BREATHING FOR SINGING

Natural breathing has three stages: a breathing-in period, a breathing-out

period, and a resting or recovery period; these stages are not usually
consciously controlled. Breathing for singing has four stages:
1 a breathing-in period (inhalation)
2 a setting-up-controls period (suspension)
3 a controlled period-exhalation period (phonation)
4 a recovery period;
These stages must be under conscious control until they become
conditioned reflexes. Many singers abandon conscious controls before their
reflexes are fully conditioned and inherit chronic problems thereby.
INHALATION
The Inhalation stage of breathing for singing is quicker, the quantity of air
inhaled is greater, and the breath goes deeper into the lungs than in natural
breathing. When time permits, the singer should breathe through the nose,
so that it may fulfill is cleaning, warming, and moisturizing function.
Frequently the music will not allow enough time for breathing through the
nose; when this happens, the singer should breathe through mouth and
nose simultaneously; this will provide the most breath in the least time.
It is important for a singer to condition his inhalation reflexes by the proper
mental preparation. Experiment with the following ideas to see if they have
meaning for you:
1 Pretend you are smelling a flower, even to the point of raising your hand
to your nose; notice how the breath enters your body slowly and easily
without any conscious effort on your part and how deep the breath goes.
2 Pretend you are beginning a yawn, but do not actually go into a full
yawn. Notice how your lower jaw drops free in its sockets, notice the gently
lifting feeling in the area of your soft palate, notice that your throat feels
deeper, notice the cool air moving easily through you throat notice how
deep in the body your breath goes without any effort.
3 - Pretend that you are drinking a glass of water, raising your hand to your
mouth; observe how easily the jaw drops open, how deep and spacious the
throat seems, the lifting of the soft palate. If you breathe in this position, the
breath will enter the body easily and noiselessly, and will go deep with-out
any effort.
There three postural conditions which should exist before you take a breath
the chest should be comfortably high, the lower abdomen should be
comfortably in, the upper abdomen should be free to move. Check yourself
before you breathe by thinking these key words: comfortably up,
comfortably in, free-to-move.
When you inhale, the breath seems to move into the body, down to the
lungs, and out around the middle of the body. This expansion around the

middle of the body is both natural and desirable, it has already been
identified as the displacement of the abdominal organs by the descent of
the diaphragm.
To the singer it feels as if the breath itself is causing the expansion; this is
one of those situations for the singer in which what you experience may not
coincide with the physical facts. If thinking that your breath moves in, down,
and out around the middle has meaning for you, use the thought pattern!
The important thing is to establish this feeling of expansion around the
middle of your body just below the rib cage.
Try this experiment:
Place your hands on your back in such a way that they touch the lowest ribs
and the area just below them. Breathe in as if you are smelling a rose; you
should feel some expansion beneath your hands. Now place your hands on
your sides in such a way that they rest on the lowest ribs and the part of the
abdomen just below them. Smell another rose; you should feel some
expansion under your hands. Now place your hands on your upper abdomen
with your thumbs touching the lowest ribs, your little fingers near your
waist-line, and your middle fingers touching each other. You should feel
more expansion here than in the back and sides.
When the diaphragm moves down, it displaces the abdominal viscera and
causes an expansion all the way around the body just below the ribs The
back expands, the sides expands, but the greatest expansion should be in
the front of the body. There are two reasons for this:
1 the attachment of the diaphragm to the skeleton is higher in the front of
the body than it is on the sides or back;
2 the upper abdomen is capable of more expansion for less expenditure of
effort than the sides or back.
The singer should strives for expansion in all three of these areas, but
should focus on frontal expansion. Some teachers have made such a fetish
of back expansion or rib expansion that the more normal frontal expansion
is limited or even eliminated. This is a case of partial truth being established
as the whole truth, which is an ever present danger in all facets of teaching
singing.
In the upper abdomen is free to move, it is easy to expand around the
middle of the body when breathing in, and the main expansion will be in the
front of the body . If the upper abdomen is pulled in before you breathe or if
it is too tense, it is difficult for that area to expand at all.
A well-perfomed inhalation should be noiseless and should look effortless.
Audible breathing is a sign that the singer has not fully developed this
technique; the path of the incoming air is partially blocked and a gasping or
wheezing sound results. The remedy will be discussed in the next major
section. The same is true of visible breathing effort.
SUSPENSION

The suspension stage of breathing for singing has no parallel in natural

breathing. In natural breathing the end of the inhalation process seems to
merge with the beginning of the exhalation process; there are no distinct
boundaries between them. In breathing for singing, however, it is very
important that a breath should be suspended momentarily just as the act of
inhalation is completed The purpose of this moment of suspension is to
prepare the breath support mechanism for the phonation which follows.
When properly done, suspension insures an almost effortless inception of
vocal tone without any major readjustment of the mechanism involved.
Since it is not part of natural breathing, suspension must be acquired by the
singer through the imposition of conscious controls. It should be practiced
until its use has become second nature for the singer. Try this experiment:
Breathe in easily and deeply, expanding around the middle of your body as
you do so. Just as you are comfortably full of air, stop the downward
movement of your diaphragm. Hold this position while you slowly count to
five mentally. Do not attempt to hold your breath by closing your vocal
cords, lips, etc, but only by keeping the diaphragm contracted. It helps to
imagine that you are still breathing in, even after you have stopped doing
so. This allows you to set up an equilibrium between the breathing-in and
the breathing-out mechanisms which is an essential element of breath
support. After holding your breath for a count of five, release it quickly and
fully.
Repeat this routine of breathing in, suspending, and breathing out several
times, holding for at least five counts while suspending . As suspension
becomes more habitual, you should shorten the time involved until it is
quite brief. Remember that in the suspension stage, however brief it may
be, your breath is not moving either in or out. When you suspend your
breath, your body should feel comfortably expanded all around, but
especially in the front. As long as the diaphragm remains down, it is easy to
hold this expanded position.
Controlled Exhalation
The third stage of breathing for singing s a period of controlled exhalation;
in coordination with the vocal cords it produces phonation. The length of the
period of exhalation is determined by the demands of the musical phrase. In
natural breathing the breath leaves the body rather fast due to the
relaxation of the diaphragm and the concerted action of various muscles
and organs described previously. In singing, however, the breath should be
conserved and release quite slowly, as the diaphragm gradually releases its
tension and returns toward its original position.
Perhaps the best way to gain control of the exhalation process is to try to
maintain the expansion around the middle of the body-in the upper
abdomen, the lower ribs, and the back-while the diaphragm slowly begins to
release its tension. This expansion will decrease in size as breath is
expended, but should do this so gradually that the singer still feels
expanded throughout the phrase. Try this experiment:

Place your hand on your upper abdomen with your thumbs touching the
lowest ribs, your little fingers near your waistline, and your middle fingers
just touching each other. Breathe in deeply and easily until the expansion
under your hands has caused your middle fingers to separate slightly. Hold
this expanded position for a moment (suspension) before exhaling. Now
start making a hissing sound by gently blowing your breath between closed
teeth: keep the hiss steady and even as you can, with a minimum of breath
pressure; try to maintain your expansion and to keep your middle fingers
from coming back together as long as you can without straining.
Now repeat the experiment, but this time blow your breath out forcibly
between protruded lips; notice how much more rapidly you expansion
collapses. Returns to the hissing exercise and repeat it several times always
maintaining expansion as long you can comfortably, and trying to analyze
the associated feeling in your abdomen, ribs, and back.
The relationship between the breathing-in muscles and breathing-out
muscles which has been brought into play here will be discussed more fully
in the section on breath support.
In a discussion of exhalation Christy states:
The feeling of holding back the breath is essential to establish
suspension, and continues through the attack and the entire phrase
following. It prevents collapse of the resistant breath muscles and
establishes a steadiness of control, necessary for all good legato singing.
When posture is correct, and all the muscles function properly in singing,
there is a feeling of flexible, expansive openness in the body.