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Judy's Blog

Tips & insights on the voice from professional vocalist, vocal coach and author of "Power, Path & Performance" vocal training method

Monday, November 30, 2009

Jaw Popping, Tired Voice? Here's help

I just received a comment on one of my articles about the jaw. Here's the question:
"I am 13, and do a lot of singing. My jaw always pops in and out of place when I'm singing recently, and my voice is getting really tired. Is my jaw the cause of my voice feeling tired?"
Her voice getting tired and her jaw popping is most probably caused by too much breath pressure. Here's my suggestion to her, which I hereby pass on to you:

Try this--
  • Find an empty wall; put your head and heel flush against it. You should notice that your ribs are open wide in this position. 
  • Put your open hand about an inch from your mouth. 
  • Sing to your hand, while trying to leave as little breath on your hand as possible.  This should cause you to back off the "air force" you normally think you have to use.
When you take the pressure off your voice, your jaw often just finds it's own comfortable flexibility and the popping will diminish. Let me know how it works for you.

ps... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, with your jaws working on delicious fare!

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