Muscle Straining

celestyanant

Well, I've been suffering from strain and tension in my jaw and throat muscles for 2 weeks and the ent doctor advised me to take vocal rest and steam thrice a day. It has helped a lot in 2 days as the pain has reduced around my neck area unlike before. However, I've read stories about people sufferimg from tension and say it takes very long to recover and it keeps coming back even after recovery. I wanna know if this is true and how i can heal from this as soon as possible.

[Deleted User]

First you have to figure out why you are having that much tension, and strain. Until you do, the problem will probably repeat itself.

Peace

[Deleted User]

Hi @celestyanant I saw your question in the live stream, and I'm glad you asked here. I don't mean to speak for Ken or anyone else, but I remember that Ken wondered if you'd had any trauma that caused the tension, and perhaps including that information in your post might help him answer.

HuduVudu

@celestyanant can you post a video of yourself singing or practicing?

Because just like @videoace said, if you don't correct what you are doing wrong you are bound to repeat it.

celestyanant

@Sophia @HuduVudu @videoace thank you so much for replying to this first of all💖💖💖
Actually, the thing is my natural speaking voice is low. But when my voice is properly warmed im comfortable as a soprano. So if i try to hit the soprano notes without warming up i have to strain and i think straining has caused the tension just below my jaw in the throat muscle area as well and my jaw. It literally hurts to sing and whenever i try to sing now, there is so much pressure in the jaw and the muscles right under it thatt it hurts and i cant seem to find correct placement of my voice like i used to because everytime i sing most of the effort naturally goes into those muscles that hurt and i feel like im using those instead of vocal chords itself. Sorry if this is too long..

[Deleted User]

@celestyanant It's not too long of a post. You're fine

Have you watched any of Ken's instruction videos on youtube?
He has videos dealing with tension, strain, nerves, etc......
He also has many videos on the basics of singing. I would go to his youtube channel, and look up the videos that deal with your issues, and start there.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6x5NRBmotXDEvLDDFWlLvA

Peace, Tony

HuduVudu

@celestyanant I have a bit of a weird question for you. What is your gender and what is your age? If you don't want to answer that is cool, but I am thinking there may be age related issues happening and I want to rule those out.

highmtn

Here's one thing that is universal: You should ALWAYS warm up, if at all possible, before trying to sing anything, especially high notes. That warm up is gradual, and helps to get to higher notes without straining.

Pain is an indication that something is wrong. Technique comes to mind. Breath support, also. Relaxation of the chest, neck, and throat are mandatory requirements to reduce stress when singing.

celestyanant

@HuduVudu i am a female and im 16

Gaston_Jauregui

@celestyanant hi, the first thing I would go for is support, but I would try to relax the jaw as much as posible, im gonna post you a couple of videos that you should work on, and if you do them daily youll see results

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3T-xA28fE

and about the jaw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZATunybJm_4

as soon as you finished to rest your voice, try to do this as often as you can, and youll improve a lot, of course if you can, get the KTVA program so you can go step by step with Ken on how to do this

HuduVudu

@celestyanant ok after some back and forth my wife and some trips down memory lane, here is what I think is happening.

Actually, the thing is my natural speaking voice is low. But when my voice is properly warmed im comfortable as a soprano. So if i try to hit the soprano notes without warming up i have to strain

My wife has a low tessatura also, and when she was younger she thought that she should sing as a soprano because that is what girls are supposed to do (sic). She also had tension problems and her voice was sore also. In my own experience when I am working the upper end of my voice I too will have tension and soreness. I think simply the soprano range is at the upper end of your range. That said because you have not built the strength in that area you will indeed have to warm up to get to it. I have to warm up to work out the upper end of my range also. I can not just start singing and reach those notes. In time and with practice you will build strength in that range and will eventually be able to sing those notes without warming up. Please note this is NOT me advocating singing without warming up. What I am saying is that with practice those notes will become incorporated into your range and you will have the strength to sing them anytime you like.

I also want to say that when you are working to expand your range you do not want to force yourself far out of your current range. It is better to nudge up your range than try to push the envelope to far. The way that I am expanding my range is to push up to the note where it just starts to become uncomfortable, add one semitone and then practice that range. In time as you gain strength add another semitone and so on. Doing this will expand your range safely without all of the pain.

Hope this answered your question.