Combining tongue positions and “mmm” voice types
Keep your tongue curled or gently held between your teeth while making a nasal “mmm” hum in Goo, Paa and Choki voices.
▶ First, watch the movement in the video
Check the technique, then move on to the explanation and audio examples.
Why practice this?
This lesson goes beyond the tongue-out and tongue-clicking exercises from the introductory course to help you vocalize with even less reliance on tongue tension.
Benefits of tongue curling and gently holding the tongue between the teeth
Tongue-out and tongue-curling or holding exercises look similar. Is there a big difference?
During the tongue-curling exercise, a strong tendency to initiate swallowing may make your tongue slip off your front teeth as its tension increases. This lets you see the habit of tensing your tongue.
When gently holding the tongue between the teeth, attempts to tense it also increase tension in the muscles under the jaw and in the masseter muscles used for clenching. Your tongue can then sense the pressure of your teeth as you try to clench.
I’m not sure I understand how to curl my tongue. Could you show me an illustration?
It should look like the diagram below.
Curling or gently holding the tongue between the teeth physically prevents it from retracting as if swallowing. This makes it harder to use the tongue to reduce airflow, so the exercise naturally shifts toward producing sound using only the parts inside the throat.
Exercises and key points
How to practice tongue curling and gently holding the tongue between the teeth
If practicing with your tongue curled is difficult, start by gently holding it between your teeth.
I’m not confident yet, so please teach me the easier-looking exercise with the tongue gently held between the teeth first!
Lightly hold the very tip of your tongue between your upper and lower front teeth, keeping it from retracting into your mouth. Make a nasal “mmm” hum while practicing Goo, Choki and Paa voices.
Gently holding my tongue between my teeth may be easier than I expected!
Please show me the tongue-curling exercise too!
As shown in the illustration below, keep the tip of your tongue covering your upper front teeth. Make a nasal “mmm” hum while practicing Goo, Choki and Paa voices.
Oh… my tongue tip trembles when I try to cover my upper front teeth.
If covering your upper front teeth with your tongue tip is difficult, strong tongue tension may be considerably limiting its range of movement.
Take your time and keep practicing until it becomes more manageable.
Listen to the examples and try
Keep the volume low and play the examples one at a time to hear the differences between the voices.