THE TIGHT JAW
Many prospective singers
have trouble getting past
square two or three ...
because they inherently
tighten their respective
jaws unconsciously, while
singing “the closed vowels”
when putting forth their
best vocal efforts. (You
might go to the archives, at
the bottom of this Tip and
reread last month’s Tip
about Balancing the Sound.)
The mouth when flexibly long
and narrow usually takes
care of the tendency toward
tightening the lower jaw,
but with many folk ... the
closed vowels are the
culprit.
“Why would that be?” I can
almost hear some of you
musing as you tentatively
open or massage your jaws.
If you think about it a bit,
remembering what I’ve said
about the tongue making the
vowel, you will recall that
the arch of the tongue is at
its apex on a pure E vowel
... and a bit less with each
of the others in descending
order, A, Ih, Eh, etc. To
test the position of the
tongue, while sitting here
at your computer, say “ E
A E A E A E A ... AW,”
to again make you realize
that the tongue position
makes the vowels. It further
illustrates that the E is
very easy to make ... when
your mouth is essentially
closed. Guess what? The
tongue must be in exactly
the same place to make each
those same vowels when your
mouth is considerably more
open, as when you’re
hollerin’ to the Fifth Ring
... but I suspect that most
of you haven’t considered,
that by lengthening your jaw
even a half inch, your
tongue is a half a inch
farther away from where it
must be for the same vowels.
So, instead of just allowing
the tongue to go
upandforward to the place of
the specific vowel-dictated
by the brain–with a shot of
breath-pressure ... the
singer raises his/her
mandible (the lower jaw) to
bring the tongue up to that
spot ... which cuts down on
the free airway, induces
throat tension, sometimes
dramatically reducing the
sound ... while making it
virtually impossible to sing
the next high note with any
degree of certainty. And
that ain’t a good thang!
The jaw tension, produced by
the mandible, is a “killer”
of good and easy singing ...
Remember, when working at
this, use the mirror and the
tape recorders. TAKE THE
TIME TO EXPERIMENT until the
tongue becomes the best
friend of the voice. It took
me years to identify the
tongues specific functions,
even though it would mostly
go there naturally for me
...
Work at it ...easily ... and
DON’T waste time by getting
frustrated ... calm down.
Pop rest ... a crisp shot of
breath-pressure, tongue in
place mouth long and narrow,
top lip tucked down and
then ... play it back ...
If it was an Eh instead of
an “E” ... the arch must go
farther, upandforward!
It ain’t rocket science ...
so stop the “jawing!”
