(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name is Erica Merritt,
and I am a local singer and songwriter
and vocal coach.
Today, we will concentrate on Articulation.
Articulation is especially important when we're singing.
You wanna know or you want people to know
what you're singing about,
or when you're speaking,
you want them to understand you clearly.
So we're gonna work on some exercises
that help you get better at articulating
or singing clearly.
Before we start, we're going to relax our minds
and our bodies a bit
so that we can focus on the lesson at hand, alright?
So I want you to close your eyes.
Take a deep breath. (inhales deeply)
Let it out. (exhales deeply)
Deep breath through your nose, (inhales deeply)
into your diaphragm and out. (exhales deeply)
Deep breath. (inhales deeply)
Let it out. (exhales deeply)
Now you can open your eyes.
I want you to roll your shoulders back for me.
Good, now let's roll them forwards.
Good.
Now let's jiggle them like this, back and forth.
Good.
Now I want you to move your head to
the left or the right.
We'll start with this way.
Back to the front.
And to the right or your left.
Back to the front.
Now from side to side, like this.
And up.
And to the other side.
Good.
Now we're gonna go,
not all the way around,
but in half circles, like this.
And stop, and then go all the way back and stop.
Okay?
So let's try it together.
From the side, half circle,
stop, and then back the other way around, half circle.
All right, and then forward.
Okay, so again,
when singing, it's very important to make clear
and distinct sounds when communicating, right?
Or singing.
We wanna make sure that your beautiful voice is understood,
and the words that you're saying are understood.
All right.
So one of the first things that I like to do
is to make sure that we're opening our mouths
as we're singing.
Okay, open your mouths.
How big do you have to open your mouth?
I think that a good place to start
is have two fingers, take your two fingers like this.
Make sure they're clean.
And you're gonna put them
inside your mouth.
You wanna make sure that as you put them inside your mouth,
there's enough room to put your fingers inside
without touching the walls or your lips.
Ready?
Okay.
So that's a pretty good idea
of how wide you wanna open your mouth, okay?
And when we're doing articulation exercises,
what we're doing is concentrating on our vowel sounds,
A, E, I, O, and U,
and also, our consonants.
I have a lisp, let's try that again, consonants. (laughs)
Alright?
So one of the things that I like to do
is called the Lips, the Teeth, the Tip of the Tongue.
I'm going to say it first,
and you're going to say it back, okay?
Alright, first exercise, here we go.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
Now it's your turn.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
Try it again.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
All right, now we're gonna try to do it three times.
I'll do it first.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
Now it's your turn.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
The lips, the teeth,
the tip of the tongue.
Very good.
Notice that we're using our lips,
our teeth, our tongue, and our jaw a lot
when trying to make sure that we are articulate
and that we are articulating.
The next thing that we're gonna do
is sing that same exercise.
We'll do it in the call and response method,
where I'll sing it to you
and then you'll sing it back, alright?
Are you ready?
Okay.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Now I'm gonna add a little more at the end.
Listen carefully.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
When I go to that last note,
I'm actually moving the sound to the back of my throat.
♪ Tongue ♪
Like that, okay?
So, want you to try it.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Good!
Now I'm gonna do it again.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Your turn.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Now I'm gonna move it back to my throat when I say.
♪ Tongue ♪
I'm gonna go all the way up and all the way down
to stretch out the back of my throat.
♪ Tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Now you try it.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Good job!
Let's try it again.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
Good job!
Now we're gonna try a little bit more of this.
I'm gonna call it and you're gonna respond, all right?
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Tip of the tongue ♪
Good!
Do you see how your mouth was warmed up
and you're speaking articulately when we do this exercise?
Let's try it again.
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Tip of the tongue ♪
And remember, when you're doing that.
♪ Ongue ♪
It's not so much for it to sound beautiful,
but I want you to make sure that you're
exercising the back of your throat
and your palate, actually.
♪ Tongue ♪
Okay?
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ The lips, the teeth ♪
♪ The tip of the tongue ♪
♪ Tip of the tongue ♪
Very good, very good, okay.
Now we're gonna try a few articulation
or diction exercises.
Diction is the way that we say words
or sing words.
We are gonna practice some tongue twisters.
Tongue twisters are not easy for me,
but they're an awesome way to practice your diction
or articulation, all right?
The first one is, I'm gonna read it,
and then we're gonna say it together,
she sells seashells
by the seashore.
Let's try it again.
I'm gonna say it again or read it again.
She sells seashells
by the seashore.
Alright, now I want you to try it with me.
She sells seashells
by the seashore.
I did it, I bet you did it too.
Let's try it again.
She sells seashells
by the seashore. (laughs)
Pretty good?
Alright, I'm trying.
It's not that easy.
Let's try another one.
I saw Susie
sitting in a shoe shine shop. (groans)
Let's try that again.
I'm gonna read it.
I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Now I want you to say it or repeat after me.
I saw Susie
sitting in a shoe shine
shop.
Now let's say it together.
I saw Susie
sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Let's try it again.
I saw Susie
sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Now let's try singing that.
Throw a little extra fun in there.
♪ I saw Susie ♪
♪ Sitting in a shoe shine shop ♪
You try it.
♪ I saw Susie ♪
♪ Sitting in a shoe shine shop ♪
Pretty good, let's try another one.
Whew!
We surely shall see
the sun shine soon. (chuckles)
We surely shall see
the sun shine soon.
Ooh, that was hard.
(sighs) I'll say it and you repeat it back.
We surely shall see
the sun shine soon.
We surely shall see
the sun shine soon. (chuckles)
Now I have a little bit of a lisp,
so it might sound a little funny,
but nevertheless, we continue to practice.
We surely shall see the sun shine soon. (laughs)
You try it.
We surely shall see the sun shine soon.
Good!
We're gonna try singing that same line instead.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Your turn.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
You know, for me,
it's a little bit easier when I'm singing it.
I think it's because I have time
to think about what I'm saying
during the pauses while I'm singing.
But let's try it again.
I'll sing it,
and then I'll point to you and have you do it.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
(laughs) Let me try that again.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Now your turn.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
One more time.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Good!
Let's try all three together.
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Then we're gonna go to I saw Susie
sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Then we're gonna go to we surely shall see
the sun shine soon.
I'm gonna sing these things to you,
and then you're gonna sing it back.
♪ She sells seashells down by the seashore ♪
Now your turn.
♪ She sells seashells down by the seashore ♪
Good!
Next one.
♪ I saw Susie sitting in the soon ♪
(laughs) Let me try that again.
♪ I saw Susie sitting in the shoe shine store ♪
Again.
♪ I saw Susie sitting in the shoe shine store ♪
Your turn.
♪ I saw Susie sitting in the shoe shine store ♪
One more time.
♪ I saw Susie sitting in the shoe shine store ♪
Wow, these are not as easy as it seems I bet, right?
The last one is.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
I'm gonna do it again.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Your turn.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Again.
♪ We surely shall see the sun shine soon ♪
Good!
Those are three different tongue twisters
you can practice every day,
either talking them, speaking them, or singing them
in whichever melody that you choose.
This will help you with your articulation and diction.
Thank you so much for coming along with me virtually today
and learning about proper diction
and articulation when singing.
Again, my name is Erica Merritt,
and I appreciate you joining in with me today.
(upbeat music)