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Vocal Point
Exercises to relieve jaw stress
Mar-06-2001
©2001 iBluegrass.com. All rights reserved.
A warm welcome to this months VOCAL POINT OF VIEW. A question I am often
asked is "what would be the one most important tip that you could give
me to help my singing?" A difficult question for sure. Below is a
reprint of last June's article which goes a ways toward answering that
question. Hope it does the trick for you.
If there is one vocal tip I can give that will make
the biggest difference in one's singing experience, I believe it is
freeing the jaw from tension, and here's why:
There are numerous (some very powerful) muscles on each side of the face
that are involved with the function of the jaw. These muscles are
complexly
interwoven with muscles that lead into the throat and the back of the
neck;
this is the area which also happens to house the vocal chords. If your
jaw
is tense or clenched when you sing, you have activated muscles that put
a
strangle-hold on the area surrounding and containing your vocal chords.
This
prevents them from being able to vibrate freely and creates strain.
What to do:
Place your fingertips on your cheeks and locate the spot where the jaw
hinges. Apply slight pressure and massage in small circles, loosening up
the muscles and stimulating blood flow in your jaw. Pay close attention
to
the feeling of the jaw as it starts to loosen up.
Gently close your lips, feel your molars easily touch, place your
fingertips
on your cheeks and find the spot where the molars meet. Gently apply
pressure until you feel the lower jaw drop away from the upper jaw.
Think of
it this way too: the upper jaw as stationary and the lower jaw dropping
down
and back. (If the jaw doesn't drop back, tension is holding it forward)!
Tip your head back a little bit and continue to feel your jaw dropping
down
and back. This will help to stretch a set of vertical muscles located
near
the hinges. Do this exercise for a minute or two, stop and gently close
your
mouth, maintaining a feeling of release and looseness in your jaw. Now
create a physical memory of this feeling.
Yawn! Not a fake one but a real one if you can. This loosens up the
muscles
of the jaw, mouth and throat area in one fell swoop and gets your throat
nice and open, and pliable.
After practicing the feeling of a loose, released jaw, try to maintain
this
sensation while singing a verse of a song...no more than one verse at a
time,
however, as you will want to stay focused on the physical sensation
you're memorizing.
This feeling will become natural in time and replace old habits.
Important: Confine practicing to practice time. Whether you're a
performer, getting together with friends, or singing for fun by
yourself,
avoid disrupting the natural expression of your singing with thoughts
of technique. This is a cardinal rule! When you're not practicing try
not to "think" about what you're doing. Don't "listen" to yourself
(you're doing that on an intuitive level. You don't want to do it on a
conscious level because you'll then tend to judge or analyze...very
distracting).
After working with the above exercises don't be surprised if you start
to
feel an absence of strain and experience more resonance/presence (and
pleasure!) when you sing.
Good luck, be patient with yourself---and most of all get out there and
sing!
NOTE: Dede Wyland teaches privately
(D.C. / VA / Baltimore area) and in
group or workshop settings. Dede can be reached via email at dwyland@ix.netcom.com
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