♫
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 80 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you as singers
by answering your questions from all over.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later,
but our question for this week comes from Jakob B. in Vienna, Austria.
And Jakob writes, "Dear Justin, I liked your videos on the
O vowel and the I vowel.
I'm wondering if you can do a video on the OO vowel.
And yes Jacob, yes today is the day
where we conquer the OO vowal.
And I'm super excited about it because really the OO
is a high note's best friend.
[dog howls]
[Hits piano]
Good boy...
So let's look at some characteristics of the OO vowel.
OO is a very extreme vowel because it's the headiest of all vowels.
It promotes flexibility and helps us build our range
better than almost any vowel can.
This is because of its CT dominance.
That's cricothyroid (whoa) dominance vs TA, thyroarytenoid dominance.
This is going to give us lots of vocal cord flexibility.
The reason for this is the resonance is so contained in the head.
We've got the narrowest embouchure.
The most in the way of the mouth
and a pretty high tongue position as well.
Two things blocking the exit so that the
sound can resonate up in the head.
For you formant fans out there, it's the lowest F1 and the lowest F2.
Making this vowel a closed vowel and a dark vowel.
All of these factors together make it such a head dominant vowel
and help us build our range.
We'll look at the benefits later but first let's
look at some song examples
And how not every OO is created equal.
Here's some OO types.
There's lots of different types of OO vowels that we use
when we sing different styles of music.
First a standard kind of OO as in "I've Got You Under My Skin"...
♫ I've got you under my skin ♫
♫ I've got you deep in the heart of me ♫
♫ So deep in my heart you're really a part of me ♫
♫ I've got you under my skin ♫
Now in a more pop or R&B setting
we don't want to do "yoo" right?
We don't say "what's up YouTube",
we say "what up YouTube".
As a pop star I cannot be bothered to use my lips that much.
So with, "With You" by Chris Brown
we get something like...
♫ I need you boo ♫
♫ I gotta see you boo ♫
♫ And the hearts all over the world tonight ♫
♫ The hearts all over the world tonight ♫
I don't need to use so much.
Now on the other hand we might have something like
Alanis Morissette, a kind of rock song,
when we use a lot of mouth and drop things down
like in "You Oughta Know"...
♫ And I'm here to remind you ♫
♫ Of the mess you left when you went away ♫
♫ You you you oughta know ♫
We really drop things down.
Another kind of time we would drop it down
is when we want to open that embouchure.
Maybe even in a legit song, a classical song,
one of my favorites "If I Loved You",
at the end...
♫ How I loved you ♫
We don't want to have...
♫ How I loved you ♫
Only the open embouchure of that OO will cut it.
And finally what about a smiley kind of OO?
A la our friend Stevie...
♫ You are the sunshine of my life ♫
♫
♫ That's why I'll always be around ♫
♫
♫ You are the apple of my eye ♫
♫
♫ Forever you'll be in my heart ♫
♫
And that smiley, snarly, more nasally resonant OO vowel
sometimes happens as well.
So that's not all the OOs but just some ideas
of how not every OO is created equal.
There's a lot of different variety.
Next let's talk about the benefits and limitations
of singing on OO vowels.
There's quite a lot of benefits to working out
one's voice on the OO vowel.
As we know it's a high note's best friend.
And later we're going to do an exercise
that helps you to do just that.
To extend your vocal range and to build greater flexibility.
Because this vowel promotes great flexibility
and also maximizes that head resonance.
It also builds the headier gears
and the lighter qualities to the voice.
So there's so many benefits but there's also some limitations.
Sometimes people's voices are too light
and the OO vowel is not the way to go.
It's got the least compression of any vowel.
And so you might struggle because of that.
It's also the hardest vowel to belt because it's so closed.
This is one of the reasons that we have to
sometimes modify it a little bit more open on certain occasions.
It's just the least powerful vowel overall.
And it might cause you sometimes to switch to headier gears
earlier than you wanted to go.
Also it can confuse neighborhood canines.
[Dog howls]
Nice doggy...
So let's do an exercise now.
This is going to be HOONG, H-O-O-N-G, on an 8-5-1.
The exercise sounds like this...
♪ HOONG ♪
And the idea here is we're going to
keep the embouchure the same in that puckered OO
all the way up and down.
Now I know there's times where we
we'll want to modify it but not with this exercise.
You're going to stay consistent in the front
and then the resonance is going to also stay
consistent from top to bottom.
That's going to help you even out your registration
and also build range up top.
So it's going to start a little lower for the ladies
and get a little high for some guys.
But let's try HOONG...
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
Good for you.
♪
That's right.
♪
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
Narrow...
♪
Great.
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
Stay consistent.
♪
Right on.
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
That's it.
♪
Lovely.
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
Stay tiny...
♪
Good for you.
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
That's right.
♪
And narrow...
♪
That's great.
♪
Good for you.
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
A few left...
♪
And last one...
♪ HOONG ♪
♪
Fabulous work!
Way to stay consistent across your range.
So Jacob and all, I'm glad you're enjoying these vowel videos.
I know we're going to have some more vowels
to come in the future, but today it was awesome
to explore head voice's best friend the OO vowel.
[Dog howls]
[Justin howls at dog]
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.
So I encourage you don't lose that joy,
don't lose that passion, don't you dare let people
tell you that you can't sing
you and I both know it's not true.
Get with a great voice teacher in your area [♪]
or if you're in New York or you'd like to Skype with one of our staff [♪]
you can visit us at www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com. [♪]
Or if you'd like to sing in the comfort of your home [♪]
you can look at our Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course. [♪]
This is a 12-part video course that takes [♪]
you on a singing journey from beginner to master. [♪]
Hundreds of vocal exercises that you can do at home, [♪]
or in your car, anywhere you may be. [♪]
check it out at www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
Finally, if you'd like free daily vocal tips [♪]
sent to you every day, you can sign up at [♪]
www.DailyVocalTips.com. [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
Until next time, make a joyful noise. [♪]
♪
[Howling]