It might be an idea to read the article “the jaw – do’s and don’ts” before this one, since reaching the high notes and a relaxed jaw go hand in hand.
Once you have the knack of opening up the jaw when singing high ( which is mainly simply relaxing it), experiment with the vowel sounds and the shape of the mouth. For many people, a wide rather than a long shape works best (try to keep the lips as relaxed as possible). By this I mean a relaxed “smile”, getting wider the higher you go. The trick is to keep the lips relaxed, reflecting the shape at the back of the mouth, tongue down. Like you have a “hot potato” in your mouth, everything expanding in your mouth to get away from the heat.
Vowels when singing high
Take a song that you’re working on with a difficult high note, for example a word with an “a” vowel (“take”, “make” etc). Starting low in your range, sing gradually up the scale, changing the vowel to a rounder shape as you sing higher and higher, i.e. to an “eu” or “o” vowel. At the same time relax and open the jaw, focusing the note in the mouth. Putting a “g” in front of the vowel can also help “ga, ga, ga, geu, geu, go, go” etc.
Also, experiment with the larynx. It can help to imagine that you have a ligament within the larynx, that’s moving very slightly as you sing, the larynx itself staying relatively still.
This makes the changes the larynx is having to make to find the tuning of the song much more subtle.
Related articles:
- The jaw – do’s and don’ts