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Getting enough breath, the right kind of breath, at the right time—and then expending it well—determines how your voice sounds, how the line of the music flows, and indeed, whether or not you even get to the end of that line!
Little wonder then that Ory Brown's class, "Can I Get a Little Support Here," at the Berkshire Choral Festival was packed to the gills. Brown, a versatile mezzo-soprano with an active career as an operatic and concert soloist, has had her own trials and tribulations dealing with the breath. In her role as Berkshire faculty member, she offered these helpful hints and vocal exercises to get the air moving.
We all know how to breathe... you're doing it right now! But for singers, once we start thinking about it, breathing often gets bad. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we hold our stomachs in all the time, because we don't want them to stick out. It becomes a center of tension in our bodies, when in fact we need to let go of our abdominal muscles. The other problem has to do with terminology. We use the words "inhale" and "exhale." And what happens when you inhale? We tend to want to pull our bellies "in"—just the opposite of what we need to do.
So I don't use the word "inhale." I use the word "release" instead because when you take a breath, the abdominal muscles are releasing.
First, let's talk anatomy. The diaphragm is the muscle situated lengthwise between our heart-lung cavity and all the other stuff—stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, etc. When you are at rest, when you have blown out all your air, the diaphragm comes up as a dome under your lungs. When you take in air, the diaphragm stretches out and goes down and becomes concave. It's almost like a trampoline which is attached to your ribs all the way around. As you take air in, the trampoline stays wide and flattens out. This creates a vacuum which allows air to come in.
When you take air in, the lungs get longer and wider all the way around and take up more space. As you take air in, or release, the diaphragm is working to make more room in your abdominal cavity for your lungs to expand. So when you take in a breath, you are really releasing the abdominal muscles.
As you blow out, it is just the opposite. The diaphragm begins to relax and the other abdominal muscles, mostly those running vertically, begin to work. When a muscle begins to work it gets shorter, and it can only get so short before it has to reset.
Belly Button on a String
Think of your belly button attached to a string going through your body and out the back. Now, blow out your air and draw your belly in with that imaginary string.
When you let go, you will notice that the air comes in naturally and the belly expands. This is what I call "release." So think of "letting go" rather than "I'm going to stick my stomach out to show that I am breathing."
Posture: Keeping that Strapless Dress On
With the "release," you will notice that the shoulders and chest area stay pretty calm. That's what you want—no tension in the upper part of your body. But you do want dancer-like posture. Raise your hands above your head and slowly lower them. Keep the chest back, the ribs expanded, and your head floating naturally on your shoulders. Women can think about having a strapless dress on and it's a size-and-a-half too big. You will keep those ribs wide!
Release: It's Your 5th Birthday
Imagine it's your fifth birthday. You are holding a cake on your hand in front of your mouth. Put your other hand on your abdomen. Now blow out the five candles one at a time. Puff. Puff. Puff. Puff. Puff. What do you feel in your abdomen? You should be able to feel little impulses as the muscles work.
Blow out the candles again and feel the string through the belly button pulling back, then release. The abdomen naturally lets go and air comes in. The breath should be quiet, no sounds.
Big Candles, Little Candles
Now, when you do your five puffs, imagine that the first set of candles are little and the second set are big. What happens with your breath? You may notice that you don't need to have more air to blow the big candles. The point is you don't need to regulate how much air to put in based on what phrase is coming up. You simply need to let go, let the air pressure equalize and you will fill up.
It's like when you go to the gas station. You don't always put in 12 gallons because that's what the tank holds. You put in gas until it clicks off. It is the same with breathing. Don't try to pull air in, just think of releasing, and air will come in and fill you up. It is enough for the next phrase.
Often singers try to force the breath and end up taking too much air in. Too much air feels like you have no air at all. You have to let those ab muscles go and elongate so that air can come in.
Five Candles Down to One
A way to check yourself: Blow out five candles, release, four candles, release, three candles, release, two candles, release, one candle, release. Then do one candle, release several times. By the end you are doing the switch over from blowing out and releasing very quickly. This helps get you in touch with what it feels like in the abdomen when you release.
Breathing When You're Scared
Right before a concert or recital, it's hard for me to take a breath because I'm scared. So here's what I do. Before singing a piece, I start by blowing out. So think of the entrance to a musical phrase you are working on. Three beats before the entrance, try this: Blow out a candle on beat one, blow out a candle on beat two, release on beat three, then sing the first note. How does that feel? The point is to really release before you start singing. Blowing out helps activate that natural release mechanism. Often I find that if you get the first breath correctly it tends to cascade.
