In this chapter I was especially enthralled by the tongue. Most of the other things about the jaw and soft palette I already knew but the tongue is new to me. I especially focused on it in my reading because I am having tongue tension problems in the back of my tongue. I believe it is due to a held, depressed form (which I know is wrong) while I’m singing higher songs. Because the tongue has so many attachment points, it has the potential to create a lot of problems for different body parts like the jaw or just create tension in general. The blade of the tongue is what moves to produce our vowels and consonants for speech. Tongue muscles within the blade of the tongue are intrinsic muscles. Located back and up from the blade are the muscles that curl the tongue or depress it. These are extrinsic muscles. The tongue connects down to the hyoid bone and up as far as the soft palate.
The muscle in charge of depressing the tongue is the hyoglossus. When it contracts the tongue depresses and is pulled forward by the genioglossus muscle. This part is especially helpful for me because I am having tongue tension problems that sound exactly like they are caused by these muscles. I’ll have to do more research to learn more and see what I can do to work around it.
I really like where he says that the accuracy of a vowel relies on the position of the tongue, not how firmly it is held in place. I am having a really hard time in my higher repertoire of not holding my tongue in a depressed position as I try to open up my space. So that is particularly applicable to me.
I did not know that you have to lift your soft palate to swallow. That is so interesting! During swallowing, the larynx pulls upwards. So as singers we need to make sure that isn’t happening when we sing.
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