“Vocal Advantage: Breath (part 2)” by Dina Else

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: BREATH (part 2), by Dina Else

 

(During our last discussion, we shared an instructional yoga video that has a great image of the diaphragm in action that I show my students: www.3Dyoga.com  I turn down the volume to avoid the yoga lesson but the visual is awesome!!.  For those having difficulty opening it, you can also find it HERE.)

 

Young singers need to look at the breath as their friend.  More often than not, they view breath as something they are fighting or gasping for.  In my experience, left to their own devices, most of my younger students will ‘tank up’.  I refer to it as the ‘get ready to blow out all the candles on your birthday cake’ breath!  I think the origins of the ‘tank up’ breath could be traced back to everyone’s 2nd birthday.  J

 

Let’s pull apart the idea of ‘tanking up’.  When you try to inhale all of the air in the room you overcrowd the lungs, which induces a faster rate of breath expulsion. Simply stated: When you ‘tank up’, you trigger the muscles of exhalation.  Often, when students take a breath in preparation for singing, they instill tension.  Instead, try thinking of the inhalation as a release of the tone, and not necessarily as a preparation.  G. B. Lamperti’s advice is also helpful: “Breathe to satisfy the lungs, not to overcrowd them.”

 

When I teach the initial breath intake, I explain to the students exactly what the action of the diaphragm muscle is.  I explain that the all-around expansion that is felt at the back, sides and front is the result of the dissension of the diaphragm as it pushes, or crowds, the internal organs alongside the expansive movement of the intercostals. 

 

When I am teaching this sensation I will ask my singers to exhale all of the breath and wait until their body tells them that air is needed.  I encourage the singers to trust their body and not ‘take a breath’ but instead ‘open their throat and allow the air to rush in.’ This usually takes a few tries…as we’ve established in our body alignment discussions, habit is a formidable force. Eventually they realize that if they create the right environment, the lungs will fill up. 

 

Cynthia Hoffman puts it this way. “When breath is taken in without pushing for a result—when the air dropping to the bottom of the lungs is allowed to create the expansion—there is a natural filling out of the front, back, and sides of the body, centering around the waist, but also radiating down from there.  It might look the same, but it isn’t.  The breath itself must ‘inspire’ the fullness and expansion, and the body needs to be in an optimum position to receive it.”  Couldn’t have said it better myself!

 

In two weeks we will be moving on to the ‘inspired breath’, noisy vs silent intake, and continuing to unpack the ‘how-tos’ and benefits of correct breath intake. Meet me back here next week as we touch base with body alignment now that your rehearsals are in full swing!

 

(original posting: September 9, 2013)