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Thomas F. Cleveland
breath will be expelled to a position effort and the direction of that effort muscles of exhalation, contract an-
approximating the REL. Note, as depends on the influence of elastic tagonistically to the diaphragm.
you exhale, that the rib cage tends to recoil and gravity, as well as the task With this familiarity with the
collapse rather quickly at first, but requirements. For instance, because mechanics of the breathing system,
slows down as you continue to ex- the recoil forces are very strong when we need to see what research is dis-
hale. This is because the force of ex- one takes a full breath, inhalatory covering about the operation of the
halation is much greater at a point of muscle effort can be used to counter- breath management system during
the full breath, where the "spring" act the strong recoil forces and release different singing styles. In the next
is stretched the most, but gets weak- the breath more gradually, if desired. issue, we will look at several para-
er as you exhale. As you approach Once the breath is used and the rib meters of breath management and
REL, the recoil slows even more. cage is less expanded, the inhalatory see how they differ in classical and
To discover the REL from the muscle forces may be unnecessary country singers. In addition, we will
contracted position, exhale as much and exhalatoiy forces must he recruit- consider the ramifications of these
air as possible from your lungs and ed to continue the coordination for breath management strategies on
then "let go." Because the rib cage is appropriate breath flow. voice pedagogy.
contracted, the rib cage will now More complicated tasks create
spring back in the opposite direction different requirements on the system.
and expand, automatically, to the For example, if a high pitch with REFERENCES
REL, drawing in air while it ex- loudness is required immediately
pands. Again, note that the force to after a full breath, exhalatorv mus- Hoit, Jeanette, Christ Jenks, Watson,
expand the rib cage is greater at the cle effort may be combined with the Peter. and Cleveland, Thomas. "Respira-
point of full contraction, but slows passive forces of elastic recoil and tory Function During Speaking and
as you approach REL. It is impor- gravity to create the amount of breath Singing in Professional Country
tant to remember that these forces pressure necessary to produce the Singers." Journal of Voice. 10: 1 (1996):
39-49.
are described under the condition of desired sound. It is easy to see that
normal posture. A twisted torso or different conditions, that is, changes Thomasson, Monica, and Sundbcrg,
otherwise malalignment of the spine in pitch and/or loudness, require al- Johan. "Lung Volume Levels in Classical
can impede the expansion/contrac- terations in the degree and/or direc- Singing." Speech Transmission Laborato-
tion capacity of the breathing sys- tion of muscle action. Add to these ,:ij -Quarterlg Progress and Status Report.
tem, so, as mentioned before, pos- conditions the passive variation of 1 (1997): 37-50.
ture can have tremendous impact on elastic recoil, body postures, and
the recoil forces of the breathing gravitational pull, and the singer has
system. much to coordinate in the singing Thomas F Cleveland is Associate Profes-
sor of Otolai:ijngologg in the Voice Center,
It is interesting to know that, process.
School of Medicine, Vanderbilt Univerdtg,
on average, the REL occurs at ap- Techniques of breath manage- Nashville, TN, where he teaches voice, con-
proximately forty percent of the full ment vary among singers, even those ducts research, and is involved in team
breathing capacity. However, the lo- who are trained in the same singing management and care of the professional
cation of the REL can vary up to thir- style. For example, research indicates voice. He also serves as visiting Associate
ty percent depending on the singer. that some singers employ the dia- Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy at
Westminster Choir Colleqe in Princeton,
phragm when they sing and others
New Jersey.
Muscle do not. For those who use the dia-
Muscle action gives us the abil- phragm, which is a muscle of inhala- Before joining the Voice Center team in
1991, Dr. Cleveland was Associate Profes-
ity to control the forces of gravity tion, in contraction expands the
sor of Vocal Pedagogy and Voice Perfor
and elastic recoil, and decrease or dimensions of the lower rib cage and -manceithSolfMusandCic
increase the lung pressures neces- thereby increases the overall lung Associate Professor of Otolaryngology in
sary to generate and maintain the volume capacity. On the other hand, the School of Medicine at the University of
desired sound. The degree of muscle the abdominal muscles, which are Southern California in Los Angeles.
48 Jo(.M4
Voice Pedagogy for the 21st Century
and William Eddy. He conducted gradu- a model for years to come... " —A\1FRt AN Ri:' " I(tI
ate and postgraduate research with Dr
Johan Sundhemg at the Royal Institute of SCARECROW PRESS
4720 P,i ' ,t,in 'Au • l_iiih,iiii, MI) 20700
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, as a Eu!-
bright Scholar, and as the recipientofagrant
from the Voice Foundation of America.
Available from your favorite music retailer or from Shawnee Press, 1nc Delaware Water Gap PA 183' • 800.962-8584.
1119 49