Singing

Back to Basics 1 - Breathing.

Any singing teacher worth their salt will tell you that all good singing starts with the proper breathing. But what does that mean? To simplify things when you breathe in you should aim to take the breath down as low into the body as possible. This allows you to connect to the diaphragm which helps to take pressure off of the throat, prevent strain and gain more control over your voice. In addition, taking the breath low into the body allows you to use the body as a resonator, giving more volume and warmth to the tone.

To achieve this, there are various ways to gain awareness of the parts of the body that you will be using. One way is to lie on the floor or the bed and place a book on the belly. Think of your belly as a balloon which you can inflate. On the inhalation, encourage the breath down to the book which will raise it up away from the floor. Exhale slowly and watch the book lower again.

  

 

 

I recommend that you try this for five minutes a day for about a week. That should be enough time to retrain the body to start doing this automatically without you having to tell it. You should find that your body will start to do it even at rest, whilst not singing.

After a week or so, try voicing an 'ah' on the exhale. It should be a nice relaxed sound which you strive to prolong for as long as possible. When you are comfortable with the 'ah', pick a few notes from a song set fairly low in your vocal range. Try one that you previously found challenging. You will probably notice that it suddenly is much easier to sing. Don't rush this process, though. Give yourself a few days rather than minutes to go through the steps.

Last minute tip: If you have a performance or recording session coming up in the next few days and you don't have time to fully retrain your body, try this tip. Take your in-breath right down low, directing it between your feet. It's a quick way of getting the breath down low quickly. But do try the method stated above to retrain your body permanently so that you don't have to think about it whilst performing. Let's face it, while singing for performance or recording we've got enough to think about!

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