Breathng Techniques for singing
It's one of the most common questions asked by new singers everywhere. What are the right breathing techniques for singing? Well sadly, I think it’s just about impossible to narrow it down to one method or another, so I’ll try my best to explain how I tend to breathe for different singing situations. Let me say emphatically that if you don’t have enough breath to sing then quite frankly, you’re singing won’t be any good at all and more than that, you may even run the risk of damaging your throat and vocal cords as you run out of breath, depending on whether or not your singing from your throat or using a mixed voice or whatever.
Most new singers are familiar with the term “sing from your diaphragm” but may not be sure what that means exactly. Generally it implies that you should breathe in such a way that you fill your diaphragm with air (rather than your lungs), and use the air from that location to sing with. It’s not difficult, in fact it’s quite easy to do, however I personally don’t feel that it’s the right way to breathe or sing in every singing situation. My opinion may change as my own skills evolve, but for now that is my point of view. Nonetheless it’s very easy to do, you simply inhale in such a manner as to fill you belly full of air rather than filling you lungs full of air. You can tell you’re doing it properly because your chest will not heave as you breathe, or at least your stomach will rise first. That’s all there is to it... Easy!
Now for the hard part, expelling the air from your diaphragm. As I stated above, I don’t believe that breathing in this manner is appropriate for all singing methods, but I absolutely do think it’s valuable for speech level singing. Speech level singing avoids using so much of the throat and relies more on the head voice and a mix of the head and chest voices (mixed voice). You use the air in your diaphragm as ‘support’ for your notes by using the muscles in your stomach area to control how quickly the air is expelled. I personally find this also is effective when singing lower register stuff too. The clue that you’re doing it properly is that you are able to sing a good strong note that does note waver in pitch.
Most new singers are familiar with the term “sing from your diaphragm” but may not be sure what that means exactly. Generally it implies that you should breathe in such a way that you fill your diaphragm with air (rather than your lungs), and use the air from that location to sing with. It’s not difficult, in fact it’s quite easy to do, however I personally don’t feel that it’s the right way to breathe or sing in every singing situation. My opinion may change as my own skills evolve, but for now that is my point of view. Nonetheless it’s very easy to do, you simply inhale in such a manner as to fill you belly full of air rather than filling you lungs full of air. You can tell you’re doing it properly because your chest will not heave as you breathe, or at least your stomach will rise first. That’s all there is to it... Easy!
Now for the hard part, expelling the air from your diaphragm. As I stated above, I don’t believe that breathing in this manner is appropriate for all singing methods, but I absolutely do think it’s valuable for speech level singing. Speech level singing avoids using so much of the throat and relies more on the head voice and a mix of the head and chest voices (mixed voice). You use the air in your diaphragm as ‘support’ for your notes by using the muscles in your stomach area to control how quickly the air is expelled. I personally find this also is effective when singing lower register stuff too. The clue that you’re doing it properly is that you are able to sing a good strong note that does note waver in pitch.
Breathing techniques like this one can be a bit of a bad thing, though, if you’re not careful about what you’re doing. It’s always been my experience that if you’re singing higher register notes from your throat (as most new singers will do) that not having all the air you need can be the difference between being able to sing the song at all, and in some case, being able to make it through a night on stage. What tends to happen when you sing from your throat and run out of air is that you end up pushing harder to try to get the notes out. Too much of this without a chance to catch your breath will almost certainly cause your voice to become strained and hoarse, and if you’re not too careful, maybe even get really damaged. Water with lemon in it (available at most clubs you might play at) is a way to help soothe your throat but you need to monitor your breathing all night, through each song and learn when it's best for you to inhale, how quickly to exhale etc. You’ll know it’s occurring though, so the likelihood of doing permanent damage is in my opinion quite low but it is a risk all the same, so you should be aware of it, and not push your limits too much.
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Breathing from the diaphragm, coupled with the use of head voce and mixed voice is by far the best way to sing in a way that there will be almost no strain whatsoever. This gives you endurance to perform night after night and once you know what it is you need to listen for, and how it's supposed to feel in your throat and body, you might be surprised to find out that some of your favourite singers are singing in this manner and using the same breathing techniques that you are. However you will only learn to breathe and sing by getting up on stage and doing it. I've mentioned elsewhere that singing on stage is markedly different than singing in your livingroom. Most people will try to accomodate for the difference in room sound by singing "harder" or louder. This can cause problems for you because your singing will be different than the singing you would have been doing at home, and therefore you are likely to breathe in a different way, that you are not used to, causing you strain, and maybe even the dreadful loss of your voice.
If you're a person that tends to sing from your throat then I would say that in my own personal experience, diaphragm breathing may not be the best breathing technique for you to use. I find that in order to sing best using my throat, I need to breathe in such a way that I fill my lungs with air, as opposed to my diaphragm. I sort of feel that diaphragm breathing for throat singing may cause my voice to become fatigued and hoarse so I avoid it in that situation, however I've learned that to really be able to hit the high stuff I need to sing from my head anyways, and diaphragm breathing works very well for that.
If you're a person that tends to sing from your throat then I would say that in my own personal experience, diaphragm breathing may not be the best breathing technique for you to use. I find that in order to sing best using my throat, I need to breathe in such a way that I fill my lungs with air, as opposed to my diaphragm. I sort of feel that diaphragm breathing for throat singing may cause my voice to become fatigued and hoarse so I avoid it in that situation, however I've learned that to really be able to hit the high stuff I need to sing from my head anyways, and diaphragm breathing works very well for that.
Breathing is also not something that you’re going to figure out right on the spot. Like anything else it takes practice and a little figuring out to make it work. Like always, start with each line of a song, one at a time. Figure out how to find the pitch of each note in the line first, paying attention to the muscles that you’re using to achieve it. Then figure out how to make each of those notes stronger by way of expelling your breath at different rates, controlling your stomach muscles, smiling hard to help you sing from further back in your palate, head voice, finding your mix etc. Once you’ve done this successfully for one line move on to the next, and the next, until you’re finally finished the song. Turn the proper way of singing each line into a habit and turn the way you’re breathing for it into a habit too. This consistency helps with your “muscle memory” and becomes easier to do each time you do it. Once you’ve done one song, move on to another, on so on. You'll find that before to long, you know exactly what to do when learning how to sing a song, and before you know it you will be getting it right every time.
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