Breathing Exercises for Singers
Thoughts on Breathing
As we go about our days we find ourselves breathing shallowly and subconsciously, which does not work well for the athletic demands of singing. In order to truly find ourselves singing freely we have to change the way we feel our breathing. The first thing we do when we are born is take in a deep gasp of air, a breath of life, and as we die we let go of the last bit of life in our lungs.
Now in terms of singing there are lots of thoughts on “how to breathe.” Some say to breathe low into your stomach and some say to breathe into your chest. Nowadays lots of pedagogues suggest a combination of both or to “breathe with your diaphragm” (as if there’s another way to breathe). Over the years of singing I’ve breathed a lot of different ways to varying levels of success, but there has been one method that dramatically recalibrated the way I use my voice and it stems from meditation and that initial gasp of life. I say, “JUST BREATHE DEEPLY!”
I suggest that a lot of the contemporary breathing strategies in the singing world arose through the burgeoning field of voice science and pedagogy in the middle of the 20th century. Because of this pursuit of the science behind the voice we lost track of the breathing tradition passed down from the singers and pedagogues of the 19th century. I believe that this breathing method was what they used.
Let’s try it!
Here are the simple intro steps to this method of breathing:
Purse your lips in an exaggerated “oo” and gasp deeply.
Let the air go (relax the inhalation and don’t push it out).
Let Me Clarify a bit:
Step 1: Take a deep gasp on an “oo” vowel and feel the air go from low to high in your body. It should be fast, deep, and athletic. It is as if you were thrown into water or surprised. As you reach the fullness of your breath then…
Step 2: Let it go. Relax. Release. As you relax your muscles of inhalation you will feel the air move out of your body passively. Do not push or actively move the air. You will not fully exhale, but rather the pressure difference between your lungs and the outside air will equalize.
That's all there is to it: Breathe as deeply as possible and sing by letting go, not by moving air!
Origins:
I stumbled onto this breathing method in my personal life while I was researching different breathing methods for meditation. I have always struggled to meditate, as my mind outsmarts me. My mind out-thinks my intentions. This approach to breathing allows my mind to settle peacefully, which is refreshing. A peaceful mind has countless benefits for singing.
Meditate & warmup your breathing:
Here’s how I start my practice routine everyday. I use this to settle my mind and get my breathing cooking with fire!
You will feel tingles in your head and your hands as you do this breathing, it is okay and normal! It is an effect of changing your body’s oxygen ratio. The effects of this breathing can be significant, so please listen to your body and adjust these steps to what works best for you!
Step 1: Make yourself comfortable. This can be either sitting or laying down.
Step 2: Begin breathing as described above. Athletically in and then let go. Breathe in this manner for 30-40 breaths. This should not take too long, since the inhales are quick!
Practical Suggestion: As I’m breathing I count my fingers, rather than keep track of numbers.
Step 3: On your final inhalation, breathe deeply and then let the air go and hold on empty. Retain this emptiness until your body asks for more oxygen. It may take a minute or two.
Step 4: when your body needs air, breathe deeply and hold for around 15 seconds. This is a recovery breath.
Repeat this for a couple of rounds. I usually do 3-4 sets which can take around 20 minutes.
Practical exercises for this method:
Let go into sound:
Step 1: Breathe in and out a few times as described above to remind the body of this breathing. Athletically in, and then just let go.
Step 2: Take a deep breath and let go of your air. As you begin to let go of your air, let go of your voice too. It may feel kind of strange at first, because this new production of sound should feel released and rather uninvolved.
Suggestion: The crucial moment for success is going to be that transition from breathing to letting go. To start you may feel it as if you’re letting go of a sigh.
Repeat these steps a few times to get a feel of what that process of “letting go” of your voice feels like. I imagine my breathing muscles as a fist, and as I let go of my voice it feels as if that fist opens up. Once that is comfortable try a few experiments:
Experiment 1: Move the pitch of your voice up and down in slides. As you do this, continue to “let go” of your air, but resist any urge to consciously move air.
Experiment 2: Let go of the air through different vowels. I like to slide through “ee”-”eh”-”ah”-”oh”-”oo” and back again. You can do this in one comfortable area, or on slides.
Experiment 3: Now try to do this while speaking phrases. Speak these in your normal spoken range and slide your voice around while speaking them: “how are you today?” and “I would like to go with you today.” You can also count from 1-10 while moving your voice around!
Now that you’ve experimented with the start of this breathing & release, you are ready to start seeing how it feels as you sing through songs!
Further Exercises and applications:
Registration with this breathing:
I’ve found that breathing this way makes registration very fluid. When letting go of air we have the choice of how fast or slow we emit it. So try this:
Experiment:
Step 1: Breathe deeply and then let go of your air as fast as possible without voice (don’t push the air). Now try releasing the air as slowly as you can without voice. Find something in the middle. Start fast and then slow down your emission. Start slow and then speed up. etcetera!
Step 2: Breathe deeply and let go of your air while sliding your voice through your gear-shifts. Keep the speed at which you let go of air even.
Step 3: Repeat above, except now try with a faster let go.
Step 4: Repeat, but now with a slower let go.
As you perform these, notice how they feel and sound. I find that the slower I let go of air, the louder the sound, and that the faster I let go of air, the lighter. If the letting go of air is even from start to finish, the voice will choose how to register itself. We just let go into it.
Expression:
I’ve often heard the description that, “acting is reacting.” This is no different for singing, but how do we express different, and sometimes incredibly heightened, emotions without involving the muscles of our throat. We breathe. When we find ourselves in deeply moving moments of our lives, whether they are happy or sad, we breathe deeply to help our body/mind process and move through those feelings. We cannot think our feelings away, but we can breathe through them. Think briefly about the last time you cried or sobbed, the most active part of sobbing is the breath in.
If we breathe in with the emotion of a moment of music or poetry, it becomes the vehicle for us to react to. So breathe deeply in with an emotion and then let go of air through that space. The process becomes: “Breathe in deeply the emotion, then process those feelings during the singing.”
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