Breath - inspiration
Various things can happen with the body which cause
difficulty in inhalation:-
·
Breath can be too high in the upper chest causing the voice
to be hard and driven.
·
The solar plexus and belly can sometimes be too pushed out (i.e.
too much ‘breath in the stomach’ distending it and not enough in the back) this
makes it very difficult to use the breath to any good effect and causes
inadequate cord closure, breathy sound and huskiness.
·
The shoulders can be held too rigid and too far back causing
the back to narrow and making it difficult for the back to open naturally and
pushing the wind pipe and head forward causing noisy breath being gulped in
through tense lips over a tense tongue and lower jaw
·
The breath is taken in a way which disturbs the larynx and
pulls down the head. Usually accompanied by a tight jaw
Breathing, like so much of singing, is in normal life
a reflex action. We breathe twenty-four hours a day and the majority of us
don’t take that much notice of it.
If the body stays open at the finish of the last
breath then the body will fill with air. Nature abhors the vacuum in the open
body and fills it with air quicker and more efficiently than any amount of
trying to concentrate on taking a big breath will do. One third of the secret
of breathing is in knowing how to use your breath and another third is to
continually think about what you are doing with your body as you work – think
of the efficiency of the vessel and how it feels to you every moment, not about
the breath, which is a reflex action. (The other third is at the end of the
article.) It is a question of putting the frame of the body in such a sense of
ease with itself that the lungs within it are stimulated automatically to work
at optimum efficiency. To do this, it is useful to acquire a sense of balanced
posture so that the centre of gravity feels low, in the pelvis and going down
the legs [Please refer to the article on ‘balance’
in this website) When working properly there is no need to suck and gulp breath
in. In inhalation, nothing must disturb the free larynx and poise of the body.
Q Where should
my breath go first when I breathe?
A Into the bottom
of the diaphragm. Breath is at its most
efficient when breath is attempted on an already open upper body in balance on
a buoyant upright free spine. You will feel the abdomen move out with the liver
and lights being massaged aside. There is also a little movement at eh back in
the lower lumber spine. It means that the lungs of their own accord are free to
extend down as they fill with air thus massaging the liver, intestines etc
aside. This increases your energy. The abdomen is your power source. I say this
because from there the breath can fill opening the upper body.
Q Where does it go next?
A Immediately
after this the ribs expand starting with the lower floating ribs. There should
be expansion at the back and not very much at all in the front, the chest
should not move unduly as it should already have been open and buoyant. The
shoulders should not rise.
Suggested method to begin
to feel this:-
Bend your elbows out to the side and but you hands
round your ribs. Thumbs at the front is better as then you have more fingers at
the back to feel with. Lift you chest moderately high without pulling the
stomach in rigidly at all. Here comes
the tricky bit! Bend your knees during your inhaling breath and lean your upper
body forward a little.
Q Should my
tongue and lips do something when I breathe.
A The lower lip
should be very relaxed; not baring the lower teeth as this creates strain under
the chin. The tip of the tongue should be relaxed behind the lower teeth with
the next part of the tongue buoyant lifted wide and free in the mouth. The
upper body should be buoyant otherwise the head would be constantly pulled
down. It is helpful to remember that the spine finishes under the ear and under
the back of the head and the jaw are gently engaged with this upper vertebrae.
Suggested method to get a
feel for this:-
Stand up in balance (look at article on ‘balance’ for this) and first say this sound
“jooooooong” with a look of happy surprise.
Let the nostrils slightly flare, round your top lip
forward in an “oooo”. Make sure you are standing tall. Put you finger on your
chin and push back your jaw a little so that the gullet underneath feels wide.
The middle of your tongue should feel quite high and free in your mouth when
you say the “oooo” and the tongue tip just behind the bottom teeth. The bottom
lip must cover the bottom teeth in a relaxed way, you can use a finger to help
you if you need to. Then with this same shape mouth let breath flow in over the
top of your tongue and it should connect with the muscles deep in your abdomen
and back and sides. Stand tall in balance. Practice taking in some air in with
just the mouth and then the rest with the nose and then breathe out through the
nose with the finger still pushing back the chin a little. This is a very
important start to vocal freedom as this exercise helps to feel what an open
throat feels like. It is very difficult to breath well with a tight throat.
The other third
Q I feel that
as I sing a phrase I tighten and as a song goes on I get tighter and tighter
and it is harder to breathe and use my breath.
A Remember that
the whole point of breathing is that you have something to say. Let us imagine
that you are really excited to say something to explain how you feel. You think
of the nature and essence of what you want to say, take a breath, and as you
start to say the first few words of the first sentence you are already
preparing yourself to form the next sentence and so on. This is how we communicate.
If it were not this way there would be great gaps before we thought of the next
thing to say, doubts would creep in and we would forget what we wanted to say
most probably!
In other words, in the nature of the breath, you take
is the seed which grows into the sentence you wish to say and you can leave it
to grow while you think of the next sentence. If it is some thing you are
saying that you really care about then each breath is fertilized with your will
and imagination growing out of the sentence before. Music is no less organic
and when we sing we need to be very busy forming ideas with every part of
us. Your ideas are what you inhale – in
your intake of breath is your inspiration, it is everything about who you are
at each moment of sound.
Singing is three things:
·
your head - your conscious educated understanding of what you
are doing
·
your heart - your reflex and spontaneous reaction
·
your gut - your feeling and emotion
You are a great artist when you can inspire all three to
work together.
Good luck with your vocal journey
Cathy Pope
Email cathy@cathypope.com