Wow! This can be a hot-button topic for many vocal instructors! I’m sure I’m opening a can of worms even posting this. Often one of the first things a new student tells me is that they need help with their breathing. This is usually the one thing the average Joe knows about singing – you need to learn to breathe like a singer.
Let me first fill you in on a few of the different “Schools of Thought” when it comes to singers, breathing and support:
School of Thought #1: It’s all about breathing! These instructors work intensely on getting singing students to breathe “low”. They lie them on the ground on their backs and have them raise books with their stomachs moving up and down with their breath. They spend hours and hours of lesson time working on trying to control their “diaphragm” before they even get to singing a song.
School of Thought #2: Learn to push your mid-section OUT while singing. These instructors re-teach your body to have your stomach expand even while exhaling or vocalizing. They may even have you learn to push back on the piano itself with your middle to build this strength.
School of Thought #3: Pull your mid-section IN while singing. Once you’ve learned to breathe “Low breaths” (see #1) you then learn to pull your middle in while breathing out and/or vocalizing.
School of Thought #4: Breathing isn’t as important as it’s made out to be. These instructors teach that the majority of vocal problems occur in the vocal cords themselves and the muscles surrounding them. Solve these issues and correct breathing will come naturally.
OK. How confusing is that?? Let me say at the outset that, although I personally gravitate towards the 4th approach, my teaching does tend to reflect bits of all 4 approaches.
Let’s start with #4: Breathing isn’t as important as some teachers make it out to be. When a new student tells me they need help learning to breathe I generally nod my head understandingly and then take them through some diagnostic vocalizes designed to show me their vocal “tendencies” or where their voice is unbalanced. If a person’s voice is out of balance, it won’t matter how much you focus on breathing, you will be beating a dead horse. A singer who is breathy and quiet will have trouble holding a pitch for a long time because they will be losing too much air where the vocal cords should be resisting it. A singer who belts their notes out full of strain and tension will have trouble holding notes because it will be uncomfortable. Any tension in the vocal apparatus itself (ie: your “Adam’s apple”) and surrounding muscles will limit a singer’s ability to hold a note for an extended time and will affect the way they are breathing.
Likewise, focusing so intensely on breathing when a singer has balance issues will cause a whole new set of problems: Pushing more air at vocal cords that are in a breathy/heady type of coordination will cause all sorts of outer muscles to become involved, as they attempt to keep the pitch going when there are gaps in the way the vocal folds are coming together. Like trying to race a sailboat when there are holes in the sails – it takes a whole lot more effort to get the same speed as the boats with whole sails. And when a singer has strain/tension issues, adding more air pressure to already overly-weighted vocal folds will lead to damage and more strain. Same race, now your boat is filled with rocks – better add some paddlers (muscle tension) to help it along again!
Having said that, if I see a singer come into my studio who is obviously breathing shallowly (shoulder raising, hyperventillating-type breathing causing a person to be light-headed – I can often hear it in their intake of breath before I even look at their body movement), you better believe that, while making sure their voice is in balance, we will also be working on breathing lower breaths and relaxing the shoulders – and correcting bad posture that often leads to this. But all of this may only take 5 minutes of our time. If this seems to be a problem for you try this: stand up straight, with shoulders back, chest out, bottom in and spine aligned all the way up through your neck. Place your hands on your middle and take a deep breath. Feel your middle filling out? Watch yourself in a mirror if you’re not sure. If that doesn’t work then maybe you need the lie-on-the-floor-with-a-book-on-your-belly approach.
Read on for “Breathing & Support Part 2″….
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