Proper vowel pronunciation?

Question:

Proper vowel pronunciation?

When you singing, what position should your jaw, lips, and tounge be in?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When singing in a choral atmosphere, usually your mouth should be wide but firm (not like your mouth is open and drooling or something). The exact placement of jaw, lips and tongue varies for the style of music and, of course, the vowel itself.

My choir director in school told us to imagine an egg in our mouths. Opening the lips enough helped us not sound nasally and allowing the tongue to not close up the back of the throat also keeps the air flow going to allow you to have a stronger sound and keep from going flat.

I was also in theater, and this technique worked well. When speaking without using an accent (or, in my case, allowing my accent to show), vowel sounds actually have to distinct sounds, but it happens so fast it's difficult to distinguish it (it's just obvious if it doesn't happen). For example, the "a" sound in "ate" is something like "ay-ee" and the "i" sound in "ice" is a little like "ah-ee". When singing in a choir, typically using only the first of the two distinct sounds (before the sound is closed up) makes for the prettiest sound and the best tone.

When "oooooooo-ing" while singing, keep it round, so you are getting a true "ooooo" instead of "ewwww" (a good example of this is in The Sound of Music, when the children are singing background to their father singing "The Sound of Music")