Tongue gym

Photo: David Huang

Say: red leather yellow leather red leather yellow leather red leather yellow leather

Say: toy boat toy boat toy boat toy boat

Relax the back of the tongue. Relax the throat. Feel the buzz, the vibration, in the upper face mask, against the hard palate. The muscle fibres in the tongue go in all directions; you need to work them out on a regular basis so they don't seize up on stage.

Now, forward placement. My mind is my own. Many men are making much money in the month of May.

Love your vowels. Vowels are the container of sound. No glottal frys - whoops - you did it again. Listen.

Too airy. Focus the sound. Like a laser. Extend between the hipbones and lower ribs.

Support your breath. Inhale. Flip the abdominals. One by two by three by four...your max is 16? You need to be able to go up to 32. Double your daily practice time.

Intention. Volume, resonance, sustained breath, all come from intention. Intention is the mover of movers. Don't tense the tongue. Don't squeeze the ribs. Loosen your neck. Work the abdominals. Down there, you can work like a dog, but everything above must be loose. Tension kills vibration.

You don't raise volume with the breath - you do it with buzz. Buzz beats breath.

OK. Body warmup - check. Face warmup - check. Neck, jaw, lips, tongue, soft palate - check. Vocal glides - check. Tongue twisters, vowel work, consonant work - check. Breath control - check.

Now, run Shilling Love. Focus, project, tone, placement, long torso, sustain the breath, sustain the breath, sustain the breath. Your goal is to take your vocal instrument from violin to double bass. Oops, glottal fry. Listen.

Two hours of voice coaching - and we've only just begun to work the piece.