"Too much jaw"-my vocal director

[LeadingMan051990]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 1:01am

hey guys i have a big dilemma.

im a male who can hit and hold up to a g and strain for everything over that. the vocal director for my last show said i have great potential to hit higher notes, but i tend to tighten my jaw and therefore tighten my throat and not be able to go any higher.

my question is does anyone have any suggestions for keeping your jaw relaxed and hitting higher notes?

thanks alot

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 1:15am

as far as jaw-relaxation goes, try putting your hands on either side of your face, and focus on breathing technique while you do vocalization.

You will have to completely focus on the process of singing, instead of the things your brain wants to do to make it sound the way you want. It may sound weird to you, but as long as you are not straining, or in pain then you are ok. As far as comfort on those high notes, that's only gonna come from practice, and proper practice.

So, in conclusion, practice for technique, not the sound you want, and practice OFTEN. (40 minutes a day, of good vocalization).

I hope that helps (I have the jaw thing too!)

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 1:17am

At least you guys can do whatever you want with your jaw. Mine is so messed up. It locks all the time and clicks.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 3:06am

I don't mean to threadjack, but I sort of have the same problem. I can hit and hold an A and can hit up to a C. My voice teacher says that i have a lot of tension in my face when i sing the higher notes. How do you get it to where you can hit a B without feeling like i'm going to die! I listen to Josh Young's CD and I'm so jealous of the easiness he sings with - if that makes sense.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 3:08am

I have LOTS of muscle tension in my throat and jaw, so I am quite the expert on the subject :) I recommend actually massaging your jaw (relatively hard) with your fingers in a circular motion. Also try sticking your tongue out in various ways to loosen up your throat. Feel free to PM me about this.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 3:44am

This is a huge problem for me also. Glad to be able to get some good advice, but of course the best thing of all is to get in with a voice teacher if at all possible.

[pndmnd]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 10:29am

I have TMJ (which is basically a clicking in the jaw, but for some people it's much worse and can cause a lot of pain). Some things that help me keep it relaxed are concentrating on breathing--if you have enough breath coming through, you shouldn't feel the need to "push" for the notes. If I am feeling tight in my jaw/face, then I try to stretch it and massage it. You know how in movies they often show actors making funny faces while they warm up? Well there is some merit to that!

[RumTumTugger22]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 11:26am

Pratice singing while holding you jaw back. Voice teacher would have to hold my jaw their while I'd do scales. It helps and it definately works. Hang in tehir my jaw clenching budy!

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 11:30am

I think everyone deals with this problem at one time or another, so don't feel bad. It often comes from having a big sound naturally and not knowing how to let it rip!

It helps me to focus my energy in my cheeks, and think of making a triangle shape with my face. Like you're biting an apple. I think that helps a lot-focus that energy you use to clench on a part of your body where it will help you instead of hinder you.

Hope that helps. Don't push for the notes. They will come. I promise. Just work on singing correctly.

[OddExoticCreature]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 11:31am

get a voice teacher, first of all. then try various exercises and you will find one or more that help you loosen up, relax, feel the correct way to do it, and then practice. It'll take time.

Posted: 1/5/06 at 1:29am

Some good advice here. I'll add on.

If you're holding tension in your jaw, you're probably holding tension in other areas as well. Stretch out and relax your ENTIRE BODY--not just your facial and jaw muscles--before singing. Getting into a good yoga practice can help a lot with this--it gets rid of muscle tension, helps you focus on your breath, and lowers your overall stress level if it's done regularly.

Healthy body equals healthy voice.

[TobiasFinch]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 1:44am

There are three things that helped me..

1) Vocal Training. I know that it's tedious... and more often than not you'll have a crappy lesson day. But the good days always make up for all the bad ones. Also with this you MUST find a teacher that you are comfortable with and knows what he/she is doing. For me I found that working with a man helped me more than a woman.

2) CONFIDENCE - This is probably the MOST important element to singing those high notes. When you're vocalizing at a piano and you don't know what you're singing you'll often go much higher than you ever thought. Your mind is powerful. don't think about whether or not you can hit the notes..

3) The Acting - In general it is much more pleasing to see a performer act a song rather than sing it. When you get a song don't just think of the notes.. think of what's being said! What is your moment before? Who are you talking to? What do you want to get by the end of your singing? What's standing in your way?

hope this helps.

[bwaymyway84]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 2:29am

Hello everyone, new to the Message Boards, so I'm happy to post my first one on something I can relate to. There is already some great advice given, so why not contribute some more?
Definitely try and be as relaxed as possible.
Stretching every part of your body, not just your face is important. Singing is just as athletic as any sport there is today. I big part of it is breathing, you have to make sure you are engaging your diaphragm, and getting it low and supported. If your breath is too high in your chest it just adds to the tension, and you will start pushing to get the high notes. "Distinctive Baritone"
had a good suggestion about sticking your tongue out in various ways. You can also just practice singing with your tongue stuck out of your mouth and use really sloppy diction. That really helps relieve tension. You might also try some repetitions of purposely tensing your jaw and face and then relaxing it, so you can physically feel the difference, muscle memory is always the hardest to change. "Truthlasso" also had a good point with if there is tension in your jaw; it's probably elsewhere in your body too. Act goofy when you practice singing. Move around, lay on the floor, stick tap to your forehead, a lot of people have tension there and don't realize it.
As far as help singing high notes...well you have to consider your age, if you are younger than 25 then your voice still has some growing to do, you just can't push the high notes. Breathing correctly will help with the high notes. It's just natural for the mouth to open more and more as you get higher and higher, but you might try and get the back of the throat to open and not so much the front of the mouth, that itself leads to jaw tension. Get your soft palette up too. Vowel Modification will also help greatly. 9 out of 10 times you can modify whatever vowel you are singing by substituting some percentage of "ah" and the audience will still hear it as its original vowel.
Now that you have 1000 things to think about, remember to have fun with it!

[gumbo2]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 3:18am

I have the same problem too, thank you for all this great advice. I find that, as stupid as it sounds, running around and moving a lot helps me sing higher, because I'm concentrating on something other than the notes, and really just relaxing the muscles is what it's all about. Other than that...what everyone else said is good.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 5:22am

Definitely agree with Tobias' points.

You should be working on this WITH a voice teacher--to be careful with your voice.

Also, it's entirely possible that you are too young and need to let your voice mature in order to sing as high as you are wanting. A singer's voice doesn't mature until their 30s. So, if you are a teen or even in your 20s, don't be so hard on yourself or your voice.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 1:29pm

Be Careful with vowel modification. Because you can go too far with it and destort vowels. You really shouldn't need to do that though. It's also VERY important to know what vowel you should be singing. I mean it sounds easy. Everyone knows the word Father is an "ah" vowel. But many people don't realize that the word Sun is also an "ah" vowel. There is no "uh" vowel really (unless you're stylizing for a pop show).

I would say above all GET A VOICE TEACHER. Get an experienced one. The advice on this board is nice, but it's best to have someone actually hear your problem, and see you trying to fix it. I think we all agree on that. With that I would take many of the suggestions here to your teacher and see what he/she says about it. Also, DON'T BE AFRAID TO TOUCH YOURSELF. It sounds odd but physically feeling your oblique muscles working, physically touching your neck WHILE you sing. Physically touching your jaw will help you know what is tight, what is not, what is working, what is not.



GET A VOICE TEACHER FIRST!
Updated On: 1/5/06 at 01:29 PM

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 1:33pm

Hi leadingman, I'm a high sporano who's ALWAYS had jaw tension. My comments on my solo and ensemble sheets are always 'Jaw Tension' and the same with some college workshops. So I definitley know what you're going through.

The first tip I recieved, and helped me fix a lot of my problems, was the going up the scale. You simply go up and down the scale while moving your jaw from side to side, if you have trouble moving it, then you have serious problems. But it helps loosen you up in a matter of weeks.

But a lot of my problem was with the orthodontia that I've had over my life, but now that most of it is gone, my jaw tension is virtually gone also. But I still watch it carefully.