We are being taught what to eat, how much to drink, when to eat and drink. Breathing we are not being taught. At school, at home. Nobody looks at your breathing to correct it and make sure you give your body the maximum benefits of this number one survival tricks : Taking air to oxygen the blood.
For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth. ~Sanskrit Proverb
Breathing is the core of singing. Breath is what makes your vocal chords resonate, it's volume is the volume of your voice, it's power is the power of your voice.
Breath is sustained by the respiratory muscles. We have more than 400 muscles participating to the breathing process.
Let's have a short look at the technique of breathing.
1. Dynamic breathing
Breathe a few times consciously... take your time to breathe in, fill your lungs completely with air, and then breathe out. Watch yourself doing it, take conscience of your breath.
Now let's have a look at what you did.
You have probably used strength while breathing in, sucking the air into the lungs, and released the tension while breathing out...
Which is wrong... Singing is exactly backwards.
Let's try something else...
Breathe out while pronouncing the letter "F". Your lips obstruct the airflow, and you need to "push" the air out, helping yourself with your abdominal muscles. Push the air till you completely empty your lungs, pulling your belly in. Until you release the last breath of air... stay with empty lungs for a few seconds...hold...hold...and release...
Yes you did release !! While taking your breath in. The contrary of what you did before.
Singing (thus releasing air out of your body) is energy, requires a body dynamic. Breathing in, on the contrary, is relaxing. It's exactly like the bellow you use for a chimney. You push to get the air out, and you release to let it back in.
While singing, you push air out for a while, 3 to 10 seconds, and very often to catch your breath you only have 1 second. So within that one second, you want to catch your breath efficiently, cause your breath is what you're gonna be leaning on for the next phrase of your song.
Try a few times.
Empty your lungs while saying the letter "F",
Feel your abdominals contract, your belly pull in...
Hold the position with empty lungs a few seconds
Release your body for it to catch breath.
When you have exhaled completely, your body has no air inside, and there is air outside. There is an unbalanced force. When you open your mouth, your throat, and feel the air go inside the lungs to expand them, you are responding to that force to balance it again. Naturally... enjoy the body relaxing as you do the exercise.
Repeat the exercise a few times. Try inhaling through the nose. Exhale, through the mouth, and inhale by the nose. Inhaling should be relaxed, easy. You should have the feeling your belly "drops" back in place and takes with him the lungs, thereby filling them with air.
Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God. ~Krishnamacharya
Now try and sing with this technique. Keep a constant airflow while singing a long phrase, catch your breath quickly while dropping the belly back in place and sing the next part of the song.
You may surprise yourself with the volume of your notes or the beauty of their resonance. As I told you in the beginning : Breath is what makes your vocal chords resonate, it's volume is the volume of your voice, it's power is the power of your voice.
That's for it for breathing today, stay tuned for other tips and tricks ! !
Singing regards,
Menno
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