How to Smile while Singing

What Kind of Smiling Helps Singing in General?

The most beneficial type of "smile" for singing is often described as an "inner smile," "smiling with the eyes," or a "Mona Lisa smile." It's not about a wide, forced grin that pulls your lips horizontally across your face.

Here's why this type of smile helps:

1. Promotes a Brighter, More Resonant Tone:

   • Elevated Cheeks/Zygomatic Muscles: When you smile genuinely with your eyes (think of how your face looks when you're pleasantly surprised or just heard good news), your cheekbones lift. This gentle lift helps to subtly raise the upper lip and create more vertical space in the mouth and pharynx (throat) area. This increased space acts as a larger, more efficient resonator, allowing the sound waves to vibrate more freely and produce a brighter, fuller, and more "forward" tone.

   • Reduced Tension: A relaxed, inner smile tends to release tension around the jaw and lips, which can otherwise constrict the sound. A forced, wide smile often creates tension in these areas, resulting in a thin, strained, or even sharp sound.

2. Encourages Optimal Mouth Shape:

   • Instead of a wide, horizontal slit, the beneficial smile encourages a more oval or rounded mouth shape for vowels. This shape is generally more acoustically favorable for creating resonant, open sounds.

   • It helps prevent the lips from spreading too thinly, which can "spread" the sound and reduce its focus and projection.

3. Positive Emotional Connection:

   • Beyond the physical mechanics, smiling (even subtly) can genuinely influence your mood and expression. It can make you feel more engaged, confident, and joyful, which directly translates into a more authentic and appealing performance. A relaxed, happy face often leads to a more relaxed and beautiful voice.

What Kind of Smiling Helps Lifting the Soft Palate?

The same "inner smile" or "smiling with the eyes" is precisely what helps facilitate the lifting of the soft palate.

Here's the direct connection:

• Indirect Muscle Engagement: There's no direct muscle connection between the muscles that lift your cheekbones (zygomaticus major/minor) and the muscles that lift your soft palate (levator veli palatini). However, engaging the cheek muscles for an "inner smile" creates a sensation of overall facial lift and openness. This sensation often indirectly encourages the muscles of the soft palate to engage and lift.

• Creating Vertical Space: When your cheeks lift, it creates a feeling of more vertical space in your facial mask and the back of your throat. This perception of increased space is what the soft palate needs to achieve its lifted position for optimal resonance. Think of it as opening up the "ceiling" of your mouth and pharynx.

• Reduced Jaw Clenching: A relaxed "inner smile" also helps to release tension in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the muscles of mastication (chewing). When the jaw is relaxed and slightly dropped, it allows the soft palate to lift more freely, as tension in one area can inhibit movement in another.

In summary:

• Avoid: A wide, forced, horizontal "cheese" grin. This often creates tension, thins the tone, and can lower the soft palate due to jaw/lip tension.

• Embrace: A gentle, relaxed "inner smile" where your cheekbones lift and your eyes crinkle slightly. This promotes a relaxed jaw, encourages an oval mouth shape, creates a sense of spaciousness, and most importantly, aids in the essential lifting of the soft palate for a resonant, clear, and projected sound.

Practice feeling this internal lift and openness while gently engaging your cheek muscles, and you'll find it significantly enhances your vocal quality.