This original post could have been my teacher describing me a couple of months ago (and on occasion now). Here are some things that worked for me (I know some have already been mentioned):
1. Bend from the waist (look for contact lens on the floor kinda thing) while singing. An ocatve slide on [i] works well for me, changing to [i] on the bottom then [a] on the top once I get out of comfortable [i] range.
2. Exaggerate the tongue position so it is grotesquely forward and sing. I also like [i] for this. The entire middle of the tongue will be visible. This helped me to get the feeling of the sound being "out there" instead of stuck in the back of my mouth. Also, couteract the tongue pulling back with it pushing forward. I needed to feel my tongue pressing against my bottom teeth at first to fight it wanting to pull back. I also needed to watch this in a hand mirror.
3. Remember to emphasize the lifted soft palate in all of this, as a low palate seems to accompany a depressed tongue. Explain the working together, that as the tongue comes forward and the laryx lowers, the soft palate raises.
4. I agree that breath is probably NOT the issue. BUT, she probably thinks it is, since she may have been told or assumed that this was related to breath. SO, let her know that when she thinks it's breath, it's probably NOT! Remind her to go to one of the other places (palate, tongue, low larynx) instead. Once she is comfortably incorporating all of these, you can focus on any compensations she was making with breath in thinking that she had a breath issue. Most likely that means she was applying MORE breath pressure than necessary.
I hope some of these are useful to you.
Melinda Imthurn
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