Relaxing the lips and head

Relaxing the Lips & Head

The easiest way to relax your lips is through lip trills.  Pressing the lips together, release air through the lips creating a trill. You can also relax your lips by placing your index finger on your closed mouth like you’re saying “shhh” while releasing air through either side.

After warming up your breath and lips, practice humming to relax the head and learn how to best articulate different sounds.  Humming is the basis of vocal training.  As you hum you should aim to relax your jaw and mouth. You can do so by humming the following:

Huh
mmm
hmmm
I
me

Note how you must articulate your tongue while humming to achieve different sounds.

You can also play articulation games (tongue twisters) like the following:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?

Betty Botter brought some butter
But she said, “this butter’s bitter
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter!
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better
So ’twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood

She sells seashells by the seashore

Which witch is which? (x3)

Truly rural (x3)