After a quick review of posture and breath support, Marcus began working on vocal-tract freedom, or singing with an open throat. The first exercise focused on dropping the jaw, which means singing with a relaxed but open jaw position. I had him place his fingers just beneath his earlobes and say "ah" as if at the dentist, feeling the motion of the jaw where it hinges. I also had him say the vowels "eh" and "oh", noting that the jaw is slightly less open. "Ee" and "oo" have an even smaller space. I challenged him to say these last four vowels with as much space as possible. Next, I had him repeat the word "yah", paying attention to the movement of the jaw, much like the chewing motion. We sang up and down a five tone scale in quick succession using "yah" on each pitch, again focusing on the motion of the jaw.
To work on word pronunciation, Marcus read a few tongue twisters out loud (such as Peter Piper and Sally Sells Sea Shells), making sure to read clearly.
Last, I spoke some rhythmic patterns using voiceless plosives (p, t, k, and ch), and Marcus echoed the pattern. I told him to overemphasize the explosive sounds of the consonants as if he were speaking them to someone at the other end of a basketball court. Then I asked him to come up with his own sentence using words that started with the voiceless plosives, and he came up with "potato cheese cake."
