Breathing is the foundation of singing. Without breathing, you can’t sing a single note.
No matter how fabulous your renovation is, if you’ve saved money on the foundation, you’ll have to start over one day. Maybe you naturally know how to breathe properly, so all you have to do is consolidate your existing skills. But, if you don’t have enough breath to finish a vocal piece, you need to practice. This article was written by a worker on the Safe ADC team who dreamed not of air duct cleaning and cleaning vents, but of being a big artist
There are several types of breathing: thoracic, abdominal, and mixed. In the thoracic type of breathing, our chest and shoulders are lifted on the inhale, while the abdomen retracts or remains stationary. Abdominal breathing is, simply put, breathing the diaphragm, that is, the abdomen. The diaphragm is the muscular-tendon septum separating the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. When you inhale, the abdomen bulges inflates. And the chest and shoulders remain stationary. It is this breathing is considered correct. The third type of breathing – mixed. This type of breathing involved once and diaphragm (stomach), and chest.
To learn how to abdominal breathing, you must first feel the diaphragm. Lie down on the floor or on the sofa in a completely horizontal position with your hands on your belly. And start breathing. Feel how the abdomen rises when you inhale and falls when you exhale? This is abdominal breathing. But it’s harder to breathe with your abdomen standing up. To do this, you need to exercise.
Breathing exercises
Learn to take short but deep breaths. Stand up straight, inhale sharply through the nose, and then slowly exhale through the mouth. The exercise is best done in front of a large mirror. Observe the position of your chest and abdomen when you inhale and exhale.
If there are problems with exhalation, you should also use exercises. For example, you can blow out a candle. For the first time, put it at a distance at which you can blow out the flame without much effort. Gradually move the candle away.
Try to distribute the breath over an entire musical phrase. Don’t sing yet. Play a familiar song. Breathe in at the beginning of the phrase and exhale slowly. It may happen that by the end of the phrase you still have some air left. It should be exhaled before the next breath.
Sing one sound. Inhale, take the sound and pull it out until you have exhaled all the air.
Repeat the previous exercise by singing a short musical phrase. It is best to take it from a collection of vocal exercises or a solfeggio textbook for the first grade. By the way, in the notes for beginner vocalists are usually marked, where you need to take a breath.
Breathing rules for singing
- Breathing in should be short, vigorous, and exhale – smooth.
- Exhale from the breath is separated by a longer or shorter pause – a breath-hold, whose purpose – to activate the ligaments.
- Exhalation should be economical, without “leakage” of breath (without noise).
- At the same time, breathing should be as natural as possible.
- Take a breath through the nose only, and exhale through the mouth with the sound.
Additional tips
The owner of the lowest and roughest bass can learn to sing at home on his own, properly applying all the techniques and tips:
- A very important component of good vocals is diction and pronunciation accuracy. Train yourself to “chew sounds” and study transcriptions (especially if you wish to sing in a foreign language). Still one of the best methods of developing diction and articulation are cursive phrases that evenly load the entire vocal and lingual apparatus.
- Learn to sing different notes and make smooth transitions between them. Experiment with your voice, change the tone of the sounds. Well help audio training, try to imitate the voice of the performer.
- Also, consider the natural characteristics of the vocal cords. In the world, there are few people who could perform equally well in any genre. Maybe your low bass can recreate Victor Tsoi’s original songs or you’ve got the voice of Chester Bennington. Try out different genres to find your calling, because each one has its own specific requirements.
- Since you can only learn to sing on your own through regular practice, get in the habit of practicing both singing and breathing every day. It is even desirable to combine them, as it is necessary to do skillful vocalists.
- Try to sing without music, recording yourself on a recorder. Listen to your voice from the side, because this is often the only way to spot the mistakes that are not heard with your own ears. As mentioned above, you can ask a specialist to critique you, if possible.