Jaw tension is one of the biggest evils perpetrated against vocal freedom. But jaw tension is a fact of 21st Century life, so what ‘s a singer to do?

Let me tell you a short, true story. Many years ago when I was under a great deal of stress, I was experiencing daily headaches, pain and clicking in my jaw. I was miserable. Next trip to my dentist I asked if he had any suggestions to relieve the pain. His answer was SURGERY.

‘We’ll have to break your jaw and reset it at the proper angle, followed by 2 years of orthodontics, and then you should be pain-free.’

Great! I’m thinking ‘I don’t have dental coverage on my health insurance, I’m in a biz that is largely about looks, I’m way too old for this…’ You can imagine my panic.

My solution, after much observation of my jaw and my breathing, eat, singing and sleeping habits was poetically simple. I realized that the jaw malfunction had to do with muscular tension and nothing else. So each night when I crawled into bed, I said to myself in my thoughts, ‘breathing in I release my jaw, breathing out I release my jaw.’

Less then 6 months later, I had no jaw pain, no clicking and my singing had greatly improved!

If you experience jaw tension, give this simple remedy a try.

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About the author

Sally Morgan is a professional vocal trainer with over 30 years of experience. Sally is also the creator and author of SingLikeYouSpeak(TM)!

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