Have you ever watched a singer and saw their jaw jut forward?  They may have looked like they were making a silly face or somehow trying to give their voice a boost by doing this. 

This, very simply, is a voice that is produced all wrong.  The jaw should never be flexed and be full of tension while singing.   It should be very relaxed and able to move up and down and fly open as easily as when you talk.

Tension and flex in the jaw translates down into the throat and larynx and will really make it hard to sing.

You’ll often see jaw flexing in heavier types of music where the vocalist is more or less screaming as harshly as they know how.  Even in this type of music it’s simply not needed.  

Putting flex in the jaw is like putting the brakes on your voice.

While the voice needs to resonante in the mouth and head to have full and released tone, flexing the jaw in no way facilitates this.

What should you do if you’ve developed this bad habit.   Very simply concentrate on your jaw when you sing and let it relax.  If you’ve sang this way so long that you can’t stop then you’ll have to reprogram your voice. Here’s a couple of things you can try.

1. Sing very lightly at about a talking level something that you perform.  Concentrate on keeping the jaw relaxed.   Repeat the same phrase over and over until you’ve convinced your nervous system that clenching the jaw is not needed for singing.  Then try singing at your normal volume.

2. Don’t use your jaw or tongue at all.  Sing as if you simply had no jaw or tongue.  Let the jaw simply fall open and sing some phrases.  You of course will sound like a drunk because you won’t be able to pronounce any words.  When you’ve sung some tones for a while this way, slowly reintroduce the jaw and toungue and letting them move freely, but only enough to help with pronunciation.

That said, it’s important to note that a jaw or tongue clenching is sure sign that you are not using the, “attack of the mask,” for singing.  The attack of the mask is the greatest singing technique ever divised, as it is how a singing voice should work.   When you learn the attack of the mask most problems with a singing voice dissappear as a side benefit.

To learn the attack of the mask check out   www.vocalrelease.com