BREATHING FOR SINGING has four stages:
- (1) INHALATION- a breathing-in period:
- Pretend you are beginning a yawn, but do not actually go into a full yawn. Notice how your lower jaw drops free in its socket, notice the gentle lifting feeling in the area of your soft palate, notice that your throat feels deeper, notice the cool air moving easily through your throat, notice how deep in the body your breath goes without any effort. When you inhale, the breath moves into the body, down to the lungs, and out around the middle of the body. This expansion around the middle of the body is both natural and desirable; it is the displacement of the abdominal organs by the descent of the diaphragm. A well performed inhalation should be noiseless and should look effortless. McKinney
- “The Imploded “k” Exercise:
- Inhale on a gently imploded [k] sound. To create the imploded [k], start in a silent “ng” position. Then, as you inhale, the tongue drops down, creating a quick, soft [k] sound at the back of the throat. Feel the soft palate lift and the tongue release.
- Feel the larynx release and descend into a lower, balanced position. (You may also feel a slight widening of the space between the thyroid cartilage and the hyoid bone.)
- The inhalation on the imploded [k] should involve a feeling of release and openness. Maintain this feeling of release and freedom as you sing.
- Think of the inhalation occurring below the larynx. Notice how this opens the throat and helps the larynx to freely descend.” Chipman, pg. 24
- “While inhaling, you should feel the throat release and open all the way down into the chest. When the throat is open, inhalation is silent. While the jaw and larynx release down, there should be a corresponding lift of the soft palate. Think about lifting the top back molars.To encourage the proper lifting of the soft palate I also have students imagine they are ABOUT to yawn. Once you have prepared and opened the vocal tract with inhalation, think about leaving everything in that open position while you sing. So think of breathing in, down, and out while breathing through the nose or mouth.” Chipman pgs.18, 19
- (2) BREATH SUPPORT- suspension: Breath support is a dynamic relationship between the breathing-in muscles and the breathing-out muscles, the purpose of which is to supply adequate breath pressure to the vocal folds for the sustaining of any desired pitch or dynamic level. When a person establishes the correct posture, breathes in properly, and then suspends the breath, a balanced tension is set up between the muscles of inhalation and the muscles of exhalation. Watch this video of Ingo Titze explaining how breath support can be achieved:
- (3) EXHALATION- a controlled period of phonation:
- Try to maintain the expansion around the middle of the body--- in the upper abdomen, the lower ribs, and the back--- while the diaphragm slowly begins to release its tension. When a person establishes the correct posture, breathes in properly, and then suspends the breath, a balanced tension is set up between the muscles of inhalation and the muscles of exhalation. McKinney
- Thought process at the onset of the breath goes something like this: breathe in, release muscles, fill my rib cage, feel my back expand, open the vocal tract, measure the phrase, stay buoyant, and sing! Chipman pg. 37
- “Keep DIAPHRAGM flexible by doing a PLIE: The diaphragm maintains its feeling of inhalation during singing and the chest and rib cage remain in open noble posture throughout phonation/singing. For example, when singing into her upper range, a singer would dip her arms and body into a flexible and sometimes not to subtle plie-like motion, to remind the central bed of her diaphragm that it needed to remain in flexible, descending mode in spite of the increased breath energy from the lower abdominal muscles which the coming high notes would demand.” Clayne Robinson
- “Appogio (to lean the breath against the chest)- In feeling appogio, the muscles of inhalation are in constant struggle against the muscles of exhalation, and in singing, the muscles of inhalation (expanding) must win. To feel appogio action place both hands on the waist above the hip bone (Or one hand on the waist and another on the sternum). Make sure that you keep an outward motion, not a squeezing inward action of the muscles at the sides. The appogio requires the energized use of the abdominal muscles, but these muscles must never become rigid and immobilized by tension. There is never a tightening or contraction of the abdominal muscles at the onset of tone. The belly always pulses out to support while singing, like a balloon trying to expand. The abdominal and diaphragm must not become rigid or locked. You must control the pressure of the breath.
- To learn to sufficiently energize the breath, pretend to cough, laugh/chuckle with closed lips, say three quick “sh-sh-sh” sounds as if quieting someone down, or say the word “NOW” and notice what happens. You should feel an energizing of the abdominal muscles, and a slight thrust of the sternum. Notice how the body instinctively energizes and accents the tone with an outward expansion.” Chipman pgs. 30-34
- (4) RECOVERY- a waiting period before the next intake of air: At the end of each breath there should be a brief moment when all the muscles associated with breathing relax: this also applies to the muscles associated with phonation, resonation, and articulation. McKinney, pgs. 49-53
James C. McKinney, "The Diagnosis & Correction of Vocal Faults" (Waveland Press 1994)
