Singing Tuition and Lessons
63Knowing What is where in Singing
Starting Out
Before even getting your singing technique sorted the first and most important things to understand are simply how the throat, lungs and vocal chords operates and how to properly look after them.
Breathing Correctly
Breathing has always been one of the most important things for me in Singing. A very simple test is to sit or stand and take a deep breath and watch yourself in a mirror and see if your shoulders rise and fall. If they do then you are not breathing from the correct place.
Instead you should ensure that you are always breathing from the diaphragm.
The Snake
A good exercise to test and improve your breathing capacity is to take a deep breath from the diaphragm and place one hand on your stomach for when you exhale. Get some with a stop watch to time you and as you breath out breath out as little air at a time as possible in a continuous and audible hiss of air (hence why its called the snake).Try and breath out at a continuos rate from the moment the stop watch starts and with as little air as possible. Once you have a time you can keep testing this every day or so to see how your lung capacity is improving as you develop as a vocalist.
Diaphragmatic breathing technique
1. Lie on your back on a flat surface or in bed, with your knees bent and your head supported. You can use a pillow under your knees to support your legs. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other just below your rib cage. This will allow you to feel your diaphragm move as you breathe.
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose so that your stomach moves out against your hand. The hand on your chest should remain as still as possible.
3. Tighten your stomach muscles, letting them fall inward as you exhale through pursed lips (see "Pursed Lip Breathing Technique"). The hand on your upper chest must remain as still as possible.
When you first learn the diaphragmatic breathing technique, it may be easier for you to follow the instructions lying down, as shown on the first page. As you gain more practice, you can try the diaphragmatic breathing technique while sitting in a chair, as shown below.
