Any voice doctors on the Hype?

[Alexia Dark]

It's a long shot, I know... but I'm getting very frustrated. And internet search engines were designed to mislead me, it seems.

Here's the situation; I'm a singer, and earlier this year, I took voice lessons with someone who's methods I did not agree with - and now I have incredibly painful tension problems as a result. All of the muscles of my mouth seem to fight against every sound I make. Even thinking about singing makes my jaw ache and my soft palate drop.

Singers on this forum will know - when you are truely, freely warmed-up, you get this feeling of the sound resonating somewhere just behind the soft palate (you know, that squishy thing right behind the roof of your mouth). That feeling no longer exists for me - it's like I've lost control of the muscles that allow resonance.

I am desperate. I've seen one voice doctor, and a dentist who's secretary said he knew about mouth muscles, and both just took a glance at my vocal chords and said, "They look fine". They haven't felt/heard the horrible, devistating tension I feel every time I open my mouth now.

Does anyone know what I can do to stop this tension?

 

[TBadora]

It's a long shot, I know... but I'm getting very frustrated. And internet search engines were designed to mislead me, it seems.

Here's the situation; I'm a singer, and earlier this year, I took voice lessons with someone who's methods I did not agree with - and now I have incredibly painful tension problems as a result. All of the muscles of my mouth seem to fight against every sound I make. Even thinking about singing makes my jaw ache and my soft palate drop.

Singers on this forum will know - when you are truely, freely warmed-up, you get this feeling of the sound resonating somewhere just behind the soft palate (you know, that squishy thing right behind the roof of your mouth). That feeling no longer exists for me - it's like I've lost control of the muscles that allow resonance.

I am desperate. I've seen one voice doctor, and a dentist who's secretary said he knew about mouth muscles, and both just took a glance at my vocal chords and said, "They look fine". They haven't felt/heard the horrible, devistating tension I feel every time I open my mouth now.

Does anyone know what I can do to stop this tension?

Got me stumped. Sounds like you are just getting overwhelmed psychologically. Maybe you should try and distract yourself before you start singing, to get your mind off of what it is you are doing. Also, try this with earplugs on (as an experiment) and see if it does anything. If not, you really need to see an expert/professional. I don't think anyone on the hype is qualified to diagnose something like this based on what you said.

 

[POWdER-man]

I know what you are talking about but I will be dammed to know how to help you.....

What kind of methods did they use....(you obviously know there are about 101 jokes to this so beware when they come)

 

[jaguarr]

You may need some help from a different vocal coach to help you unlearn the things you have learned from this other one. Other than that, give your voice a rest for a week and then see how it feels. You may have just strained it a little bit.

jag

 

[JTIZZLEVILLE]

I would say to first give you voice a rest. The vocal cords are very very tender and must be treated with the utmost care. Any kind of straining could be causing you to have problems producing the sound you are used to.

Like someone said, it could be in your head. Maybe you are so afraid of singing wrong/incorrectly that you are creating excess tension in your throat. After resting, try to sing something without much thought. Preferably something in a lower key that won't cause you much straining to hit the higher notes.

 

[Warhammer]

We should all make a thread where we post our voices on it. Like upload it and host it on a website.

 

[Alexia Dark]

"Rest" is something that doesn't mean a heck of alot to my voice - I've had this problem since April.