3 below to vocalize the exercise from Day 6. While vocalizing, be sure to monitor how distinct each feature (consonant) is throughout the exercise.

CUSTOMIZE

Adapting exercises to address your current skills is crucial for continuous growth! If you found the exercise too easy or too challenging, it’s best to modify the exercise to get the most out of your practice:

Make it easier: Try a slower tempo while exploring all three feature combinations within the exercise (MP3 below). This will allow you more time to clearly define each consonant and then return to the regular speed when ready.
Make it harder: Increase the volume! Doing the exercise with additional air pressure will challenge the coordination of independence between the muscles of the larynx and the articulators above it.

Alternative Patterns: Try the same exercise with a slower tempo as suggested above.

WHAT'S NEXT

Only ONE more dimension to go!!

Tomorrow, we will check out the seventh dimension, Strength! This is an essential one for those of you interested in becoming a professional singer/vocalist.

Keep Singing,
Richard

PS: we can’t wait to share our special offer with you for joining us for our 7 Days of 7 Dimensions event!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 7