In all the vocalizes that follow, (what James Jordan refers to as the 1-3-5 exercises), it is essential for conductors to understand the “tongue” mechanics regarding the correct tongue position for singing. In his new book The Essential Choral Warm-Up GIA, 2023)
Jordan advocates re-focusing choral pedagogy from a “lip-based” system of vowel production to one that changes the paradigm to one of teaching and reinforcing the inner architecture of the vowel.

Jordan believes that this approach, while not only honoring voice science, allows choirs to “blend” and sing in tune because there is no pedagogical vagueness about how to build healthy vocal sound through correct tongue position. Both choral blend and intonation are dependent on the understanding how to correctly teach ü!

This video taught by Corey Everly, was filmed at The Choral Institute at Oxford with The Westminster Choir. This video is at the center of both The Essential Choral Warm-Up text and the book Intonational Solfege (GIA, 2022).