Jaw tension

Posted in Category Singing Basics
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  • D
    Daniel 3 years ago

    Hello, Could you give me some tips to release jaw tension ?
  • C
    Camille van Niekerk 3 years ago

    A good approach to reducing tension is to:

    First pinpoint what is tensing: in this case, the jaw! Then, either

    (1) move those muscles to prevent them from tensing in the first place (i.e.: softening and mobilizing your jaw so it cannot clench, or slowly shaking your head “no” to prevent the neck muscles from “grabbing”) 

    OR 

    (2) remove those muscles from the equation (ie: preventing tongue tension by singing with the tongue totally relaxed, out of your mouth and resting on your bottom lip). 

    The ultimate goal with all of the above is to let the correct muscles do their job without the "help" of those extrinsic muscles that are tensing.

    Examples would be (1) singing on a YAH that requires you to drop your jaw for each syllable (ie: YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH on a 1-3-5-3-1 pattern) or (2) singing with a dropped jaw on an NG (to provide some helpful back pressure and make it easier to phonate). 

    Please see this tutorial on removing vocal strain for more advice and exercises: https://www.30daysinger.com/tutorial/removing-vocal-strain/1. 

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