PART 2- I'm a Singer and Vocal Coach and I have a tongue tie.
If you are a singer with a tongue tie and would like to chat about it some more, please reach out!
If you prefer to read your content, here is a transcript of the above video.
Hi folks, this is a very delayed second installment of my video diary about my tongue tie journey. First of all I watched the first video back and I kept using the word diarize and I don't think that's a word so um that annoyed me and I just wanted to start with that. I haven't even checked if it's a word but I don't know why I even said it so ‘document’ is a better word. So, I'm going to be documenting my tongue tie Journey. The day that I recorded that video Iwas off to see my dentist and I had rung ahead and said “do you know do anything about tongue ties” and they had said yes. I think I delayed filming this for a few reasons I kind of wanted to process what he said a little bit. I think I might have said last time that a tongue tie revision is generally done by a dentist- but a specialist dentist who specializes in tongue ties and Airways and things like that. Most dentists or my my regular dentist that I see a few times a year looks after my teeth and my gums right, so it's not the same stream of Dentistry as far as I'm aware. I don't know a lot but what I've found is I have been… um what's the word… I've received a little bit of skepticism. When I spoke to my dentist he said I don't… I think he was looking for an anterior tongue tie, which is fair because that is what Ias a you know ‘non-trained person’ (and I think most people) expect to see an anterior tongue tie. He was uncertain and he said he had heard the term ‘posterior tongue tie’ and that he didn't really believe that that was a thing… um and that's okay we're allowed to have our own belief systems. In my research over the past couple of months, there doesn't seem to be any argument over whether posterior tongue ties are a thing and it seems to be known that it is if that's your specialism and you've done that research, and if you haven't, then you wouldn't know and that is totally cool because I don't know either. Many people don't know so what I concluded from that is that um your regular family dentist is amazing at looking after your teeth and gums and not the person to go to for a tongue tie diagnosis. So that's my kind of first step. I think I ended the last video by saying my first step was to get an actual diagnosis and I can confirm that I have! I have been through a few Avenues; I had a consultation with a physiotherapist who again doesn't specialize in tongue ties, so said that my if I have a tongue tie it is mild. Which again isn't language that I found is used by tongue tie specialists.
So, moral of the story, you have to find a tongue-tie specialist, someone for whom that is their ‘thing’ that they do. If you suspect you have a tongue tie and you want an affirmative yes or no diagnosis, find somebody who specializes in tongue tie. Don't go to your GP -well I'm in no position to say don't go to your GP, but understand that it's not your GP’ specialism, so if you go to your GP be aware that GPS are very broad aren't they? Your normal dentist may not specialize in tongue tie, you need to find someonewho specializes in assessing and treating tongue ties and that is their ‘thing.’
I've had a consultation with one now and have been told ‘yes’ I have a tongue a
tie! My tongue is tied in the middle and posterior of it so the front part is not tied but the rest of it is basically. So it's really really nice to be told and that sounds a bit weird, but to be told for certain yes you do have one, I now can make steps to get treatment. So what I know now is that you have to have something called myofunctional therapy first which is basically training your tongue and I haven't done it yet but my basic knowledge of it is that you have to train your tongue before they can ‘set it free ‘because it's a big or strong muscle that has not moved properly for your whole life, so before they will release your tongue tie you have to develop some strength and coordination in your tongue. Then they release it and you have to continue the myofunctional therapy afterwards as well. I'm not entirely sure how long for, I think you probably get a personalized treatment plan and I am not at that stage yet- I'm getting mine next month- so I'm very excited!
I am torn between who I'm going to work with. I would prefer to work with practitioners who specialize in working with singers and I very much intend to do that but at the moment I'm trying to get a whole picture of all the options so I can budget for it so I can figure out how much much this whole thing could cost at the extreme level and the most basic level, and just figure out what Iwant to do from there. I've had this tongue tie for my whole life and I don't want to make any rash decisions, so that's where I'm at with it.
Let me see if there's anything else. I've written a few notes to make sure I don't miss anything, and so what I've noticed since the tongue tie diagnosis has helped me to really zone in on what it is I do find hard about singing and um I mean it's all bloody tongue-related obviously. We don't have a lot of what we call proprioception or sensory awareness of that part of our body the back of the tongue and the back of the throat, and now I've been able to really kind of focus, it's quite obvious to me that first of all the back of my tongue doesn't lift very much. I can lift it a bit but like not for long and I can do certain exercises that lift it but um- Idon't know what it's like to have any other tongue than the one I've got, but I know that when I'm singing a song I cannot lift the back of my tongue or at least not more than once or at least not keep it there. But if I do manage to or if I do vocal exercises that lift the back of my tongue, my voicefeels amazing but I cannot sustain that. It is not something that feels like a natural thing for my tongue to do. Like I said, I can do it in fits andbursts but- a really good example is I sing in a choir and my voice gets so tired and I'm
very hoarse at the break in the middle of the session. I'm horse and nobody else is, which is embarrassing as a professional singer and vocal coach. I'm the one who's getting tired! There is research that links tongue tie and muscle attention dysphonia, so if you suffer with muscle tension dysphonia look at your tongue and see if you have a tongue tie.
It's making a lot of sense to me -I can sing on my own a lot easier than I can in a group because on my own I can make adaptations all the time, I don't have to necessarily sing the same as everybody else. I can pause, I can do things differently, and I'm realizing that I've been doing that my whole life as a way of navigating songs.
Another thing I’m developing awareness of is that my soft palette really pulls down. I feel this real kind of pulling from the top the back of the roof of my mouth- my soft palate- I feel like a real tugging and I feel my tongue tuggingbackwards when I'm singing in the choir.
One thing that I um I'm enjoying is that I'm just giving myself a bit of Grace about it now, just being like “yeah that's your tongue tie” and I'm just not getting too upset about it. I'm singing and being like “yep cool that's what my voice does” and not being you know, not feeding into the little voice in my head that used to always be like “why can't you do it?!” and all that stuff . I am being much more gentle with myself which is lovely.
So this is where I'm up to with it. I have since learning about my own tongue, Incorporated a tongue assessment into my initial session with all new clients, and I've been doing it with my current clients too, and I have found in the last two months five tongue ties! so it's a lot more common than we might think. ( Five suspected tongue ties- I cannot diagnose a tongue tie buthe assessment that I do is a self-assessment and I get the client to assess their own tongue and go away and read about it and I've had five people where we've noticed their tongue might not move fully and when they have gone and assessed further and read further, they've felt that perhaps they do have a tongue tie- so it's quite common and I feel like there's a real need for us to know more about that as a singing profession and the vocal coaching profession, so I'm pleased to be able to be someone that is doing that, and I'm learning loads about the tongue at the moment. I'm realizing that my tongue is not a role model for my clients. Many of them can do things with their tongue that I can't do, so I'm actually asking them a lot of the time like “what's that like? can you do that?” It's kind of fun. So my next step is I I'm actually applying for some potential funding which I will share details of once I've got in my information. I don'tfeel like I can be like hey guys go and apply for this because um I don't I don't know if it's worth your time so in the next video I will be able to let you know the outcome of my assessment with a dentist and what what treatment plan I've hopefully Chosen, and whether I will get any funding for it. So that will be my next thing. That'll be in October and in the meantime if you are interested at all feel free to email me: gemma@gemmamilburn.com
Bye!
