Breathing Made Easy – Free Singing Tips
October 30, 2008
I want to start this post by mentioning that I have been a professional singer since the age of 15 and I am presently working full time as a vocal coach (and not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good too). That being said, what I’m about to say will shock everyone who knows absolutely anything about singing.
“The breath isn’t that important.”
…are you still reading? Good. Now let me explain my reasoning for saying such a blasphemous thing.
I know that everyone who thinks they know anything about singing knows that it’s all about breathing from the diaphragm. You’ll hear it everywhere from studio engineers, to choir directors, to your next door neighbor who’s been singing his whole life… occasionally even on stage. However, I can assure you that from my personal experience and the experience of many of my students, working too hard on the breath (aka making it a bigger deal than it is), especially with beginning singers, only creates bigger vocal issues.
If you try too hard to make something happen during the inhalation process, you’re ultimately going to create pressure underneath the larynx. This holds true whether you breathe too deeply or shallowly, whether you stick your stomach out or tuck it in. Now, that being said, we can’t ignore the breath.
If you are a high chest breather (aka your shoulders rise while you breathe), you have to address this immediately because by doing this, you’re raising the larynx and knocking your whole vocal mechanism out of wack. To fix this, bend over like you’re going to touch the floor and breathe naturally. While doing this, you’ll likely feel the breath filling the lower back and stomach area. This is where I want you to send the breath when you’re singing. Beyond that, forget about it. Make it effortless just like the whole singing process should be and I promise that especially for all you beginning singers out there, you’ll get better vocal results.
I hope you benefit from this tip as much as many others have and as always, happy singing!
Rid Yourself of the 2 Most Common Forms of Vocal Tension
October 1, 2008
Learn to Sing Freely – Singing Tips Blog presents:
Rid Yourself of the 2 Most Common Forms of Vocal Tension
If most singers were honest, they’d readily admit that they try to mimic the sound of the artists who did the song before them. While this can be an effective method of exploring your voice, it usually ends in us trying to manipulate things around to create a sound that isn’t our own. Being a good singer isn’t about creating a cool sound by whatever means necessary, it’s about relaxing enough that you can produce a great sound as effortlessly as possible. Put simply, if you feel tension in the voice when you’re singing, be it in the throat, neck, tongue, or anywhere else, you’re getting in the way of producing your best possible sound. Put even more simply, singing be as relaxed as speaking.
There are two main causes of tension in the voice. One of the causes of tension in the singing voice stems from allowing the larynx to move upward or downward while singing. This throws off the whole vocal mechanism and results in the closing off of your sound passage, resulting in a thin, pushed tone. The second major cause of tension in the voice is the tongue. Many people don’t realize it, but the higher they sing the more they press their tongue, be it downward or backward. This only gets in the way of good vocal production as it closes off air passages and creates tension that ends up spreading throughout the whole vocal system. Let’s look at these a little bit more closely.
Learn to Sing Freely with a Stable Larynx
What can we do to prevent unneeded movement in the larynx? Basically, I find that most larynx tension stems from pressure in the voice pushing the voice higher or pressing it lower. Most often than not, these unwanted movements are performed by what I like to call swallowing muscles. These of course are muscles utilized for swallowing and should not be used at all for singing. Singing should be as easy as speech. So, if you’re having problems with the larynx moving, try speaking the words first normally, then on pitch. They should feel identical. You can also make yourself aware of any unwanted movements by lightly placing your hand on your larynx while singing. If you feel a switch in the larynx placement, tell yourself to relax and speak the sound. You’d be surprised how effective this can be.
Learn to Sing Freely with a Relaxed Tongue
As I’ve mentioned before, I believe the tongue accounts for between 65% and 85% of all vocal tensions. Whether your tongue is pulling back while singing or it’s pressing downward, the result is an uncomfortable singing voice with a drastically limited range that tires easily. The easy solution to most tongue problems is relaxing the tongue to the front of the mouth. And don’t just allow the front of the tongue to go there, but feel the back of the tongue moving forward as well as this will give you more space in the back of the mouth and throat for relaxation and resonance. I usually try and keep my tongue resting on the bottom of my front lip (especially when singing really high).
As always, if you have any questions or are interested in voice lessons and are living in or visiting the Memphis area, feel free to click here for information on Singing Lessons Memphis.
Thanks for reading and Happy Singing!
