Songs are made up of two things, melody and words. Words are made up of consonants and vowels. In singing, vowels trump consonants in terms of importance. So in that regard, vowels are one of the the most important elements of singing. Vowel shapes in the mouth make each sound different and unique. The cool thing is, we can change the shape of our mouths to make different sounds for each vowel. Each sound sound is unique. If every song was sung on one vowel, it would be boring boring boring.
What are the vowels most important to singers? We use I, E, A, O, and U as primary or mother vowels. Remember - vowels are all about the sounds. How a vowel sounds is more important than how a word is spelled. Spelling is secondary here. So in reality vowels are all about mouth SHAPES. Check out the chart below:
I Vowel
We are going to take the latin based approach to the vowel I. So instead of this vowel saying “ih” as in the word sit, we will say “EE” as in the words meet, peace, and speed. In latin based languages such as Italian, the word bambino is pronounced bam-bēnō and the I vowel takes on that “EE” sound. It’s important to note that even though some words such as meet and greet don’t have a literal I vowel in them, they still take on that “EE” sound. So it doesn’t really matter how the word is spelled as much as how the word is pronounced. How the word is pronounced will determine which vowel shape we assign to each word.
Make sure that the “I” vowel has SPACE. The “I” vowel will come through in that “OO” space and have the trumpet lips happening here. Nice and loose and forward. Don’t worry, it WILL feel weird and you WILL feel like you’re speaking in a different language.
E Vowel
The “E” vowel is going to take on our “Eh” sound. “Eh” will be sung is the “Ah” space with a dropped jaw and a lifted tongue. Note that the tongue is the part that is doing ALL the work here. The jaw just stays open open open. If your “Eh” vowel starts to become more horizontal, you need to drop your jaw more. This vowel is a TALL vowel. Think Eiffel Tower in your mouth. This vowel pronounces words such as met, gem, and even the word said.
Notice that the word “said” is spelled with the vowels “A” and “I”. Does that matter? No. Do we pronounce the word with an “Eh” sound? YES. So we use the “E” vowel and space associated with it, to pronounce this word.
A Vowel
The “A” vowel is going to take on the largest space in our mouth while pronouncing “Ah”. The jaw is dropped and the tongue is dropped. People get scared of this vowel and try to pull up their tongue to help “place” the sound forward but it will NOT help you to get your tongue involved here. This vowel is the most open space and it needs ALL. THE. SPACE. But remember, the sound in this vowel is placed FORWARD. Do NOT swallow the “Ah” sound or you will be in a world of trouble. If you have trouble with the sound being too far back, swallowed, or too dark, try to sing “Ah” with an ever so slight smile as you sing into the large space.
O Vowel
The vowel “O” is really the most strait forward. It LOOKS like it should SOUND. You sing the vowel “O” and you make a nice big round “O” in your month. Check in the mirror to make sure the “O” shape in your mouth is nice and big, like the picture here. The “O” space slightly less open than the “Ah” space.
U Vowel
The “U” vowel should be sung in the “OO” space. The same space as the words due, blue, and you. The lips will look like “trumpet lips.” The shape on the outside is important but equally important is the shape on the INSIDE of the mouth. Check your tongue. Is it getting in the way? Make sure your jaw is dropped and your back teeth are not touching.