Tongue curling

[Keith]

I have picked up a new bad habit. Tongue curling. Is this dangerous, or just bad technique ?

[Keith]

The tip of my tongue points at my soft palette

. Only on certain vowels though, and usually only in head voice.

[ronws]

You mean like eddie vedder (and eddie vedder's copycats) do?

in the anthropological documentary series, "Metal Evolution," some musicians referred to this as "yarl" singing or underbite singing. I about spewed my beverage through my nose the first time one of them said that.

:lol:

[Felipe Carvalho]

Keith if its not doing so because you want it to, means there is a tension in the tongue, probably the back/root. If its on head voice, most probably linked with the action you are doing to access it. Soft palate lift?

Anyways, its not necessary at all, the tongue should be free.

[WebAndNet.com]

Getting rid of tongue tension:

1. Read Alan Greene's book-- he has a entire chapter on this topic. Basically, one reaches his finger deep into the throat.

2. Learn better posture, because the tongue muscles is affected by throat muscles, which is affected by posture.

If tongue curls, it obviously block sounds.

[ronws]

Chen, some people have been injured by the physical manipulation of the tongue. Killerfu, a former member suffered such an injury. Pulling on the tongue does not solve the problem. Learning good technique solves the problem. I will bet lunch that most people here will agree with me on that.

[WebAndNet.com]

Greene's method doesn't pull the tongue, one touches or presses the tongue, going in straight toward the tongue.

The Songbirdtree latest video also has a technique--stick the tongue out further and sing ascending and descending scales. http://www.thesongbirdtree.com/how-to-sing-with-great-vocal-tone-part-2/?utm_source=The+Songbird+Tree+Updates&utm_campaign=1a4e372b78-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

Muscle tension isn't rid of by scales or ordinary exercises. Good example is the recent use of roller tubes on leg tensions. Another good example is deep tissue massage. Songbirdtree's method is good --it's for mild tension. When someone's tongue is curling--it's likely a strong tension. This analogy makes sense-- if one has leg tension or muscle knots, massages do help. Why not massage a knot in the tongue (a curl)?

I've tried both Greene and Songbirdtree, and Greene's method is effective for serious tensions.

The question remains why the body doesn't in itself dissipate the tension. It's usually due to bad posture which doesn't allow the counterbalancing muscles slowly pull on the tensions.