Physiology of Singing: The tongue and elusive "pure" vowels
Channel: Kim Neely
Date: 01/02/2018

Ever heard someone talk about pure vowels? Ever felt like one person LOVED your 'ah' vowel and another person didn't like it at all? Well, here's a video for you!

There's no breakdown of each tongue muscle here. If you want that, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue. But functionally, thinking in terms of single muscles does diddly squat to help you figure out diction, vowels, and eliminating tongue tension 'cause when you're a tongue muscle, you're a tongue muscle all the way from your first drink of milk to your last "what'd you say?"

Lowering the Larynx (for your review): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtMc5pUvAo

Vocal fold vibration review: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=XVDTZ9VwFeo

Singer's formant (aka "mask" resonance): https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=M-B2iILoj6w

About me: 
I have my Master of Music (MM) in vocal performance, Master of Science in speech-language and hearing sciences, and I am a licensed speech-language pathologist (CCC-SLP) in the United States. I also have recurrent nerve paresis in my left vocal fold. This injury went undiagnosed for several years. Throughout those years, I attributed much of my vocal trouble to technique issues, never imagining the problem really originated at the level of the vocal folds. The process of recovery has now lead me to become a speech-language pathologist and the process of being a slightly crazy person has me currently pursuing a PhD in neuroscience researching the neurophysiology of human facial muscles.

I hope this vlog will be a valuable resource for those who suspect vocal injury, are recovering from injury, professional singers and voice teachers.