If you're "tucking" your chin, there may be a possibility that you're
overdoing it. If you "tuck" too much - even a tiny bit too much - that
"tuck" can actually be counterproductive, and set up tension in the jaw
(at the joints).
Instead of actively tucking the chin, try doing all your practising while
looking the mirror. Watch carefully where your head naturally wants to be.
If the chin isn't jutting forward, and you can move your jaw very easily
and freely (what my old voice teacher called "floppy jaw"), then you may
not need that extra "tuck" to compensate for something you're not doing.
That "down & back" chin thing is really just a countermeasure for people
who tend to jut or lift their chins.
Also, even if you do "jut" the chin, instead of thinking about pushing the
jaw down/back, think instead of the top of your head - imagine a string
from the top of your head to the ceiling - as if your head were a
christmas ornament hanging from a string. If your head is tilted back at
all (i.e., the chin jutting forward), the string won't be taut. Imagine
allowing the head to simply "settle" into a comfortable place where the
string will be absolutely straight and taught. In this place, you should
be able to nod the head up and down extremely easily, as if it were
attached with a well-greased hinge.
Also think about what's going on in your posture below the ribcage. Think
about letting the "butt" drop towards the floor. This isn't an active
"tuck" or "clench". It's a totally loose, heavy-gravity feeling, that
should result in an extra little stretch in your lower back that will make
it easier for you to breathe efficiently (think that the lungs are
columnar in shape, and thus they should fill in ALL directions, not just
side to side, or in front, but all the way around - which means you need
to allow the ribcage to expand in front AND in back - having a "dropped
butt" will make it easier for this to happen in back - particularly if,
like many women, you tend to have a sway-bac). It can also help to bend
the knees slightly - not a big amount; the knees should NEVER be locked
when you sing.
Finally, now matter how well you "set up" everything - posture/alignment,
mouth, etc. - before the breath goes in (notice how I said that - I didn't
say "before you take your breath") - if you don't breathe in a way that is
tension-free above the navel, you may have some real problems.
Remembering that string at the top of your head, also imagine a string in
the middle of your sternum, also connected to the ceiling. It won't allow
your chest to "collapse" - it simply isn't long enough. Don't "hold up"
the chest through muscular effort. Instead, ALLOW it to stay up by the
fact that you create a relaxed but vibrant "straight column" with your
torso that will enable the lungs to fill and the intercostals between the
ribs to move freely as breath comes in and is released.
Once you set up this posture (think of how poised a ballet dancer stands
- that's the kind of poised posture you want...minus the overextended
turnout of the legs from the hips), make sure your jaw is "floppy", but
with an internal sense of "lift" - that "raised soft palate" feeling. The
tongue should be resting in the "cradle" at the bottom of the mouth, with
tongue tip touching your lower teeth. Now expel all your breath, then let
the jaw simply "release" into a totally "floppy" place while keeping that
vibrant column posture and you should notice that the breath simply GOES
IN to fill the vacuum you've created.
If you can "master" this sense of ALLOWING the breath, rather than
actively inhaling the breath (no matter how careful you are to "suck
through a straw" or "smell the roses" or whatever when actively inhaling,
there's a danger that you'll create some kind of tongue or jaw tension) -
you may find that any residual hard-to-perceive but definitely present
tensions or posture problems disappear.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
______________________________________
I will sing with the spirit, and I
will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:15
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