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Where's My EEEE!

I read somewhere that the "ee" vowel, correctly produced, is the foundation of singing. And therein lies the problem.

I spent my whole career as a singer unhappy with my "ee" vowel. It was either too shallow, too "spread" or too dark. I never could get the balance right. The best singers seemed to produce it without spreading the mouth and with considerable space in the jaw. It was clearly "ee" but had all the beauty of "ah".

One teacher advised me to feel my tongue at my upper teeth on both sides. That just made me uncomfortably tight. Dropping the jaw made the vowel more like "ih", too neutral, too heavy and too far from speech.

Eventually I realized that for a good "ee", the one that can become the foundation of your singing, the jaw has to be released rather than dropped. It is the quality of the released opening that is important, not so much the quantity. Of utmost importance is the feeling of "hollowness" behind the corners of the jaw and the release of the hyoid bone in front.

Once you have this three-fold release, you can aim for an absolutely clear, frontal "ee" and the voice will be balanced. You may notice that the tongue now takes the classic position where the sides are high and near the upper teeth, without you trying to cram the tongue into a position.

My advice? Don't mess with the tongue, it doesn't work. Instead, release the hyoid, release the jaw and enjoy that hollow feeling. The rest is natural. Oh, and by the way, I think my "ee" is pretty good now! Just sayin'.

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