Consonants    return to exercise directory

these exercise will help you with the diction problems brought about by the consonants  t d l n and r. These consonants are very tense in speech.  I have also added the "p" and the "F" and "W". Ounce you work these consonants, the other consonants should fall into place. When singing we want to use as little tension in the tongue as possible because a tense tongue restricts the voice.  When we are emotional in normal live, we tighten the jaw, our speech tends to become more tense and pronounced.  A singer must learn to let the emotion come from the body, the support, not the jaw and the tongue. When singing freely the tongue feels limper, flopper.  It doesn't need to press up against the roof of the mouth and the teeth.  We want it to "pop" the consonants rather than press them out. Working these exercises will help you begin to understand this difficult concept.

Watch the Lips.  Keep trying to push them away from the face.  This will help you keep from jamming the neck with the Jaw. It is very helpful to use a small mirror when working these exercises to watch the lips.  Use a small enough mirror that you can't see anything other than the lower face. Don't  make eye contact. Start with the lip trill exercise


    The Lip Trill
        Lip trill

    The "N"
        Exercise one             Exercise two

    The "T"
        Exercise one             Exercise two

    The "D"
       Exercise one              Exercise two

    The "L"
           Exercise one           Exercise two

     The "R"
          Exercise One            Exercise two

     The "P"
           Exercise One          Exercise two
   
    The "W"
           Exercise One          Exercise Two  

    The "F"
           Exercise One          Exercise two 

    The "Th" with the rolled "R"
            Exercise one           Exercise two

    Other Consonant Exercises
           Exercise one