Relaxing your face is, in my opinion, the least important of the 6 areas of relaxation. It has only a slight effect on the sound and is more of a visual flaw. Facial tension is bad because it does slightly distort the shape of your resonators, which are the parts of your voice that give it its unique color/timbre. It also makes you look funny.
How to Identify Facial Tension - Its pretty obvious. Look in a mirror and sing. If your eyebrows furrow or shoot up, tension. If your lips suddenly push out like you're imitating a whale, tension. If your nose wrinkles up, tension. While none of these things are inherently bad, you don't want them to happen without your consent. If people can hear you smile over the phone they can hear your lips doing strange things when you sing. You don't want a sad ballad to suddenly sound cheerful cause your lips just do their own thing.
How to Eliminate Facial Tension - The goal is to place your face under your control, not to eliminate expression. A quick face massage can help the muscles calm down, but just practicing a deadpan expression in the mirror while singing works great. Should you use your face when singing? Absolutely, don't stop expression yourself with your face, just do it on purpose.
Of all of the types of tension, this is the easiest to remedy. Its the only one I've never had a student struggle with long term, but there is a first time for everything. If you struggle with tension and just need a little extra help, sign up for singing lessons or leave a comment and I'll do my best to help you out!
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