Helen Asrtids- Breathing for Singing

Breathing for singing

This week I'd like you to focus on your breath. Right now, wherever you are and whatever you're doing: STOP and take a good deep breath, filling the bottom of your lungs. Then slowly release the air - as slowly as you can. By doing this simple exercise on a daily basis you are doing yourself heaps of good. The following article briefly looks at the mechanics of breathing which I hope will help you when you're singing. Also, some basic exercises to develop your breathing skills.

Your voice is made up from three parts: An Exciter, Vibrator and a Resonator. Air flow originating from the lungs excitates the vocal folds. The vibratory component is produced by your vocal folds, the resonator part is manifested within the throat, nose, mouth, head and chest. Without the initial exitation voice production cannot occur. Fundamentally all voice consists of is vibrations (sound) on a column of air, which are shaped and modified by the throat, nose, mouth, lips and tongue into speech sounds. It is this process that produces speech.

Respiration (breathing) is the power source for vocal fold vibration. On expiration, air is expelled out of the lungs causing the vocal cords to vibrate. Efficient use of the voice depends largely on efficient breathing and breath control.

Breathing is analogous to putting petrol into a car, the petrol being like air. The more petrol in the car the more mileage you can achieve. The lungs are physically larger at the bottom as opposed to the top, however the former portion is not always used to its fullest capacity. It is important for the voice to be fully supported by sufficient air. Usually this process is under unconscious regulation.

The amount of air is only one component that will support your voice. More importantly, the way you utilise that air will have a great effect on the voice. Just as the amount of petrol in a car is not the only factor increasing the amount of miles you can achieve, the tuning of the motor has a larger role to play, i.e. your posture and co-ordination/ control over your breathing. If you were to try and take a deep breath when slouched in a chair you would find there is a great deal of resistance from around the upper parts of the chest as the lungs expand.

You may say your breathing is fine, that it has alwaysbeen the same before your voice was affected. This may well be true, but have your voice needs increased? Have you pushed your voice too much? Are you taking any drugs or medication? Do you have any breathing difficulties e.g. asthma? Has your environment altered? Have you had any emotional or social changes or stresses? It is within these periods that your voice is vulnerable.

Exercises to try:

1. Stand or sit in front of a mirror, and monitor your breathing. Pay particular attention to what you see occurring. What is happening to your shoulders, chest, and stomach area? Do any of these area move? If so, when and how? What do you feel? Is there any tension in the chest , neck, throat or arms? Where do you feel the air going to as you take air in? Are you taking air in mainly via the mouth or nose? Try using your hands to monitor your breathing mechanism. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other hand near your stomach or midriff.

2. Try the same exercise as 1. but lying down. Is their any difference? If so, what's changed?

i) Now put a book on your stomach area, as you breathe in through the nose, try to make the book move by letting the air fill that part of the lungs. Notice how the book rises as you breathe in and how it lowers as you breathe out.

ii) Try the same exercise using the same hand placements as in 1. Notice how your hand on your chest moves less than the hand on your midriff. If this does not occur aim to get more air down lower.

3. You may find breathing low becomes easier if you place your arms out straight to the side (as if you were trying to fly), and then slowly raise your arms (keeping them straight) above your head. Feel your back lengthen - you may feel taller. Now try to take your breath as low as possible.

Accessing Head Voice by Steven Fraser

Head voice is not just for tenors, IMO. I believe that all singing voices are entitled to this healthy aspect of vocalism, and that it can be learned by almost all who study and practice to learn it, and by many just by playing around. 'Finding' a head voice is most problematical for those who have sung by forcing... by trying to sing high with the same registration as they use for the lower part of the voice. Next after that in difficulty (IMO) is the singer whose singing habits are very light, wispy tones. Over time, these singers have become used to expect that their voices should feel a certain way when they sing, and those expectations (and their associated mental images and physical sensations) are habit.

To learn to sing head voice, which is a co-ordinated use of the musculature of the voice, the student must progressively replace their habits (and expectations) with new, practised ones. The expectations (and images) seem to play leapfrog with the muscle coordinations during this time, in something like 6 week cycles, in my experience. The teacher guides the process by (in my approach) moving the student's mental image by asking the student to make sung sounds that are a little different, maybe even experimental.

The earlier discussion about lip trills, 'wonky' falsetto-like whoops and hollers are reasonable examples, based on the student's starting point. For example, for the 16-yr-old bass with nothing above middle C, and altogether too much 'muscle' feeling and concept in the tone, the teacher might start with messa di voce (cresc-decresc) patterns, and coax the singer to include softer dynamics into the student capabilities. The very act of trying this, over time, will induce a gentleness of thought which will allow the voice to rebalance a little, dropping some of the weight at the softer dynamics.

From there, the student must learn how to move the voice from pitch to pitch without 'selling up' the higher pitches. Its remarkable that, after all the 'performance' weight has been removed, that a given voice will move nicely up, readjusting the balance of registration in a nice gradual fashion.

At a certain point in this development, I think the teacher gets the sense, partly by watching, partly by listening, that the singer is ready for a breakthrough to a head voice co-ordination. Its commonly felt that many fine singers have a noticeable sensation transition as their voice moves into head voice on the way up, or when coming out of it. These sensation transitions can be substantial, but as a general rule singers work to 'allow' such a transition to occur without adding unnecessary extra work and tension in the throat, jaw and tongue regions. Under the guidance of a good teacher, the student will learn how these sensations change note to note as the teacher assists them in finding their right 'sound' in that area, and begin to accept the fact that these new sensations, and their accompanying sounds are 'right' for their voice.

From an exercise point of view, I think that low tension, well supported 'leaps' across the change region allow the voice to 'go wonky' a little, and spontaneously respond to the pitch change in the student mental concept. With a little, non-judgemental vocal play, the student can 'find' a nicely co-ordinated head voice. I think its best to expect it to occur accidentally, spontaneously, as any 'control' mental images that the student is using, or concerted efforts to 'make' it happen, seem to induce just enough restricting tension to prevent the spontaneous reco-ordination.

Others have cited their pet approaches to this. They are all excellent. Once the new sound has been found, it must be smoothed out, made dependable and predictable.... a habit. Originally posted to Vocalist USA Newsgroup

Train Your Singing Voice - What You Need to Know

The most important thing about having and maintaining your singing voice is to train it properly. This will ensure that you can sing for years to come without any health problems. Among other things the following points need to be considered:

• Sort Out What Singing Exercises You Need To Do
• Train And Improve Your Own Unique Singing Style

Sort Out What Singing Exercises You Need To Do

Once you have figured out your routine for training your voice, you need to know what sort of exercises you need to do. Do you want to be able to sing like Celine Dion or the successful American Idol winner Carrie Underwood? Then one of the things you need to do is to work on your scales and your singing range. The best way to do this is to play scales on a piano and do your exercises or look at getting audio lessons to play on your computer or CD player. Regular practice will extend your range in no time at all. Most people recommend that you should try to have a singing range of between two to three octaves. This will enable you to sing most songs that are popular whether you are singing pop, jazz, rock or even musical theatre.

Train And Improve Your Own Unique Singing Style

When singing along to songs from your favourite singing artists, try not to copy them completely. Otherwise you will lose your own individual style. You could also pick up on bad singing habits that some singers have, which can take a long time to unlearn. The best thing to do is to listen to the songs and the musical notes and try to recreate them yourself. Remember, you want people to say you sound like you and not like a clone of someone else. Popular singers are popular because of their individual styles. If you want to be popular, get your own unique style.

Those are a couple of things that you need to think about when training your singing voice. Get into a regular singing routine and you will be on your way to a great singing voice.

Check this out if you want more tips on how to become a better singer

Want to know how to improve your voice even more? Then visit How To Become A Good Singer for more details.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Grace_Potter

5 Tips To Help You Learn To Sing By Kristen Ruiz

This article will give you helpful tips to help you learn to sing. These tips will teach you more about the proper way to sing and will help you get the most out of your voice!

#1 To learn to sing the correct way, you need to learn diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation of singing. When you breathe, your shoulders shouldn't rise and should stay relaxed. Fill the lower portion of your lungs with air and pretend you have a big balloon tied around your waist that you are filling. This kind of breathing will give your singing much more power than clavicular breathing, which is the incorrect way to breathe.

#2 Before people learn to sing, they sometimes don't realize how essential it is to warm up your voice before you perform. Just as athletes warm-up before athletic activities to prevent injuries, singers should warm-up as well to prevent vocal injuries. When you warm-up, you should begin gently and sing in both your high and low ranges.

#3 Don't yell, smoke, drink ice-cold water or alcohol. These things are not good for your voice.

#4 Don't sing an entire song with the same volume and speed all the way through. Dynamics will make your song much more interesting. Before you perform, decide what parts of the song you want to sing quieter and what parts you want to sing louder and where you want to crescendo and decrescendo. You should also decide if you want to change tempos or ritardando at a certain place in the song.

#5 If you want to learn to sing, you need to know that good stage presence is important! Even if you have a great technique and great voice, you need to be able to "sell" the song you sing. Use facial expressions. You should also come across as confident, even if you don't feel it. Remember most performers get nervous: the trick is to "pretend" to be confident and learn how to work through your nerves. If you make a mistake, pretend it didn't happen and keep going. It's not a big deal. Most likely the audience didn't know you made a mistake anyway!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristen_Ruiz