Have you ever had the fear of something going in your mouth and people staring at your gaping mouth as you try to sing your best? Well, we may sometimes have to open our mouths wider still.
If you don’t sound good while singing and it seems too difficult you need to open your mouth wider still. But trying to understand how techniques work and when to open your wide and when not to is a far bigger and more important and more effective discipline to learn than it is to just be told how wide your mouth ought to be.
It truly is like that. The more you know about singing and understand the importance of deliberate practice and techniques, the more you’ll be able to sound good in singing.
More and More
I remember the first time that I was trying to make sense of this. Looking back I was definitely not opening my mouth as much as it was needed.
Now, I don’t think twice about it.
The answer is this, if you can’t sound a certain way, you’re probably not opening your mouth enough. I wish that was it and we could call it a day. But so much of it depends on so many other things.
At the end of the article are more resources for you to have so that you are better equipped than just knowing how wide you ought to open your mouth.
Depends on What You’re Singing
Depending on how you want to sound you will alter your mouth’s structure. If the song or the technique calls for a certain kind of sound then you will modulate your voice to adapt to that.
To think that this could be answered linearly, that you should open your mouth this wide for this then it would make singing a very accessible thing and a lot more people would be way better at it.
Think of this as an introduction to what a technique is.
Singers use different techniques to make sounds come out of their mouths. Opening your mouth wide and by how much is one of the techniques you will use nothing else.
Experimentation
When you are first starting out you may not be able to switch between two techniques that fast but when you are proficient enough through practice I am sure you will go through techniques like it’s nothing.
But a little needs to be said about experimentation, I believe when you learn a technique using it in your own way and understanding how you can use it to make other things sound a certain way is also important when you are trying to find your own singing style.
Exposure
The more you know and the amount you’re exposed to great singing you will be able to not just replicate them but also be able to break them down and decide which techniques you ought to use and how you want to sound.
Singing High vs. Low
This is a general rule but not written in stone because how you start your note also matters a lot.
Generally, when you are singing high you will tend to open your mouth much wider when compared to singing low when your mouth is going to be relatively less open.
Again, it’s just a technique that helps you achieve something. You open your mouth in different ways and you get these different sounds out of it. In this case, it’s related to pitch.
It’s Just a Technique
If you have not decoded it yet and if this is your first article here…
Technique is how you make a sound in music.
Speaking Vs. Singing
I think there is a great deal we can learn when we contrast singing with speaking. By that I mean, you pick up speaking at a child while being exposed to it all the time.
There is almost no need for you to pick it up yourself and try to become good at it.
However, for singing, these techniques do not come naturally to us from our environment. We have to deliberately learn the techniques used in singing in order to become good at it.
Many people believe singing is a talent. It’s not. It really isn’t.
You have to practice it just like you have to practice every other thing in other art forms to become good at them.
I hope that makes sense. So, without deliberate practice, it is not just a matter of how wide you need to open your mouth to achieve a certain type of sound but what sound do you want to achieve?
Why Learning Technique Is Important
As you could’ve guessed by now, learning technique is important. If you think about it, that is all the game of singing is. Or in music. Learning what to do to get what kind of sound.
Yes, it’s an oversimplification of what we do but it’s true nonetheless.
Producers, composers and everyone else does this one thing, make a sound, just differently.
I want to tell you this though, it doesn’t have to be hard. I don’t believe that learning anything in music and especially singing is a hard thing to do.
It’s about carefully learning the right things. They’re not hard to understand or do but they are important and if you give them your undivided attention for 30 minutes a day you will get better at not just singing but anything you set your heart to learn.
How You Can Learn to Sing
Before we end this I would like the share the good news that online courses. You can read about it here altogether.
Essentially they help you a lot and you will benefit way more from them than what they cost.
To cut to the chase, ‘The Four Pillars of Singing’ is my time-tested and favorite online course there is.
But if you’re interested in knowing about all the courses that are on offer by Robert Lunte, check this out, I’ve included the prices as well.
No wrong decisions here, have fun and learn how to sing properly! I wish you all the best!