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From:  Clark_Diane <DCLARK@r...>
Date:  Wed Feb 5, 2003  5:33 pm
Subject:  that darned old jaw!

Sharon and Peggy wrote:

> Sharon Szymanski <szy@n...> wrote:
> >Ed brings up a point that I have often wondered about. I have heard
countless folks advocate the dropping of the jaw for various reasons in singing
but have found personally, that this actually pulls me out of position and
distorts the vowel and tone. Instead, I prefer a sense of moving the jaw more
toward the back (creating a sense of "overbite")which seems to create more lift
in the palate and a nicer sense of space where I seem to need it for higher
notes. Any thoughts on this from the peanut gallery?
>
> I think this is an example of the sort of thing that's different for
individual singers, and the feedback of a teacher is helpful as to whether the
dropped jaw is working as hoped. In my case, a relaxed jaw-drop is helpful.
But before I figured out how to do that, I'd hold my jaw open, which added
tension, and didn't do any good. I now go for a "dog-face" feeling when I drop
my jaw, which I think is similar to Sharon's "overbite" idea. (Before I studied
voice, I thought singers were crazy, the way they talked!)
>
++++++++++

I agree with Peggy that individual singers have different needs akong this line.
I know some people (even professionals) that do what I call "crocodiling" --
i.e., they pull the jaw open so far that it distorts their resonance space and
keeps their vowels from matching. Actually, in these cases the jaw is so far
open in the front that it ends up being tight in the back and the throat is more
closed. (This is the sort of thing that Sharon referred to.)

Generally I teach students to do virtually nothing with the jaw and let the work
be done inside the mouth and throat. I often use the "pencil in the teeth"
tehnique to help them get the idea at first.

Just this week, however, I had occasion to make the slightly unorthodox
suggestion to a student that he let the lower jaw come slightly forward on his
[i] vowels. This worked miracles! For the first time he was able to find
enough resonance space for that vowel, and it happened because just letting the
jaw do this new little thing unlocked it at the back and helped it be more
relaxed! It worked so well for this student that I tried it with another, who
had the same problem, and it helped him, too. So, one never knows what will
work with whom. This is why it is hard, if not impossible, to learn to sing
from books!

> ---
> Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof. of Music
> Dept. of Music, Rhodes College
> 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112
> 901-843-3782; fax 843-3789
> dclark@r... http://www.rhodes.edu
>
>
>
>




  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
22426 Re: that darned old jaw!Christine Thomasmezzoid Wed  2/5/2003  
22430 Re: that darned old jaw!Carol Johnsonsinger49cjohnson2000 Wed  2/5/2003  
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