The thing is that teaching voice is so individual. One of my students was told
in a NATS master class that she needed to imagine little magnets on either side
of her spine. Teacher friends of mine were horrified - said she'd be rigid, out
of alignment, etc., etc. I wasn't. For a person with okay posture, that
instruction would be horrific. For a person whose bosom is virtually on the
floor because she's so slumped over, just the word "magnets" is enough to
trigger an awareness that she's slumping. It helped her immensely.
Dropping the jaw may result in an overly rigid jaw for some (it did for me).
For another, who barely opens her mouth, it may work wonders. Some people think
of their jaw as opening like a nutcracker - hinged on either side of the mouth.
I've had good success lately with pointing out just where the jaw does open from
and focusing on feeling relaxation in that area.
Christine Thomas,
Mezzo Soprano
"I love to sing-a, about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a!"
----- Original Message -----
From: Clark_Diane
To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com
Cc: Clark_Diane
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:33 AM
Subject: [vocalist] that darned old jaw!
I agree with Peggy that individual singers have different needs akong this
line. <snip>
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
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