30 Day Challenge - Day 12 - 7 Days to Better Singing Controlling Breath

When my sister's dog, Kona, the Malamute, was younger, I could get him to howl by making "wolf noises" in the house.  But in order for him to make a long sustained howl, he needed to straighten up a little, pull in a big breath, and carefully control how much breath he let out in order to produce an impressive, big, sustained howl.

Singers similarly must be as controlled in their breathing.  In fact, breathing and breath control may be one of the most important things to master in order to produce long sustained notes, to control the sound you produce, the key you sing in, and prevent pitch roll and correction.  Yep, it's all about the breath.

Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, my pal, Fernando Riley @fernandoriley, will not be able to present his portion of breath control today.  He'll come back around later in the week for his portion. Tonight, I'll present Part 1 of breath control and Fernando will talk about application soon.  I'll send out a general invitation for everyone, so that you all know who the next singer is on our 7 Day's event list.

Today, Day 2 is part 1 of Breath Control and will be on my site @pokeypal.

Why singing from your "diaphragm" is a mis-nomer...

So let's talk a little about breathing and breath control for singers.  Most of us--myself included--use only the upper portion of our lungs when we breath.  You can tell this because when asked to take a deep breath, most of us raise our shoulders up while inhaling and drop the shoulders when exhaling.  That's a sure sign that your breath is in the top portion of your lungs. 

Swimmers, runners, athletes and singers use both the UPPER and LOWER portions of the lungs, and thus, take bigger, deeper breaths and have more breath to use when singing or doing a physical activity or even sitting around.  When an athlete takes a breath, their chest and abdomen expand to fill with air.  Why the stomach/abdomen?  That's because the person is using that all important DIAPHRAGM muscle to push air out of the lungs when exhaling.  When inhaling, the diaphragm drops down to allow air INTO the full expanse of the lungs.

Now you can actually feel your diaphragm doing its job if you PUSH all of the air out of your lungs.  Do that now...you feel your stomach or abdomen kinda crinkle up as you push out all of the air? Yep, that "thing" that feels like it is "bonking" up next to your rib cage is your diaphragm.  There it is--the muscle that helps you breath.  As singers, one does not "sing" from one's diaphragm, but rather from the lower nodes of the lungs.  So to really sing, you need to use the Lower and Upper Lung! 

Learning how to breath through your entire expanse of available lung is not only a good idea for singing, it's a good idea for your life.  Each of us, as we age (oh yeah, another fantastic bit of news about aging) will lose a bit of our lung capacity each year.  Singing--an activity that exercises the lungs--will actually help you RETAIN that lung capacity over time, so its not only good to sing, it's a great way to retain your health!!

So what exercises can you do to train your body to use your upper and lower lungs for your everyday life and singing?  There are numerous videos on YouTube that can help you, but personally, I like simply to put my hand on my stomach and one on my back and then take a deep breath. I want to see my hand on my stomach move forward with each inhalation and move back toward me with each exhalation. The hand on my back ensures that I am not "slumping" or "slouching" in order to move my abdomen outward.  When exhaling, I push as much or ALL of the air from my lungs so that my diaphragm has to really work hard to push up against my lungs and expel the air. 

Now if you're brand spanking new to this activity, go slow--slow inhalations, slow exahalations--count to five for each.  Don't overdo it because you're gonna give yourself a head "rush" from all of the air going into your system.  Overtime, however, using more of your lungs will become second nature to you.

Let's learn some cool tips tonight and we'll sing a great Sinatra song, New York New York, to push out some great whopping long notes to use those lower nodes eh??

Thanks!!

About the Singers Mentioned Here:

Fernando Riley @Fernandoriley is one of my best friends here on Smule.  He's a classically trained vocalist and well known for his impressions!

Me?  I'm Grace and your can find me @pokeypal.  Join me for great songs and follow me to get the latest news on the next instructor in our 7 day series!!  Thanks!!