The "Idina Tongue Singing" Thing

there was this one clip of The Wizard and I, and her tongue was doing this weird dance of its own. I thought it was sort of strange, but I tried it. I was probably doing it wrong, but I didn't find anything different. Maybe something to do with her soft palette or her larynx.

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mine tells me to relax my tongue and do the same as you but, it just seems weird that hers is sticking out lol

So not technically qualified to even respond to this... but I just happened to notice the last time I saw Altar Boyz that Tyler Maynard does the exact same tongue thing at the end of Ephiphany when he has to go really high on that last "beeeee". Apparently Idina isn't the only one using this technique.

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Rath is right...it's usually a warm-up technique. Two teachers I've had have had me do it while doing exercises because I have a habit or "swallowing" my tongue. I guess she got rid of the bad one and put another habit in its place...which is better for singing, but she probably shouldn't HAVE to do it at this point. It's probably just habitual now.

well I dunno, but my teacher says to keep your tounge relaxed but at your teeth..not out but in, but against your teeth

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No, it's just poor vocal technique.

When you sing, you never want to be bite and smile like she does where you see the teeth because it creates jaw tension and the sound becomes forced. Also, the tongue thing...tongue should always be relaxed and forward, but slightly arched in the back. She also releases so much air (that's why she has such a breathy sound) and her voice often gets lost in her air because her breathing seems shallow, and when you open your mouth that wide you can't support your voice with air because the voice is all over the place and lost in the air.

This is pretty weird. I thought I was the only one who noticed it. You can see Idina's technique, or lack thereof, in the Late Nite clip of the "Defying Gravity" performance, mainly on the last notes.

"She forces a lot of her voice through her throat which is VERY damaging."

No she doesn't. Her vocal resonance is at the roof of her mouth or at the crown of her head. If its in her throat, she's doing it wrong, and she will sound like she did at the Tonys..not like she normally does.



"When you sing, you never want to be bite and smile like she does where you see the teeth because it creates jaw tension and the sound becomes forced."

She is not placing forward, near the teeth, in the mask, or anywhere else like that, so however wide her mouth open will not affect the placement of her voice. As I said before, she places at the roof of her mouth of at the crown of her head, and opening her mouth wider can allow for that sound to be greater.


She could use some new breathing habits though. It has gotten horrendous with the gasping, so its caused her to be more inconsistent.

"Wouldn't sticking your tongue out also hinder projection since her tongue would be in the way? "

No...it gets it out of your throat if you have that habit of "swallowing" your tongue, which would result in a more choked sound and damage to the throat. And yes, your tongue should be relaxed and behind your teeth when you sing, but as I said, sometimes its something teacher do in order to help a student break a habit.

Updated On: 4/22/05 at 04:59 PM

I still think she has terrible technique and won't be able to sing in a few years.

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Well I think she bought herself a few years by NOT hitting the notes every night.

Because Tonya has the technique. She just did some very damaging things as a character choice. Idina, on the other hand, doesn't have the technique in the first place.

Plus, from a personal standpoint, I never took any issue with Tonya's cracking and vocal roughness in "Lot's Wife" because it totally and completely worked with the performance. Caroline was having a breakdown and I think I would've enjoyed it much less if she used perfect vocal technique.