Singing Lesson

This image shows how I was holding my jaw to try prevent it from moving as much.

This week in my singing lesson I continued to work on the vocal exercise that Gavin introduced me to in my first vocal lesson. Whilst carrying this vocal exercise out Gavin identified that I was still moving my jaw too much, he said I need to try not pull my jaw down and naturally let it to open basically meaning feeling my jaw release. To try prevent myself from doing this as much Gavin asked me to place my hands below my jaw whilst carrying this vocal exercise out and singing my own repertoire, he said if I do this it will prevent my jaw moving as much as my hand will be a barrier also it will enable me to identify how much I move my jaw whilst singing. Also regarding this vocal exercise I mentioned that I feel like I’m forcing the last two notes out because I don’t have enough breath, he suggested that before I start the exercise to take a deep breath in but taking a deep breath with my mouth been in an ‘AH’ position. After a few times of doing this throughout my lesson I found that I had enough breath to get me through the exercise without having to force the last two notes. In this lesson we also identified that my transition from chest voice to head voice isn’t smooth, I need to open my soft palate to make the transition smoother, Gavin said that it should feel like a yawning sensation when my soft palate is risen. My homework from this lesson is to find two contrasting musical theatre songs and have them ready to perform to Gavin in my next lesson.

Below are a list of vocal exercises I will continue to do to prevent jaw movement:

• Massaging my jaw before vocal work
• Holding my jaw to prevent it moving as much
• observing myself in the mirror to identity when I move my jaw
• Relaxing my jaw and let it release its self to be in a natural position to do this I will  lean my head as far back as possible until I feel comfortable, and then i will gently open my mouth till it feels dropped,relaxed. After doing this i will keep my moth open and return back to a normal sat up position. This will make me aware of how a relaxed jaw should feel.