Lips and Singing in Key

Just like your throat and chest and posture, your lips play a part in singing. There is something referred to as the lip trill. It is also known as the lip bray, or bubbling. It is actually a low impact warm up that can be used before a performance. You have to open your mouth wide into a yawn and giving the lips a good stretch you purse them. Then you create a bubbling sound at the same time as singing a vocal tone. It is important that you get a good balance between air and sound in this exercise. Then you can work towards increasing the duration of the exercise.

If there is too much air you can’t get the full benefit from the lip trill. It will be uncontrolled and cause the singer to run out of breath very quickly. That can be devastating when a singer is trying to perform and hit those high notes. The exercise can be very challenging at first and will take time to master. If you have any difficulties maintaining the lip trill then try gently squeezing two fingers into the cheek on either side of your mouth. The lip trill is designed to learn to control and direct the out breath for the purpose of developing a vocal tone quality. The lip trill will also stimulate the lips and mouth. It flushes them with blood and warms up the voice easily.

You should try to sing the lip trill over an ascending and descending major arpeggio (1, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, and 1). Along with the trill there is an exercise called the “Lip Roll.” It is simple to do and gets very good results. It is effective because it teaches your vocal cords to make more advanced vocal connections. It does this by training your most important singing muscles your inner larynx. These muscles sit next to and co-ordinate your vocal cords. To do this exercise you have to lift up both sides of your cheeks to take the weight of the loose skin from around the lip area. Once you have done this just blow through your lips as you would after a long days work. It is really just a big exhale!

You will notice that this makes a strange noise. In fact, you will probably sound like a horse. Then the next step is to make an “AHHH” sound. It should sound dopey and gently push down on your larynx which will keep your voice clear of your swallowing muscles that may interfere in the whole process causing vocal tension. Now you just combine the “AH” with the holding of the skin and there you have the lip roll! You are using your lips to balance out all the excess air pressure while you are disengaging your swallowing muscles from the singing process. This seems simple but it can really transform your voice like no other exercise can. Once you master this move you can run through some scales and feel the full effect of this great and effective exercise.