Chorus people, i need your help!!!?

Question

I want to sing better and my friends are constantly telling me to open my soft pallette. first of all what the heck is it? and second, how do i open it? my friends have tried to explain and failed miserably

Answer 1

First, it's easier to find your hard palette. press up on the roof of your mouth with your tongue. you can feel the hard palette up there. it's the hard part of the roof of your mouth...

now behind that is your soft palette. you can feel it by sliding your tongue back, or by sliding your finger back along the roof of your mouth. the soft palette starts about as far back as your back teeth. it's the part of the roof of your mouth that is... softer. it feels a little fleshier and less... hard.

now the goal in singing, is to raise that soft palette up. one good exercise is to take a breath in while making the "k" sound and then breath out making that "k" sound. feel how when you make he "k" your soft palette kind of rises and opens up?

once you know that feeling, try to push your soft palette up while singing.

hope that helps.

Answer 2

Maluba explained it very well.

Another way to explain how it "feels" is to take a quick breath like you just got startled or scared. Your soft pallet will go up naturally this way.

Something else that is important is to make sure your're opening your mouth wide enough, but not TOO wide. Having your mouth open too wide will cause tension in your jaw as well as your throat and it will defeat the purpose of trying ot sing well.

Lastly is the position of your head. Pretend that the top/back of your head is being pulled up by an imaginary string. This forces your chin to go down just slightly which will help the soft pallet to open up.

Good luck.

Answer 3

This may help you too, just click on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_palate

Answer 4

open your mouth wider