Hi everybody!
My name is Justin Stoney and I'm the founder of
New York Vocal Coaching here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 49 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you guys as singers
by answering your questions from all over the world.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later.
But our question for this week comes from
Anthony C. in West Haven, Connecticut.
And Anthony writes, "Dear Justin, I would love to learn how to roll my R's.
But I can't do it.
Can you show me how to do it?"
Yes, Anthony.
I think I can and this is a great question because
we do need to be able to roll our R's and do tongue trills often
when we sing and when we speak.
Now most of you probably know what this is
but let's talk about what is a tongue trill or a rolled R is.
Where the front of your tongue comes up
and meets your hard palate or your alveolar ridge
you get a sort of [Demonstrates sound]
sound.
Now it's not the back, it's the buzzing against your hard palate.
Now why do we even need this?
For one thing we need this if we're going to be doing some
classical repertoire that uses Italian or maybe Spanish.
Or if we want to speak those languages we need to
roll our R's and also it makes for a great vocal exercise.
So those of you that already know how to do this
hang in there for the end, because we're going to do
an exercise together where you get a chance to work some tongue trills.
They're really great for the voice.
And then finally is there any sound that you guys
really don't want to be able to make?
We know that on this show we're going to cover
every sound that there is out there, over time.
And we want to be versatile with our voices.
We want to not have limitations.
We don't want to have sounds that we can't do.
So if you want to be able to do a tongue trill
now's your chance to be able to do it.
Now some people think that they can't do a tongue trill.
And most of the time this is not true.
I will admit though there's a genetic issue sometimes
for people with tongue trills.
There are some people that just will not be able to do the trill.
But here's the two things that, genetically speaking,
if you can do it you're going to be able to do the trill.
Here's what they are...
Number one, you need to be able to lift your tongue like this.
In the front it's got to lift up and touch the hard palate.
That's the first thing.
Second thing though, this is the one that's harder for some people,
is you have to be able to curl your tongue.
The sides of the tongue have to be able to come up.
Or else the trill won't work so if you can curl your tongue
in a sort of u-shape in the middle and the sides
and you can lift it you will be able to do the trill, alright.
Even if you can't now we're going to work together
right now to be able to do it.
So here are some steps for you guys
to be able to do a tongue trill, okay.
First I'm gonna tell you a couple common ways
that have helped people get it in the past.
One is repeating words that kind of have the sound of it.
Like, say the word "butter".
If we say,
butter butter butter butter butter butter butter butter butter
it kind of puts the tongue in that trill kind of place.
Try that out say butter a bunch of times.
Here we go...
That was nice.
So you feel that butter butter butter.
Right.
Now another thing is to kind of use a Scottish accent.
Just say for me,
Scotland is great [Scottish accent]
Okay try that out.
That's right.
Scotland is great [Scottish accent]
That was nice, good.
Good job.
Alright, so that sound "guh guh" that is going to start
the tongue trilling.
So that's kind of just a few ways that people have talked
about in the past.
What I'd like to do for you guys today is
talk about how it's not just the front of the tongue
we need to address to get this trill right.
But, the whole tongue.
I'm going to show you what I mean.
So first of all, the front.
Here's what we have to do with the front.
First of all we need the jaw and mouth relaxed.
And then the tip is going to come up,
not to meet the teeth.
If you're meeting the teeth you're too far forward for the trill.
We're trying for the alveolar ridge.
Whoa.
That is a part of the hard palate.
It's a little further back from the teeth.,
It's not the gums, it's not the teeth,
it's a little further back on the hard palate.
That's your alveolar ridge, that's where the trill
is going to take place.
So that's one thing you really have to know.
The thing is that tip of the tongue has to be loose.
If the tip is tight you will never do the trill.
That is what is flapping.
So if you tighten that guy it's not going to be able to flap.
So really, when you're trying these trills
you've got to keep the front super relaxed and
touching the right place.
Now that's just the front.
Most people have trouble because they're only thinking
about the front when they're doing the trill.
But now we need to know about the sides
and then also the back.
So here's the sides.
The sides, as I say, they have to be able to curl up.
You have to curl your tongue on the sides.
First of all, meet the teeth.
Let's try touching the sides of the tongue to the teeth.
probably the molars.
Alright, okay.
So you're going to meet the sides of the teeth.
This is not how to do it but the first step to doing it.
When you do the actual trill it's going to be inside the teeth.
But first meet the teeth with the sides of the tongue.
That's good.
Okay so if you've got that now just think about
a few of these sounds that you may have heard.
This is kind of a retroflex tongue, this "err" sound.
We have a curl and a pull back of the tongue.
You may have heard this with the announcer Tom Brokaw.
NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.
And it has that kind of curl to the sides.
Or Austin Powers, Dr. evil, he does the
"I'm still hip, I'm still cool, taka-taka-taka-taka"
That sort of "huh" sound of the sides of the tongue,
you've got to engage that when you're doing [rolls tongue]
or else that won't stabilize things.
So that's what you've got to do with the sides.
Now finally the back.
The back is another thing that people miss.
We can't have the back shoving down
and we can't have it totally loose.
It has to have a little bit of upward activity.
One way to find this is with a sort of velociraptor sound.
Try this crazy thing for me.
Try a...
[Demonstrates sound]
Okay here you go...
Very scary, good.
One more time...
[Demonstrates sound]
That was great.
So we have the back of the tongue also engaged.
That's one of the great things.
If you're trying that D or R sound in the front
and then you engage in the back,
you're also curling the sides.
That is how you're going to be able to find the trill again.
Most people are neglecting the lift of the back
and the lift of the sides when they're doing the trill.
So I hope that that helps you guys to start finding the mechanics
of all the aspects of the tongue,
so that you can get the trill.
One more bonus tip for you.
If you try another trill like a lip trill,
some people can trick themselves into doing it
by feeding their tongue through that trill
and using the one trill to influence the other.
That's just another nice trick for you to try
as you're experimenting.
So that's how to do it.
Let's fast forward to say that you
figured that out after some practice
and now also those folks who already know
how to do this we're going to put it to an exercise.
We're going to go up and down with a tongue trill.
This helps with your breath support,
it helps with your flexibility,
and with your registration.
Because we're making an even sound,
even volume, even production all across the range.
So here's what it's going to be.
1-3-5-8-5-3-1
Guys down here...
And ladies up here...
And here we go together with the trill.
Alright.
Awesome stuff.
So
now you know a little bit more about
how to do that trill, how to get the mechanics right.
And then also you can use it in an exercise
to help build your voice.
So Anthony and all, I hope that's been helpful
for you guys today as singers.
If you've got questions that you'd like to see us answer on the show,
you can send an email to, Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
And so we just encourage you,
don't lose that joy, don't lose that passion,
don't let people tell you that you can't sing
you and I both know that's just not true.
Get with a great voice teacher in your area
or if you guys are in New York City
or you want to Skype with one of our staff
you can visit, www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com.
And if you guys like these videos
I just encourage you to download our free app
for iPad, iPhone, and hopefully more in the future.
So many great tips, videos, articles, more stuff to
help you guys grow as singers.
So check out that free app and you can also visit
www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
I'm Justin Stoney.
We'll see you next time.
♬