Breathing

Breathing is essential to singing because when you sing the breath passes over the vocal chords and creates sound. Without breath there is no sound.

How to Breathe

If you look at a baby when they breathe you would notice that they use their stomach (diaphragm muscles). As they breathe in their stomach relaxes and pushes out to allow air into the lungs. When they breathe out the diaphragm muscles draw into the body. The problem is that we can carry stress in our bodies so we can have a shallower breath.

Having proper breath support is important for being able to sing long drawn out notes and phrases.  When you breathe the diaphragm should move down and out creating more space for your lungs to fill with breath.  During breathing you need to use your lower lung and diaphragm muscles. Your stomach muscles in the front, side and back with expand out so your lower lungs can breathe deeply.  You also want to avoid raising your shoulders as your breathe. That is because it is a sign that you are primarily only using the upper portion of your lungs.  Learning correct breathing is beneficial for holding out long notes, tuning and the tone of your voice.

How to Know if You are Breathing Correctly

Above all here are some things you should look for when checking that you are breathing correctly.

1. Natural and Relaxed Breathe – Breathing should feel relaxed with no strain in the voice or neck.
2. Diaphragm Position – As you breathe in your stomach muscles should be moving down and out. This is so you will have more room for your lungs to expand in air. As you breathe out you stomach should you draw in.
3. The Velocity You Breathe – One common mistake people make is to breathe in or out with too much velocity. If you breathe in with too much velocity you will create tension in your vocal chords as you sing. When you breathe out with too much velocity you will waste your breath on that first note. If you breathe out with too much velocity you will hear a puff of air at the beginning. So if you sign the vowel “Ah” and instead it comes out sounding like “Hah”. The “Hah” sound comes from letting out a puff of air right before your “Ah” vowel. If you are running out of breath you either need to work on lung capacity or with your velocity.

The Different Types of Breath

1. The Sleepers Breath – The sleepers breath is the type of deep breath that you create when you are sleeping. The is helpful to develop because it will create a deep and relaxed breath.
2. The Silent Breath – Breathing silently is for when you have a microphone and don’t want it to amplify your breath.
3. The Yawn – Yawning helps to relax the throat and bring the larynx down so there is less tension.
4. The Sigh – The sigh helps to relax tension in your voice.
5. The Quick Breath – This is helpful to use to quickly take in air in a song. The one thing to watch with this is that it should remain relaxed as you breath in.
6. The Panting Breath – Breathing on a panting sound will help you to strength your diaphragm muscles.
7. The “S” Breath – To create a “s” breath you need to breathe out an “s” sound like a snake. Try to work up to breathing out to at least 1 min 30 seconds.

Imagery For Breathing

I remember when one of my vocal teachers gave me this imagery I almost fell down laughing. She said, “I should imagine I was breathing out of my butt”. When I finally got over what a ridiculous image that was I tried doing what she suggested. I noticed that when I used that image I got the deepest and lowest breath I had ever had. With that one image in my head I was able to automatically able to increase my breathing capacity.

Exercises To Help You Improve Your Breathing

1. Breathe on the floor with a book on the stomach…try to lift the book with your stomach as you breathe.
2. Breathe on the floor to a standing position.  First with your back on the floor and then on your hands on knees. Next try moving to squatting and then to a full standing position.
3. Breathe panting like a dog focusing on your diaphragm muscles as you breathe.
4. Practice breathing by first exhaling all your air, hold for 10 counts, then breathe.  This will encourage you to feel what that deep breathe feels like.
5. Breathe through a 3 inch straw…this will help you get a deep breathe.
6. Try breathing with that imagery in your head of breathing through your butt. As crazy as it may seem this will help you get that deeper breath you are looking for.
7. Sing “Happy Birthday” and pause at each phrase to make sure that you are getting your breathing right.

I hope you enjoyed learning about breathing. I look forward to giving you some more vocal and piano lessons for your musical adventures.

Linnea Loves Music

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