JAW RELAXATION EXERCISES (2 of 6) -- Vocal Exercises -- American English

265,749 views ・ 2013-09-12

Rachel's English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to go over jaw relaxation.
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Hello and Welcome to Rachel's English.  Today, we're going to talk about ways to relax the
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jaw. >> Ow.
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>> Yeah, that looked painful! >> Yeah. That was painful.
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Many of our students have a tendency to hold a bunch of tension in the jaw, whether as
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a habit from their native language, or because they are focusing on learning a bunch of new
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sounds.  In American English, we want a relaxed face and throat, and body if possible.  But
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today, we're going to focus on relaxing the jaw.  Here are a few exercises you can use
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before you practice or in the middle of your practice when you feel tension creeping in.
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First off, you may have heard from teachers in the past that you need to drop your jaw
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more.  More Jaw Drop!!  This instruction can create tension as you work on vowel and
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diphthong sounds that need a bunch of space - like AH, AW, and AI, and others.  Instead
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of thinking about using your muscles to hold the jaw open, which can add tension to the
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face, think of releasing the jaw.  Let the jaw drop down using gravity, rather than muscle.
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If you put your fingers just under your ears and open and close your mouth, you'll feel
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movement of the jaw bone, we'll call this spot the "jaw hinge".  Think of releasing
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your jaw from back here, rather than forcing the chin down.  By doing this, we lose the
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tension that can affect the sound, and we have a fuller more open sound.  We'll come
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back to the hinge.  But first, let's start some jaw relaxation exercises.
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Let's start by just easily massaging the jaw with your fingertips.  As you begin freeing
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the jaw, you may start to yawn more - awesome!  Keep yawning!  It's a great stretch and
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provides you with wonderful deep breaths that encourage support. When you yawn, make sure
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you yawn both vertically and horizontally. Really get a great stretch for the jaw, and
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the lips actually with that one.
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Now, using the heel of your hand, drag the hand down the jaw bone on the face towards
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your chin, really thinking about releasing that jaw hinge and letting the face muscles
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relax.
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>> I look silly. But it is relaxing. >> Totally ok to look silly. It's great, actually.
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>> Oh, that feels so good.
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Now, let's go back to that hinge we spoke about earlier, back here.  Allow your newly
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relaxed jaw to release down for a moment and feel that space that opens up under your ear
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as the hinge releases down.  This is a great pressure point on our face, by pressing in
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to it we can release the jaw even more.  Now, this can feel quite painful, so don't hurt
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yourself, but it will feel great when you let go!
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Now, take your chin between thumb and index finger and move the jaw up and down.
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>> Whoa. Oh, that's hard. >> Don't hurt yourself on this one, either.
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>> You gotta watch your tongue! >> It can be very difficult! Yeah, make sure
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your tongue's not in the way.
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Really let your hand control your jaw, you'll feel the jaw kind of want to fight back a
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little bit. See if you can relax it, and just let your hand be in control.
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>> Yeah, my jaw definitely does not want to give up control.
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>> Yeah. So, lots, lots to work on.
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Now, if you haven't felt silly already, prepare to. And if you're really relaxed, prepare
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to let a little saliva fly around.  Now, clasp your hands together and shake your body
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and face, keeping that jaw released.
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>> I don't know if I'm willing to do that on camera.
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>> Come on Rachel. >> Ok. Do it again?
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Let's use this newly released jaw a bit and practice on some vowel sounds, some vowel
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sounds that use some jaw drop. So AH and AW. Now, let's go from OO, which has a tight lip
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rounding here, OO, and move into AW
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OO-AW, OO-AW
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Now, let's move from OO into AH: OO-AH, OO-AW
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You can practice going back and forth, and this may help you hear the difference between
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those two sounds.
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All right!  Hopefully your jaw feels more relaxed.  Remember to do this whenever you
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feel tension creep in as you practice and drill, and when you're having trouble finding
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the difference between vowel sounds. It may just be that you want more space - and the
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best way to create space - is to release that jaw!
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This video is part of a series on relaxation and placement. If you liked this video, check
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out the first one on the Path of the Voice, or the next one on Tongue Exercises and Tongue
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Relaxation. If you have any questions, feel free to write a comment below.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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