BREATHING
The question most asked of a voice teacher has to be about
breathing. Singers spend a lot of time worrying about
breathing. Will they have time to take a breath? Will
they be able to get a full breath? Will their breath last?
Will they be late coming in after the breath? The list
goes on and on and is as varied as each singer who comes
into my studio. Of course, we all know air is the fuel
for the voice, and the most important element of singing.
Without breath, there is no sound.
Dale Syverson says "more air" is the answer
to every question that a director asks her chorus. If
the director asks, "How do you sing on top of the
pitch?" the answer is "More air." "How
do you sing to the ends of the phrase lifted and supported?"
"More air!" A vocal coach widely recognized
for his beautiful voice, Jim Casey once said, "If
I can say when I walk off stage that I was in charge of
my breath, I had all I needed and used it well, then I
won the contest."
The appropriate use of air for a freely produced tone
is the number one priority for vocal coaches and voice
teachers. Coaches and teachers want to help the singer
find her way to get her personal “feel” for
accessing all the air she needs, and to manage the air
to produce her most free, resonant sound. While the importance
of the right amount of air at the right time is understood,
the singer's concern about it often turns out to be the
biggest problem. Anxiety produces tension which hinders
the singer's ability to fully utilize the space available
to hold air and the muscles needed to lift the sound up,
up and away.
Recognizing that our goal is to produce a free tone through
flexible breathing, we will approach this challenge of,
"More air!" through three topics:
1. Tension
2. Capacity
3. Management
(The first two topics are covered in this article. Breath
management will be discussed in the next installment.)
RELEASE OF TENSION
Your body is your instrument so the entire instrument
should be in a relaxed, yet toned, stance while singing.
Discovering the areas of your body where you carry tension,
then finding stretching exercises, breathing exercises,
meditation, or yoga to release that tension should be
your first priority. Find what works for you so that you
begin your singing experience with a relaxed body and
an alert mind.
This example is "Standing Yoga" from voice teacher,
Liz Caplan. Standing Yoga helps to release tension and
aligns the body appropriately for singing. The body should
always be in the appropriate stack- with shoulders over
the pelvis, pelvis over the knees and knees over the feet.
Build your posture from the bottom up, rather than from
the top down. The head is then balanced on top of the
spine, not the whole body, like a bobble head doll. The
head floats freely with no tension in the neck, while
the ears line up with the shoulders.
Exercise #1 • Interlace fingers
and place hands on the base of the neck (elbows are
opened out)
• Bring elbows into parallel (starting position).
(The upper body should not be lifting-- just a natural
and simple opening and closing of the arms and elbows
as you inhale and exhale.) Repeat four times or more
if needed.
• Leave arms in parallel position henceforth.
Tilt the chin down slightly to fully release head and
neck. Bring the elbows closer together. Bend slightly
from the waist.
• Inhale (feeling the breath in the back ribs.)
Exhale and let the weight of the arms stretch the neck
and back as you drop gently over and forward. Repeat
three or four times until you are fully dropped over.
• Release the hands and arms and let them fall
to a release.
• Inhale, then exhale and drop over one more time
• Inhale, and then exhale as you slowly roll up
the spine one vertebrae at a time (smoothly).
• Inhale when you reach the top after your head
floats up to center
You should experience a buoyant, relaxed and aligned
instrument. You are ready to proceed with your breathing
and singing exercises.
INCREASING YOUR CAPACITY
Your body is what you have to work with. The size of
your lungs dictates how much air you can hold and, therefore,
how much air you have to use to produce sound. The lungs
are incapable of enlarging on their own. They are contained
in the thoracic cavity and the only way they can hold
more air is for you to provide more space. You need
to get taller and wider from the waist to your shoulders.
That's what should have happened at the beginning of
the Liz Caplan's Standing Yoga exercise described above.
Exercise #2
• Without inducing more tension, raise your arms
and latch your fingers behind your head. In this position
- your rib cage is raised and your sternum is up.
• When you make your arms parallel, exhale, bring
them back and inhale you will feel a stretch in the
upper body that gives the sensation of opening the ribcage
so that more air can come in.
• Move your arms parallel once again, inhale as
they go back and then lower your arms leaving the chest
up- and then exhale. There should be a feeling of expansiveness
and buoyancy but no tension.
• The shoulders are simply hanging around, and
the sternum is high and should remain there.
This position maximizes your breathing capacity because
it makes your body tall and flexible.
Flexible breath means not overfilling so that the breath
is under pressure. Take in air until you are comfortably
full of air and then use all the air. The thoracic cavity
stays expanded and the diaphragm pushes the viscera
down and out, while the abs relax and air drops in.
There should be no sensation of sucking air in or of
having to engage muscles to make air come in. You lift
air out and prepare the space to receive more air.
As you "learn" this natural process, get yourself
out of the way! Open your mouth, your throat and anything
else in the path. If there is noise on the intake of
air, that means there is tension somewhere -- at the
mouth, tongue, throat or somewhere. If there is tension
on the intake of air, there will be tension in the immediate
tone produced. There is no time between intake and phonation
to release tension. So, be sure you learn to relax on
inhalation and allow the air to drop in.
From a breathing tape produced by Chris and Carole Beatty
I adopted by personal image of my air supply. My air
supply sits on my shoulders in a column three miles
high. All the air I could possibly need is there and
is under pressure so all I have to do is relax and open
and be ready to receive it. Air falls right in. As the
air falls in, I am full to capacity and my breath intake
is fast, silent and free! What more can a singer want?
Next installment "Managing All My Air".
By:
Darlene Rogers
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