Here is a simple pattern I have been using in my ATP Singing Classes:
1. Sit well (with a lengthened spine and a sense of looseness at the head and neck joint) and close your eyes.
2. Observe your breathing without trying to change or impact anything. Notice how the air feels as you inhale and notice where you feel your body expanding.
3. After a few breath cycles, shift your focus and begin intentionally lengthening each inhalation and exhalation. Slow down the entire breathing process.
4. After doing this for a few breath cycles, add a few seconds of pause after you have completed the inhalation but before you begin to exhale. Maintain a sense of openness in the throat (you are not “holding” the air, just suspending it). Notice again where you feel the expansion in your body, especially during the suspension part of the exercise.
While you do this, try to keep your entire focus on breathing. If other thoughts come into your head just allow them to fade away as you exhale. And continue to encourage looseness in your head and neck.
This week I read about a recent study that had some interesting implications:
http://neurosciencenews.com/memory-fear-breathing-5699/
Essentially, researchers discovered that when test subjects would inhale through the nose, there was an increase in brain activity in the amygdala and hippocampus that resulted in enhanced emotional judgment and improved memory recall. This brain activity did not occur during exhalation or when breathing through the mouth.
Besides all the other benefits we receive from focused breathing, it’s easy to imagine how improved emotional judgment and memory might also improve our work as singing actors. Try inhaling through the nose during your practice sessions or performances this week and see if you notice a difference.
How has your singing been? What would you like to accomplish in this last stretch before spring break?
Now go practice.
It is always interesting for me to think about breathing, especially since I have been having a lot more breathing issues this year in Utah, causing me to get an inhaler. Because I'm a dancer, I'm very used to how I breathe as a dancer and not reaching far enough to get down to the breath that I really need to use for singing. I have found new ways to discover this over the past four years and it has really helped me find more freedom in my voice.
ReplyDeleteMy singing has been good. Still working on memorizing everything for my senior recital. I'm hoping that I have the songs that I have been having trouble with down before spring break. I'm also making sure my book is put together well for my upcoming auditions over spring break.
I found these excersizes for breathing to be very interesting and vital. It's confusing how we spend so much time working on technique when the foundation of these techniques is really breathing. You must be able to have good breath as a foundation before you continue to work towards your goals. I also realized that I breath through my mouth a lot more than I really should be. I'm interested to see how long it will take to re-train myself to breath through my nose as much as possible. My singing has not been as consistent as I would like. I have noticed I have been spending more time warming up, and taking advantage of my beginning practice sessions.
ReplyDeleteI would say in this last stretch before spring break I would love to prepare myself for the upcoming auditions. I would also like to lock in my technique and really work towards having a clear and consistent /concise approach on reaching my highest notes. I would love to really lock in and review the things I have been working on since the beginning of this year.
I haven't had a hard time with breathing until this year... So it is goo when we sit for a moment in lessons and you tell me to breathe. This is good for me! i have been finding my breathe somewhat short. I also have caught the bug this last week making it really difficult to phonate and breathe. I have gotten better at breathing and telling myself not to hold my breathe but suspend it as the Dr. mentioned in his article.
ReplyDeletethis next coming week I would like to prep for an audition and just figure out why I am having a hard time engaging my T.A. every time I want to sing with my T.A. my head automatically wants to pop up into C.T. maybe we can find the great balance of not knowing which one I am using!
Whoops sorry for the typos.... when i say goo... i meant good...
Deletealso I forgot about nose breathing while I was in Beauty and the Beast at Hale I has so much makeup on that it was hard to breath through my mouth... but I was able to get good breaths while breathing through my nose. It made a difference to me. I felt more grounded and i could react to text better while I was singing. I also could get better and deeper breaths while I was breathing through my nose. The only challenge is being able to take a quiet breath through your nose. I prefer breathing through my nose but if it is distracting I will switch it up.
I have been having a lot of issues breathing due to my deviated septum. I have been able to open my ribs and use my lungs more. Learning to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose has been so beneficial. I have been able to use my breathe more efficiently now. I don't need to take as many breaths through a piece with having better technique with my mix too. - S. Hutch
ReplyDeleteBreath is SUCH an important part of my vocal use as a singer, and yet it is the part of it i neglect the most. I find often that i think i am breathing deeper than i really am, or expanding less than i think i am. I use breath support SO much to create the sounds that i do, without even thinking about it. In my practicing today i purposefully thought only about my breath as i warmed up. Breath was my focus, and any thoughts of vowel shape, expanding backspace or pharygngeal space, etc. were not my primary focus for this particular practice session, as they normally are. The difference in how i felt after warming up was amazing. I felt the stamina i had to continue notes was better, that my control over quicker passages was stronger, and my acting intentions were stronger. Humans breathe SO much, and it can tell us so much as to what someone is feeling. To use breath to our advantage as actors and singers is something we could be selling ourselves short for not doing.
ReplyDeleteBreathing as an actor has always meant, connecting. When I breathe deep I think about where my feet are, where my mental state is, where my center is, and finding a connection to whatever I am going to be speaking. However, breathing while singing is such a different sport. I think I forget how much breath is required to complete a song, and I forget to continue to breathe deep while I sing. Something I want to work on before and during Spring Break is breathing through a song as a monologue, and then working through breathing through a song as a song. I think knowing where I would breathe in the piece as a monologue vs. a song, will be influential to one and/or the other. I think it is important to know, especially with auditions coming up, being specific and breathing will really help.
ReplyDeleteBreath is everything. In both my voice and speech class along with my singing/voice lessons, I have learned so much about breath. I always thought I was suppose to breathe through my chest and lift my shoulders but that is so wrong. I was shocked when I found out that there is belly breathing, rib breathing, even back breathing! It's really interesting trying to master what your breath can do, along with whether or not you should be holding it in different situations.
ReplyDeleteIn sining class, I really starting out the day by closing my eyes on focusing on my breath. It honestly helps prepares me for the day and in my opinion helps me grow as a singer.
I'm a big breathing advocate. Breathing is a huge part of the yoga classes that I take and I agree that I find a sense of relaxation and mental focus when I put my focus on my breathing. Whenever I'm feeling flustered or mentally blocked, I plug one nostril and inhale for a certain amount of counts, then exhale through the other nostril; I do this five times for each nostril. This exercise works best for me when I need to clear my head and sort of "push the reset button."
ReplyDeleteMy singing has been good this week, I could be spending more time practicing through my repertoire, but I've been doing a nice job practicing new placements and focusing on strengthening my voice as a whole. I would love to really focus on my jury repertoire before the break, that hasn't been my focus at all and I'm really gonna suffer if I don't start making more time for solidifying my songs.
This is particularly relevant to those of us that caught the plague this last week. I wonder if not being able to breathe in through my nose contributes to lack of energy and focus and function. (I mean besides the fact that my body is fighting off virus scum). Because of this I have had to take several days off from singing. In fact I still don't feel quite back to full vocal health. I'm still warming up and using my voice daily, but I don't think it will be until next week that I'll feel I can start pushing myself again. For what I have and what I'm required to use my voice for this week I feel strong and confident. I'm excited to finally be able to dive into some music and apply what I learned doing Dogfight to something new.
ReplyDeleteBeing that I am also currently taking voice and text with margo, I have been doing a lot of breathing exercises, and I have noticed a strengthening in my breath. It is something that I lost since I have not been playing trombone, and has taken me a lot longer than I wish to get back.
ReplyDeleteBefore Spring Break hits I would really like to have one of my jury songs completely cut and memorized, and be very close to that same point with the other two.
Breathing has always been something I struggle with. Obviously I'm not a complete failure because, you know, I'm alive, but proper breathing has always been difficult for me. I find that most times a teacher asks me to focus on my breathing, I'm hardly breathing, if at all. I'm trying to work on that. I also struggle with extending the breath because I feel like I can't take a long/deep enough breath most of the time. I think that that is mainly caused by tension in my throat and chest. I say this because it gets worse when I'm nervous.
ReplyDeleteI need to work on maintaining breath support throughout songs.
In this week before spring break, I think I'd like to work on making bold character choices and using my breath more effectively.
I'm really trying to incorporate breathing exercises into my daily vocal warm ups. I've been noticing at the beginning of my practice that I have an extremely hard time dropping my breath, making that practice time a little obsolete. When I do breathing exercises at the beginning of my practice, though, I've been finding that I can make so much more out of my singing time because I can fully drop my breath.
ReplyDeleteI've been a little freaked this week with department auditions coming up, so I wasn't very diligent with my practice. This next week I'd really like to reinstate my regular practice times so I can end this first half of the semester with a bang. I think if I can get back to my regular times this week, it'll be a lot easier for me to continue my regular practicing over spring break, too.
Something that I want to incorporate into my daily practice is a meditation session. I think it would be valuable for me to take the time to sit with myself and just breathe. I often get very worked up and stressed out (especially in times like this with so many auditions happening and mid terms yada yada) and forget to take care of myself. SO this week I am going to try and set aside some 'me-time' along with my practice sessions to focus on my breath work and mental health!
ReplyDeleteI have been a little hyper focused in my practice sessions on audition material, for all intents and purposes I guess this is not a bad thing, but I do think that I need to balance out my practice sessions and make sure that I am still doing some voice building along with practicing my rep!
Brian, you know I struggle with breathing and I am very grateful we work on it constantly. I think my breath has improved from last year and I think it will continue to improve in the future. I think my problem is that I overthink and forget to breath before certain notes. I also tend to just not know where to breath unless I go over it prior to singing the song. I hope in the future to relax more and control my overall senses when singing.
ReplyDeleteDuring my junior year in high school I had an movement acting class that had a really intense breathing exercise every morning. I got to the point where I could breath in for a slow count of almost 30, hold for almost 20, and then out for 30 (in compromising positions). Since then I have not been practicing as much and I've lost a lot of the control I used to have. I should find time to start doing something similar at least on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteAs for goals before break, I want to be comfortable with all my songs and have half of them memorized before break starts.
It's been made clear in many of my classes how important breathing is. Many a time when I have been struggling, reminding myself to just breathe has helped me a ton. However, I still have loads of work to do in terms of breath. We receive many useful exercises for this in Voice and Speech and I try to employ these before I practice. I appreciate the breathing exercise we do at the onset of each class. I agree with what the studies say, and find that just taking time to breath (through my nose hopefully) makes me much calmer when I am about to sing.
ReplyDeleteMy singing has been pretty touchy the last couple days. I've been dealing with a nasty cold all week and my throat hasn't felt too great. But I find that I can mitigate the feeling to some degree when I warm up. Getting all the equipment moving gets my voice into a less horrendous place and shows me that what I feel is not necessarily just being sick but also just not having warmed up my voice.
I would most definitely say that opening up my ribs to make the most of my breathing is one of my biggest challenges as a singer. I am by nature a very tense person and my ribs tend to always be pretty closed in without even thinking about it. This is wonderful for a strong core in dance, but it is a singer's nightmare. I got really sick with the flu the other week, which made breathing increasingly difficult due to the fact that the flu affects one's respiratory tract. I was unable to sing for a week but I am have been catching myself back up to speed this past week in preparation for this weekend's auditions.
ReplyDeleteBreathing is something we keep coming back to again and again in each of my classes. I first noticed the true significance and importance of proper breathing in my voice class fall semester. Growing up you are always told to "breath" or "relax" but it wasn't till last year that saw the impact proper breathing had on my voice. Learning about my breath has opened up a whole new world I am just starting to learn about, it has provided me with so much more strength and options in my voice. This has also been made noticeable to me in singing class.
ReplyDeleteI want to continue working on the idea of "livable stillness" when I get up and sing. I have a tendency to sway or feel like I have to be doing something which is strange because when it comes to my acting I have no problem finding my strength in stillness, however in singing it is extremely difficult for me to achieve.
I haven't had to think about it for a while now, but especially back when I was regularly consuming stupid amounts of caffeine I'd have to focus on my breathing to clear my mind and get my heart rate back to normal. Since then it's something I've used to work through nerves before auditions, or even when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with my work load. Singing has been good lately. I am just going to have to be hard on myself to keep on top of my practice schedule this coming week as I am also preparing for ATP auditions. Otherwise, I feel like I am finally becoming comfortable with my singing voice, allowing me to finally begin to focus on the storytelling aspect of these songs. It's something I'd like to continue working this week.
ReplyDeleteI definitely definitely definitely neglect the breathing part of singing. Not on purpose--I just forget about it. I will for sure implement that suggested breathing introduction to my practice regime. Speaking of breathing, I would also like to talk more about how you should breathe differently for head-voice singing and chest-voice singing. You mentioned it once during a masterclass, and I'd like to practice it more. :)
ReplyDeleteWhile I do think about breathing most specifically when I know what's coming requires a lot of breath support, I sometimes feel I neglect to really give myself a moment of poise. And further, a moment of poise that begins firstly with noticing and not judging, and is then followed up by allowing necessary adjustment. I also find that study regarding nose breathing versus mouth breathing fascinating - I feel I've had half of my acting teachers and likewise half of my voice/music teachers encourage mouth breathing and the other half express pro-nasal inhalation. The linkage to emotion is something that, in hindsight, I absolutely feel. I find that when mouth breathing, I exist in a much more neutral space as opposed to when I inhale through the nose.
ReplyDeleteI used to have an exceedingly hard time with grounding myself and letting my breath do its thang.. Not that I am perfect now - I'm not - but I think I have definitely improved with my time at the U! I used to barely be able to get a breath due to nerves. Now, I realize how important breath is, specifically taken in through your nose. Yoga has helped me a lot with coming back to deep focused and relaxing breath, and has helped me find my center while singing. I still have a lot of work to do with finding my center and breath support when I sing specifically in my head voice (I think nerves come into play more there). I've been a little under the weather this past week, but have been working on my audition cuts! Time to start memorizing before spring break.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I've never heard talked about before... just a breathing exercise prior to warming up. I'm excited to try this because I've often thought "well my warmup might be more effective if I was breathing consistently from the right place."
ReplyDeleteI have long had this idea that I'm just screwed up when it comes to breathing. When people tell me to breath deep and low, I can't expand very much. I think it would be very helpful for me to just spend time getting into a good breathing space so that it's more habitual to revert to that spot.
I remember you telling me about this study in my lesson! I have a bad memory, so I will take all the help I can get. I have awful stage fright when it comes to singing, and my use of inhalation can sometimes help me to manage it. The deeper, slower breaths help me to relax a little bit. While I'm performing, they keep me grounded and help me to get through the piece. I have noticed that in my juries a lot of my issues could be solved by breathing more efficiently. It's something that I forget to practice, but is very apparent when I do it poorly.
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