The-Singing-Breath

Most voice teachers will spend some time correcting or improving a students posture, not only for the positive effect good posture has on the appearance of the student when singing in public but, more importantly, to encourage the student to establish a skeletal frame alignment that best provides for efficient breath management. I found that most students have inactive or poorly developed muscle systems in the core of the body between the shoulders and the pelvis. Inactivity of these muscles leads rather quickly to poor muscle tone and a general sense of dynamic “dullness” within the body core. ...

I can think of three slightly different “wobbles’ that occur in older voices. Two of them are problems with vibrato. The vibrato either become too slow or it becomes two wide. Slow in the sense of fewer variations in pitch in a given time. Wide in the sense of too much up and down pitch variation. And it is possible that vibrato might have both problems simultaneously, that is, too slow and too wide. ...

This discussion has listed the use of belts or links of chain around parts of the rib cage to insure an expansion of the small ribs at the bottom of the chest. This use assumes that if the lower ribs are expanded throughout the exhale during singing, the diaphragm will not ascend early in the exhale and, in so doing, removing the primary control the singer over his breath management. ...

“Onset” is another word for attack. It is used by voice scientists because it has less violent meanings than does the word, attack. A glottal onset occurs when one can hear and feel the initial closing of the vocal folds after their initial opening/closing, as found in the disapproving expression in English, “uh, uh”. A breathy onset occurs when the passage of breath is heard over the partially open vocal folds prior to the initial opening/closing of the folds. ...

Recently “The Vocalist” has posted a series of emails from its members about Breath Management during the singing exhale. Below is my response to these emails. This discussion has listed the use of belts or links of chain around parts of the rib cage to insure an expansion of the small ribs at the bottom of the chest. This use assumes that if the lower ribs are expanded throughout the exhale during singing, the diaphragm will not ascend early in the exhale and, in so doing, removing the primary control the singer over his breath management. ...

Some years ago one of the members on Vocalist asked for exercises to strengthen her “weak and lazy” diaphragm. The following is what I wrote to her and the members of Vocalist. It elicited a very strong response and has been included on a number of web sites that specialize in vocal music and singing. Below is the article. I have read some of the responses to your request for information about a “weak” diaphragm. There is a lot of misunderstanding about how the breathing system works and, within this, there is also confusion about the workings of the diaphragm. ...