Do you have tight jaw muscles and want to know how to release jaw tension?
Tight jaw muscles directly affect voice quality and can contribute to voice straining.
So, let me tell you why you may experience jaw tension and how to get rid of it.
We’ll start right after this.
Hi!
I am Katarina, speech language pathologist from How 2 Improve Singing and here on this
channel, I share practical tips about using your voice in a healthy way.
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Ok.
Let’s talk about the jaw muscles and their effect on voice and the sound you produce
when singing or talking.
The main function of the jaw muscles is to move the jaw in three dimensions when chewing
and also when talking or singing.
The jaw muscles are the masseter, temporalis, medial and lateral pterygoids as well as digastric
muscles.
Depending on which muscles are activated, the lower jaw can move up and down, side to
side and forward and back.
Closing of the jaw is a very strong movement and the masseter muscle is considered one
of the strongest muscles in our body.
If you put all these movements together, you get circular motions that are so important
for chewing.
Now, you can imagine if there is tension in some of these muscles, the range of motion
of the lower jaw becomes limited.
You may know from my previous videos that the space in your mouth directly dictates
the sound quality because the oral cavity is a resonating cavity that gives your voice
certain qualities.
Singers can manipulate the structures of the vocal tract, including the jaw position, which
can enhance or dampen certain sound frequencies.
If you have jaw tension, you are limited in how much you can manipulate the vocal tract.
But what is even more important, jaw tension can also affect the ease of sound production.
It may be more effortful to produce sounds which can lead to vocal fatigue and pain.
And if you experience tension in one part of the vocal mechanism, this tension can transfer
to other structures, including the vocal folds and their function.
So, what are some of the reasons for tight jaw muscles?
Chewing or mastication muscles can be affected by excessive gum chewing, teeth grinding whether
it’s during the day due to stress or at night, habitual jaw clenching, prolonged dental
work, emotional stress, teeth misalignment, nail biting, and even habitual forward head
position.
When speaking or singing, tension in the jaw muscles can arise from over-working or over-extending
the lower jaw, from sliding the jaw sideways or forward too much, or from not being able
to move the jaw and the tongue independently.
And to make things even worse, tension in jaw muscles often leads to headaches, toothaches,
the TMJ disorder, hypersensitivity of teeth, or a lockjaw.
So, let me share three tips on how to improve jaw mobility and eliminate tight jaw muscles.
Tip #1 Improve your head and neck alignment
As I said before, jaw muscle tension can be caused by incorrect head posture.
How is your habitual head and body alignment?
Do you spend a lot of time looking down at a smart phone, do you carry your head in a
forward position?
What about your head position when singing or talking?
Your habitual body alignment during the day as well as your alignment when singing may
be the cause of jaw tension.
And I know this because I experienced jaw tension due to poor head alignment myself
in the past.
So, work on improving your habitual posture.
Check it in the mirror.
Is your head well-aligned with the rest of your body?
When you work on a computer or stare at your smart phone, where is your head?
Also, use a mirror during your singing practice.
Always check your head position as well as your jaw position.
Do you move your head forward to sing louder or high notes?
Become aware of it and change it.
You don’t need to move your head in order to produce sounds efficiently.
Tip #2 Stop over-extending the jaw The lower jaw is connected to the skull in
a temporomandibular joint.
This joint is the most used joint in your body.
Put your fingers right in front of your ears and open your mouth.
You will feel how the jaw rotates in the joint socket.
But, at some point, the jaw starts sliding forward and moves out of the socket.
This is when you open your mouth really wide.
Try it and feel the movement.
If you move your jaw out of the socket too often or if you open it to an extreme, it
can cause tension.
So, it is important not to over-extend the jaw frequently.
When we talk, we rarely move the jaw out of the socket.
But singing is different.
How much should you open your mouth when singing?
That's a good question but it's very individual.
Some singers open their mouth really wide and never feel any tension.
And many singers don’t open their mouth wide but can achieve good vocal quality.
I suggest that you experiment with the mouth opening.
First, sing a short song as you would normally do in front of a mirror.
Observe your jaw and how much it opens.
You will most likely see more jaw dropping on low vowels and more closed jaw on high
vowels.
Then, sing the same song again but consciously move your jaw more than before.
You may be surprised how different you sound.
Let me know in the comments below what you observe.
Now, sing arpeggios or scales, and keep watching your jaw in the mirror.
It should not move when singing the same vowel.
You don’t need to move your jaw to change the pitch.
If your jaw is moving during this exercise, use your hand to keep the jaw relaxed.
Tip #3 Eliminate Stress Jaw muscles can hold a lot of psychological
tension, which can manifest as teeth clenching, teeth grinding or jaw jutting.
If you keep repeating these movements for prolonged periods of time, you may end up
in a vicious cycle of muscle tension and pain that affects other muscle groups too, like
neck muscles or shoulder muscles.
Become aware of teeth clenching or grinding and eliminate not only these bad habits but
also the stressors.
Ask yourself in what situations you tend to clench or grind your teeth and see if you
can eliminate or reduce the stress you experience.
Another way to reduce tight jaw muscles is to incorporate a massage of the jaw muscles
into your daily or vocal routine.
Massage the temporalis muscle, the masseter or even the pterygoids.
The pterygoids may be trickier to massage as they are deep muscles but massage is known
to release tension from muscles so I highly recommend it.
If you are not familiar with vocal massage, I made a video on this topic and you can watch
it by clicking on this link.
I will also link to it below this video.
There are other causes of tight jaw muscles.
Some examples are teeth misalignment or a TMJ disorder.
In cases like this, I suggest that you see a specialist who can properly assess and treat
your problem.
In my next video, I am talking about throat tightness when singing, so subscribe to my
channel so that you don’t miss that video.
If you found this video useful, like it or share it.
And check out my other videos right here below.
Thank you and I will see you in my next video.