Fish Lips and Rabbit Teeth

FISH LIPS AND RABBIT TEETH

I was in a rehearsal with Dr. Hank Dahlman of Wright State University, when I heard him give this instruction on shaping a vowel (I believe it was the EE vowel). “Fish lips and rabbit teeth!”

I’ve discussed flaring the lips before. I’ve mentioned shaping the OO vowel like a kiss and things of this nature. But I had never heard this phrase before: FISH LIPS AND RABBIT TEETH. Made sense to me - a rounded tone that still had frontal resonance. So, I put it in my little bank of stuff that might become a blog post today, which has now turned into my Choir Bites repository.

So I started to write this post, and I figured I would search “fish lips and rabbit teeth” on Google. After all, so many of these “bites” I am generating are certainly woven into the fabric of choir-dom, right? Sure enough, I found this interesting web link: https://sway.com/mi3nDdLwFwHyNV5a 

This certainly looks like a neat way to put some vowel shape guidelines out for beginning singers, either through a link in Google Classroom or perhaps projected on the Smart Board and gone over in class. Certainly these descriptions are “sticky” enough for young singers to latch on to. Another tool at our disposal!

Choir Bites Interactive Slides can enhance online/hybrid lesson plans or be used as supplemental assignments. Your singers’ awareness will rise as they engage with these simple, “sticky” concepts! Click here to learn more! 

I also found that someone is making interesting t-shirts at this site: https://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-rabbit-teeth-fish-lips/  - I mean, why not?

So, I thank Dr. Dahlman for the original impetus behind this bite, and I thank whomever made this presentation (I can’t find a credit anywhere on it). And of course, I thank all of you for reading.