At the risk of sounding heretical, I will state that I don't teach
"dropping the jaw", nor do I have my student insert fingers or anything
else in their mouths to improve jaw tension or to increase volume. I am
absolutely clear on the need for eliminating any kind of jaw/facial/neck
tension but I approach it first by working on breathing, onset, etc. to
educate the student on the parts of the body that should be doing most
of the work. During this process, I find that much extraneous tension
often drops away since it was probably instituted in an effort to do
that which should have been happening elsewhere in the instrument.
I also feel that much of the extra space required for singing can be
achieved with a relaxed jaw hinge (but not abnormally dropped) and
creating a larger amount of space above the jaw line. With remaining
tension, I use a combination of mirror work, Alexander technique, gentle
placing of the hand on the offending body area, and speech-oriented
exercises to remind the singer that one can make excellent sound without
crazy, unnatural postures. It works very well for me (a necessary
cavet, since all teachers work differently).
Sharon Szymanski
The Szymanski Studio
PS - I couldn't possibly fit two fingers into my mouth without creating
gobs of tension, but I do have a small mouth. And I'm loud - believe
me!
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