The shape of your lips and your mouth when you sing is important for several reasons. There are lip shapes that you should and should not use while singing. Your lip shape directly effects your singing. It dictates where you place your tongue and how much space is created in your mouth. Depending on the style and the affectation you desire, you will make your mouth either wide or long. Try to avoid singing with your lips very closed, this traps the sound and makes it difficult for people to understand you and for you to get volume. In your regular speaking voice, you shape your lips and mouth by habit. You will notice that if your mouth shape changes too much it can change the vowel and distort what you’re singing. If your lip shape is too closed or your mouth is too open, long or too wide it will directly affect your pitch. It can force your tongue to get in the way of the sound. You want space in your mouth for the sound to resonate, but if your tongue is in the way that’s impossible. Finding a balance where your mouth is not too open or too closed is the trick.
Choose the chorus of a song you’re familiar with and experiment with lip shapes. Try showing both sets of teeth, making your mouth very wide and smiley. Often you will get a nicer sound when your mouth is long rather than wide. Your lip shape can affect your pitch, if this happens adjust your lip shape and see if that helps. Then try singing the same phrase keeping your mouth long and more together. Observe the differences and talk to your instructor about how to apply effective lip shapes to the songs in your repertoire.
