Welcome to Part 2 of the Elite Vocal Academy Jaw Tutorial. Hello again! Hopefully, by now I am writing to a more relaxed audience. I would say “I cannot stress how important a relaxed jaw is to singing & our entire body” but my students would just roll their eyes & possibly kick me in the shins for such a lame pun. But it’s true!
Before we go into these next set of stretches, go back & quickly read “Jaw dropping fun Exercise 2” to quickly remind yourself of the area we need to move. I only suggest this as we move our body in mostly a reactive way (meaning we don’t think about it when we do it) & so when we try to deliberately isolate or move a muscle, the message can get lost in translation. This will only lead to frustration & then, of course, stress. So, try & relax before continuing.
1). Roll your head forward & around and back to the above position stretching out the muscles on the back of the neck. Repeat on the other side. Relax your head & neck so it resembles a car bobblehead. Remembering relaxed is right. Make sure your head isn’t tilted back & your jaw is parallel to the ground.
2). Looking into your mirror, let your jaw & bottom lip go completely slack (you should be able to fit a fingertip between your teeth with wiggle room). Now, like in “Jaw dropping fun Exercise 2 (but without using your hands), gently pull your jaw back in towards the neck to the point where you feel resistance. Hold this position for 5 seconds & then relax completely. Repeat x 4
3). To completely relax, yawn as big as you can! This will stretch the cartilage & all the muscles in the mouth including the tongue and soft palate. Completely relax back to a slackened jaw.
Result
These exercises will help promote a focused relaxation. We need to control our stress levels & with these exercises, we can remind the muscles to loosen. Relax your jaw & you will relax your mind & body. The exercises cause the mandibles to move over as much of the cartilage as possible, smoothing out bumps & making the area more pliable. This must be done to stop stiff muscles from pulling the joints into the wrong position.
Confused? Understandable. Intrigued? Of course, you are! Want to learn more? Book a lesson at www.elitevocal.com & enrol online today!