Ep. 49 'How To Roll Your R's and Tongue Trills' - Voice Lessons To The World

Think you can't roll your R's? Think again. Most people can learn to roll their R's, but have been going about it the wrong way. Rolled R's are important for singing in languages like Spanish and Italian. And tongue trills also make a fabulous vocal exercise. In Ep. 49, Voice Teacher Justin Stoney gives tips and exercises to help master these skills. Enjoy Voice Lessons To The World!

Chapters
00:00 Introduction & Today's Question
00:58 What Is A Tongue Trill?
1:19 Why Do We Need It?
2:05 Think You Can't? You Can!
3:02 1. Getting Started
3:55 2. The Front Of The Tongue
5:02 3. The Sides Of The Tongue
6:27 4. The Back Of The Tongue
6:57 5. Putting It All Together
7:26 Bonus Tip!
7:49 Vocal Exercise - The Many Benefits Of Tongue Trilling
10:09 Justin Stoney's Vocal Benediction, Resources, & Information

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[NewYorkVocalCoaching]

The new book by Justin Stoney "Sing Like Never Before" is now available! 🎶📖🎤
A vocal pedagogy book like none you've ever seen!

[NiteSaiya]

I have never felt more stupid than when trying to learn this damn trill. Sitting around huffing and puffing and making bizarre noises. God forbid anyone walk by while I'm doing my best impression of an epileptic cat.

[catriona]

"Now it's your turn!"

*silence*

nice!"

[taylercasch]

I am getting a serious 90's Dicaprio with this guy

[HayleyUnitaAnne]

I feel like I'm watching Dora The Explorer when he pauses and replys with 'that was good'

[ameteuraspirant]

I thought his acting was kind of kooky in an interesting way but when he paused for a second while I said butter and then complimented me I burst out laughing, he channeled his inner blues clues, that is just awesome.

[mtascut]

This guy is making me feel awesome even through my utter failure attempting trills throughout the video.

[lucasjarrett]

Okay, I finally figured out how to do this and I have an extra piece of advice for the weary traveler, an epiphany that helped me figure it out after failing pretty hard for awhile.

The epiphany did not arrive in this form (I realized part A after part B helped me to achieve success), but I have broken it into two pieces that will hopefully help anyone who was struggling in the manner that I was struggling.

To people who can already make the sound: this information might sound extremely obvious (although I suspect it's possible that some of you intuitively grasped the roll movement without consciously breaking it down into tongue-generated action vs. sound-generated action [instead perceiving the action as a whole, thus observing simply that the "tongue must vibrate in a certain place"]), but I have a feeling I'm not alone in being formerly confused about this, so here goes:

*A*: The vibration in your tongue that creates the rolling sound is not generated by your tongue.

This means that when people say, "The tip of your tongue vibrates, " they could also say, "Your voice vibrates the tip of your tongue." For me, this was a critical distinction. Intuitively, I was operating under the assumption that my tongue was supposed to generate the vibrational energy somehow, and I had no idea how I was supposed to move my tongue that fast. I am aware that he said something to the effect of "keep the tip of your tongue loose, " but I did not take that to mean, "you are only controlling the placement of your tongue with your tongue." I just thought the tip of the tongue had to be quite loose for the tongue muscle to make the tip vibrate that fast. I did not go over the process very consciously at first, so I am not completely sure why I misinterpreted the process in that way. One guess is that it could be because I am so accustomed to speaking Lazy American, in which basically every new sound is a tongue movement (made with the tongue muscle), which perhaps lead me to expect that the sound is made by moving my tongue really fast. My impression was reinforced by the idea that saying "butter" really fast would help (like I'm supposed to practice moving my tongue fast), but I don't think that helped me. What helped me was the understanding that my voice produces all vibration, whereas my tongue is purely used to shape the flow of air (after which is remains in a fixed position); and, very importantly, the epiphany that occurred to me in the form of part B.

*B*: Curling your tongue and moving the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth can each be used as tools which help to manipulate any vibrating tongue sound into a vibrating "r" sound.

This is how I found success. Granted, it still took me a few minutes of serious concentration. I did not feel like saying "butter" to myself in the shower for the next three months like one kid said he did in his video. I will explain this strategy more thoroughly for those who would appreciate that. 

I should note that I did have an advantage in that I could already make a vibrating tongue sound in the back of my throat. If you can't do that yet, I recommend trying it, because I personally found it much easier to get that part of my tongue to vibrate rapidly. You can vibrate the back of your tongue by making an extended, arguably comical, sound, then raising the back of your whole tongue (no need to curl, yet) slowly toward the back portion of the roof of your mouth until it is close enough that the flesh of your tongue vibrates against the roof of your mouth *as a natural consequence of its close proximity to closing the gap entirely (dampening the sound to a moan) and the way you release your air.* This is key. When I was a kid making this sound, I think I assumed intuitively that I was moving my tongue muscle really fast. Now, I realize I am making that sound by vibrating my tongue against my mouth using my larynx to generate vibrational energy. For those who grew up in a family that allowed the sort of thing, vibrating your tongue in the back of your throat is very similar to the motion with which you gargle water. Transitioning from gargling water to continuing the vibration after you swallow might help. I'm calling this the "gargle sound" from now on.

Now, assuming you can vibrate the back of your tongue against the back of your mouth with the gargle sound, you can move the vibration in the back of your tongue forward toward the tip of your tongue until you nail the sound he is doing in the video. Basically, you begin with the gargle sound, then slowly and carefully (maintaining the vibration between your tongue and the roof of your mouth) change the shape of your jaw and the placement of your tongue until you are forming an 'r' sound while the tip of your tongue vibrates against the roof of your mouth.

A breakdown of the tongue relocation process might help you to move your tongue and jaw in just the right way:

The 'r' sound results from having your tongue force a lot of the air around the outside of your mouth (around your teeth). You'll notice this if you just prolong the 'r' in 'robot' and feel the location of your tongue with your finger (centered near the roof of your mouth, forcing most air up, left, and right). Thus, curling your tongue is what naturally must happen in order to allow some air to pass between your vibrating tongue and your mouth. Growling through a gargle (the most serious kind of growl, obviously) makes an 'r' sound in which the back of the tongue is vibrating. If you make a growling, gargling 'r' and look in a mirror, you might be able to notice some modest tongue curvature during the formation of that sound toward the back of your tongue.

If you begin with an 'r' growl and then slowly lift the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, you should be able to find a place where the tip of your tongue starts vibrating against the roof of your mouth. You will still probably be vibrating too heavily toward the back of your throat at this point, but once you have the back and tip of your tongue vibrating, it is simply a matter of reducing the amount of vibration in the back (by lowering that part of your tongue) while maintaining tip vibration until you have a nice, frontal, rolling 'r'.

Man, I must be bored.

[christina]

Just sitting here not doing anything but I'm taking all the compliments xD

[itsmelive]

Hi my name is Leonardo DiCaprio 20 years ago, and I'm here to give you voice lessons.

[Sorrycomrade]

Dude.. You are the man. The Velociraptor technique worked, I was beginning to think I was genetically unable lol.

[banjoc]

Anyone else getting a mid-nineties Leonardo Dicaprio vibe?

[neilpottermusic]

I am a singing teacher and I've been through endless books and videos, and this guy knows what he's on about. The best teacher I've seen thus far! Keep up the good work mate!

[dracula.]

Oh. MY GOD I NEVER THOUGHT I'D.... WOW. OMG. THANK YOU BRO OMG I DID IT FOR LIKE 2.5 SECONDS BUT IT WAS THERE AND YOU ARE A GOD...




*Edit*


Never again shall I make such a noise again. It was a one time deal, I guess. My tongue just flys forwards now.

[jeffporter]

Your techniques are way better than most on the web because you address the whole tongue, not just the tip. Brilliant technique! Thank you. Within 4 minutes, my trilled R's finally are successful!

[zegtronic]

HOLY IVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO THIS IN MY LIFE, I WAS ABLE TO DO IT BY 5:07 ON THIS VIDEO :D YOU ARE BY FAR THE GREATEST MAN WHO HAS EVER THANK-YOU SO MUCH!!!!

[everettwatson]

I've watched a dozen or so "how to trill the r" videos, and this one is by far the best. Thanks!

[ronaldo]

this guy has the right attitude, the right advice, the right way to teach. good job.

[hydrolics]

This guy is one of the most helpful vocal coaches on youtube, very clear and discriptive

[jamiewheeler]

Okay, can't do it yet, but best tutorial I've tried.