Element 3: Proper Breathing

Everybody breathes. You've been doing it your entire life, how can you need to learn how to breathe?

The sad truth is that very few people breathe properly. Yeah, I know, how stupid does that sound? But, it's true. Most people breathe very shallowly, using only the top part of their lungs, when they should be breathing from their diaphragms and utilizing much more of the lungs' capacity.

Once again the first sub-point is: (drum roll, please!) Good Posture! How you stand matters!

I'm going to keep harping on this. Get used to it.

The second point is: Take small breaths, down low, expanding the lower ribs in a barrel-like fashion. (This is called "breathing from the diaphragm." Take notes; there'll be a test later.)

Let's take a moment to look at what happens when we breathe.

The diaphragm is an oddly-spelled muscle that has a dome-shape, and hangs out underneath the lungs, keeping them from falling into the stomach, colon and some of the other stuff down there.

(I'm serious - which idiot spelled it D I A P H R A G M? It's pronounced dye a fram, not dye a fragum - English can be stupid.)

When you need to breathe, the brain sends a signal down to the diaphragm, and it flattens. When this happens, suddenly there is more room for the lungs, and they expand to fill it. Air rushes in. You don't need to suck it in, or gasp, or really do anything but flatten your diaphragm. Ah, but there's the rub: how do we do that? I can fill in for my brain and tell my diaphragm to flatten. But does it listen to me? No - it's a diaphragm, it doesn't need to listen to anybody. Once again, we have the problem of not being able to see the item we're working with. "And," you may ask, "how can we possibly get it to flatten if we can't see it and it won't listen when we talk?" We trick it. (Remember? We started tricking our bodies last week. There will be more.)

You can trick it by pooching out your stomach. When you do that, the diaphragm is forced to flatten.

Now, I know, if you pooch out your stomach, you're going to look fat. We are constantly told to suck our tummies in. And that's the problem. If your tummy is always sucked in, then you simply cannot breathe properly. Look at runners. They are breathing from the diaphragm. Check out this video: this is a man talking to runners, not singers; but the technique is the same. He even talks about posture!

One of the many ways to experience abdonimal breathing, is to lie down on the floor, flat on your back. Place a hand on your stomach. Relax, and just breathe. With any luck at all, you’ll feel your abdomen rise and fall as you breath in and out.

While this has so far talked about the frontal part of proper breathing, Herr Weinsinger did stress the "barrel-like fashion" part. Because, as you might have noticed in the first video, the ribs should expand all around. I have students put their hands on my lower back, to either side of my spine, and feel the expansion when I breathe. The easiest way to feel this for yourself is to stand up and bend forward at the waist. Place your hands on your back, roughly where your kidneys hopefully are. While you are in that position, inhale; you should feel the expansion for yourself.

(Do it now. I can wait.)

Once when he was being interviewed, Placido Domingo was asked what he felt was the most difficult thing about singing. With no hesitation, he responded, "Breathing properly." (Of course, he said it with a strong Spanish accent.)

(I'm going to pretend that all of you know who Placido Domingo is. If you don’t: take the time to look him up on Wikipedia or YouTube.)

With this in mind, I’m going to spend two posts talking about breathing.

I do have a story for you. Since I have been singing since I was a baby, I have been very lucky in that I have always breathed from my diaphragm. (Yes, even when I was a teenager and didn’t want to look fat.) This has had many benefits for me as a singer. And I have medical proof of how much this can increase your lung function.

I was in my mid-20’s, and had a horrible upper respiratory infection. I couldn't talk, couldn't sing, could barely breathe without setting off a coughing fit. The doctor wanted to rule out pneumonia. So he ordered a chest x-ray. The tech lined me up with the markings on the wall, and told me to take a deep breath. I knew exactly how much air I could take before the coughing fit would start. So I carefully inhaled as much as I was able to, feeling my rib cage expand to roughly half of what it usually could.

Pictures taken, my husband and I were told to wait while the radiologist looked over the x-rays. After a little while, the doctor came out, and asked how long I had had asthma. I immediately panicked, imagining scar tissue on my lungs. But I really could not do more than croak. So Bill calmed me down, and asked the doctor why he thought I had asthma.

The man held up my ex-ray, and pointed out that my lungs were hyper-extended; apparently, a clear sign of asthma. It is also the sign of someone who routinely uses more of their lung capacity. Bill tried to explain to the man that I am a classically trained singer, who has always breathed from the diaphragm. The ignorant sack of snot looked down his nose at me (25 years ago, I was 50 pounds lighter - keep this firmly in mind) and said:”We occasionally see this type of lung usage in long-distance runners, which your wife is obviously not. She has asthma.” And he turned and walked off.

What that man was seeing was the full utilization of my lung capacity. The result of proper breathing.

Next week: Proper Breathing, Part 2

Element 2: Relaxation of the Vocal Mechanism

"So," I can hear you ask, "just what does that mean?" Simply put, it means - relax your throat. But there is a lot more to it than that. Of course, you knew that, didn't you? If it was so simple, I wouldn't need to write about it and many voice teachers would go out of business. In fact, just like "Good Posture", it's harder than it looks.

Let me give you an analogy. When you play a piano, is the piano actually doing anything? Where is the work happening? The work is in the fingers of the person playing the instrument. Your larynx (voice box) is really doing very little. The bulk of the work is in other parts of your anatomy. (But that's for another show.)

Which brings me to the first point: Good Posture. Quick review (although there's nothing stopping you from going to last week's blog. I'll wait.)

(Oh, you're back, that was fast.) Good posture means standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, bottom tucked under, head straight with your chin slightly tucked under, and your ribcage lifted. (Pay attention: this is in the test.)

Going down the list, that brings us to: Throat and neck relaxed. Have you ever seen someone singing, and you could see the muscles in their neck are standing out like steel cables? Whenever I see someone like that, I gives me a sore throat. Because it's completely wrong!

If you look at her throat, you can see the muscles standing out. (Yes, I know this is Diana Ross, and I know that she is world-famous. I love her. That doesn't mean she does everything right. Very few of us do.)Think back to the piano analogy. If the instrument is doing the work, in this case the throat, then something is wrong with the technique.

This brings us to: Jaw loose (submissive look). Herr Weinsinger also called this the "village idiot look." Think "Duh," something any village idiot could say.

I have a friend (I have more than one, but he's the only one in this story) who was told by his teacher to imagine that he was holding a wine cork between his teeth. Kind of like this, if the child had any teeth (I love this picture!)

Once he was used to this, he was then told to practice holding the wine cork between his teeth the other way, up-and-down, shall we say. All in an effort to relax and loosen up the jaw.

Now, I am aware that there exists TMJ, which I thought stood for Tight Mouth and Jaw. Turns out that it stands for: Temporomandibular joint disorder, which, roughly translated, means you have a tight jaw. There's a lot more to it than that (and I should know, because I have it), so let's take a break while I read up on it at Wikipedia.

(OK, break over. Where was I? Right, relaxing the jaw!)

Most people think their jaw is relaxed and that they are opening wide. Most of us are so self-conscious that when we think our jaw is gaping wide, it's barely open. (Possibly one of the most difficult lessons to learn in vocal training is how to get over yourself. Don't feel bad, I had the same problem.) Just look at the maw on this woman! This is what I mean by opening your mouth wide. This is wonderful!

(And, yes, I know that I have used Diana Ross as a good and a bad example in the same blog. Voice training is just that complicated.)

Now we get to the really complicated part: Back of Throat (soft palate) lifted as in a yawn. First we need to establish just what the soft palate is. If you lift your tongue to the back of your teeth, and slide it just a little ways back, you can feel the hard palate. If you continue to slide your tongue along the roof of your mouth, until you feel the roof go soft: you will have found your soft palate.

In order for the voice to gain in range and volume, and to acquire the ringing tone that is so desirable to Western ears, the soft palate must be raised. But how to we do that? I can tell it to raise up all I want, but it just doesn't listen to me.

Well, we have to trick it. (We'll be doing a lot of tricking our bodies to do things in the coming weeks.) And we trick it by yawning. Give it a try right now. (It's not that you find this blog boring; I won't get my feelings hurt.) Pay attention to what is going on at the back of your throat as you yawn. Can you feel the soft palate raise up? If you exercise your soft palate by yawning with your mouth closed, you'll soon be able to raise the soft palate without yawning. This is an exercise that you can do waiting in line at the grocery, or while your watching TV, pretty much anytime. I know it sounds silly, but it really is essential to good singing.

Are you starting to get the idea that there's a lot more to singing than you'd ever thought? It really is far more complicated than most people imagine. But, when it all starts to come together and become automatic, it is the most glorious feeling in the world. And, yes, with enough practice, all of this and much more, becomes so automatic that you can actually begin to think about the music and not the mechanics of singing.

Next week: Proper Breathing

Element 1: Good Posture

The first of the 5 Basic Elements is "Good Posture." Good posture is also the first sub-point of the next 2 elements. That should give you a clue as to just how important it is. But, this can be a little tricky. I studied mime in college, (I'm sorry. Don't hate me! I don't do street mime anymore, if that helps!) and good posture for a mime involves leaning forward too much for singing. Good posture for a soldier puts the shoulders way too far back.


Here are the steps for a singer:


A. Feet shoulder-width apart - its important to feel like you're grounded. You don't want to feel like you're about to collapse into a blob on the floor. 

B. Bottom tucked under - this is the same as tucking your pelvis. We want the back as straight and flat as possible. The pelvis tuck is just a pivot. The easiest way to accomplish this is to squeeze the gluteus maximus (butt cheeks) together. I found this picture. I hope it helps.

This actually takes it a bit too far in the other direction, but I hope you get the idea.

C. Rib cage lifted - once again, a pivot. Imagine there is a string attached to the bottom of your sternum (breast-bone) and someone is gently pulling it up. This will be a very small motion.

These three steps are designed to create as much space as possible in the torso. This will become important when we discuss Proper Breathing and supporting the tone. (The second is not one of the 5 Basic Elements - it'll come later)

D. Chin slightly tucked under (no goose-neck!) Goose necking does not involve a goose at all, but is the tendency to hold your chin up and out, in the belief that this will open up the back of the throat. It does the opposite. If the chin is just slightly tucked downwards, it will open up the back of the throat, which will be very important when we get to Relaxation of the Vocal Mechanism. 


This all may sound pretty easy, but nobody stands like this. Often, it's easier for female singers to practice in flat shoes. I remember going to voice lessons wearing heels, and kicking them off to sing barefoot.


Sometimes how we think is almost as important as what we do in singing. So, here's an exercise for you. Close your eyes. (No, wait! Read through this first and then try it. Whew! Almost lost you, there!)


Stand in the proper position and close your eyes. Imagine that there are roots growing out the soles of your feet. (We are leaving science far, far behind. Try not to let that bother you.) These roots reach through the floor and into the warm soil. (No, I don't care that there's snow on the ground! We are leaving reality behind, too.) These roots go all the way to the center of the earth, where, for our purpose, there is a huge pocket of warm air. The air comes back up to you through the roots. Your body is now supported by this column of warm air. It fills you. Standing is now effortless, and there is more than enough air to support the longest phrases. (But this is beginning to run over into Proper Breathing!)


I know this exercise sounds stupid, but it has some practical benefits. I was singing on stage in Germany. My aria (Aria is Italian for "Air" and in this case means a song from an opera.) For those of you who may not know me very well, I'm 5'5", and at the time I weighed about 150 lbs. There was a bass (male singer with a very deep voice - not a fish) crossing behind me. At least, he was supposed to cross behind me. He caught his foot on something and fell. On me. 


You need to understand something here: this was not a small man. He was about 6'8", and weighed in excess of 500 lbs. All of that mass landed squarely on my right shoulder. I think I will always remember the look of sheer terror on that man's face when he realized he was going to land on me. I'm sure he had visions of squashed soprano! 


Fortunately for us both, I was singing at the time. I was rooted not just to the floor, but to the center of the earth. I won't lie and say I didn't notice, because I did notice (adrenaline may have had a share in holding me up, too). But I did hold us both up and completed my aria without a problem. That's what your mind can do for you!


I'm not saying that you cannot move while you're singing. Of course you can, you just have to learn how to make those roots move with you. (That's advanced root-training.) 


(I'm kidding - there is no advanced root-training - yet.)


Next time: Relaxation of the Vocal Mechanism