“Vocal Advantage: Breath Management (part 3)” by Dina Else

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: BREATH MANAGEMENT (part 3), by Dina Else

 

In order to ‘remain in the posture of inhalation’, ‘stay expanded’ or ‘remain in the inspiratory position’ a singer needs to master appoggio.  A term used to indicate how the muscle groups work together to achieve the proper balance of push and pull. The term appoggio is an Italian term that means to ‘lean against’.  A singer’s main goal during breath management is to stay as long as possible in the ‘inspiratory position’, but only as long as is comfortable.  A singer’s responsibility is to identify and drill the natural processes involved in developing the ‘push and pull’ of ‘remaining expanded’ and then to keep these muscles engaged so that breath support remains intact during the last part of the phrase.

 

I like to tell the students that this is like having one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake, counterbalancing for control.

 

I explain breath management to my students this way…The breath intake is their “Deposit”, the beginning of the phrase is their “Savings” and the end of their phrase is their “Spending”.  We’ve talked about the “Savings” portion of breath management, the phase where the singer works to ‘stay expanded’ or ‘remain in the posture of inhalation’.  Now let’s talk about the “Spending” portion of breath management.  James McKinney describes it this way, “The ‘breathing in’ muscles stay active during the controlled exhalation stage; they help retain breath in the body by offering resistance to the breathing-out muscles, and assist in the process of breath support thereby.” 

 

I feel that this (the “spending” or “controlled exhalation”) is the aspect of breath management that is the least understood.  Many choral directors know you’ve got to achieve an ‘in, down and out’ breath intake that expands the torso frontally, dorsally and laterally.  Many choral directors know that the torso and ribs should remain expanded and buoyant at the onset and beginning of the phrase.  Many choral directors don’t realize that the appoggio muscle interaction, the push and pull, should remain through the end of the phase.  If you stop and think about it, it makes sense, our main goal is to keep the diaphragm muscle involved/engaged during the entire phonation phase.  In order to do that we can’t allow the ribs or torso to collapse, even toward the end of the phrase.

 

I sometimes explain it to my students this way…

If the ‘breathing in’ muscles could talk (the muscles in charge of expansion) they would say:

1. During the “Deposit” or the breath intake phase: “Everybody back!  The diaphragm is comin’ down”. 

2. During the “Savings” or “remaining expanded” phase: “Everybody stay back!  The diaphragm has a job to do!”

3. During the “Spending” or slow “controlled release” phase: “Alright, you can come back in…but nice and slow, the diaphragm is still working!”

 

These last few columns have been a LOT to digest.  Ponder them this week and I will continue to bring clarity next week!

 

(original posting: October 28, 2013)