The 9 Biggest Lies About Singing
- By Brett Manning
- Published 02/28/2007
- The Music
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Rating:
Big Lie #4 - You will need special instruction to learn how to breathe correctly for singing.
Truth - You were born breathing correctly. You've continued to breathe. You breathe in, and speak on a regular basis. YOU KNOW HOW TO BREATHE ALREADY!
If you feel you are breathing ineffectively for singing, find a baby and watch them breathe. They are doing it just like it needs to be done for singing.
In fact, I can tell you how to check yourself, right now. Find a comfy spot on the carpet and lie down with your back against the floor. Now, just breathe normally in a relaxed manner. Feel your stomach with your hand as you breathe.
Do you feel how your abdomen rises and falls with each breath? That's what it is designed to do.
Now, do some singers breathe poorly for singing? Yes! But it's not because they've missed out on any special instructions. It's because they are trying some strange thing or maybe they are getting nervous and trying TOO HARD. Or, they are thinking more about breathing than about singing!
If you
can get your mind off of breathing and get back to singing, you will find that your breath will regulate itself.
The only thing I say is this: If you notice that you are holding your stomach in while breathing, just let it hang out. If your chest is rising when you breath in, then you're holding your stomach in (probably for appearance sake).
So stop doing that and you've got your breathing back to "baby normal."
That's all you really need to know about breathing.
Much of classical training in the area of breathing is built on the strange assumption that your breath should regulate your tone production. But everything in our experience tells us that we allow our tone production to regulate our breath!
If that paragraph is confusing, it's not worth laboring over.
Just remember that if you are making your vocal cords come together and produce a pleasing tone, your lungs and "diaphragm" will deliver just the right amount of air! Work on the tone, the breath will take care of itself.
Next time, I'll talk about the big lie that is commonly voiced about "falsetto". (That's the mushy tone people flip into when they reach their break.)
Truth - You were born breathing correctly. You've continued to breathe. You breathe in, and speak on a regular basis. YOU KNOW HOW TO BREATHE ALREADY!
If you feel you are breathing ineffectively for singing, find a baby and watch them breathe. They are doing it just like it needs to be done for singing.
In fact, I can tell you how to check yourself, right now. Find a comfy spot on the carpet and lie down with your back against the floor. Now, just breathe normally in a relaxed manner. Feel your stomach with your hand as you breathe.
Do you feel how your abdomen rises and falls with each breath? That's what it is designed to do.
Now, do some singers breathe poorly for singing? Yes! But it's not because they've missed out on any special instructions. It's because they are trying some strange thing or maybe they are getting nervous and trying TOO HARD. Or, they are thinking more about breathing than about singing!
If you
The only thing I say is this: If you notice that you are holding your stomach in while breathing, just let it hang out. If your chest is rising when you breath in, then you're holding your stomach in (probably for appearance sake).
So stop doing that and you've got your breathing back to "baby normal."
That's all you really need to know about breathing.
Much of classical training in the area of breathing is built on the strange assumption that your breath should regulate your tone production. But everything in our experience tells us that we allow our tone production to regulate our breath!
If that paragraph is confusing, it's not worth laboring over.
Just remember that if you are making your vocal cords come together and produce a pleasing tone, your lungs and "diaphragm" will deliver just the right amount of air! Work on the tone, the breath will take care of itself.
Next time, I'll talk about the big lie that is commonly voiced about "falsetto". (That's the mushy tone people flip into when they reach their break.)