Life begins at the moment of our first breath and extends to the moment we breathe our last. Breathing unites us with the world around us in perpetual symbiosis as we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Breathing massages our internal organs, promoting healthy digestion and supporting the lymphatic system. Breathing regulates our emotions, heightening excitement or calming us down as needed. Human beings can survive three weeks without food, three days without water, but little more than three minutes without breathing.
While each component of the singer’s instrument has numerous physical functions to fulfill in addition to singing, our breathing apparatus is responsible for an exceptional range of jobs relating to survival, comfort, and expression. The many ways in which breathing contributes to keeping us alive and well hardly diminish in significance once we begin to vocalize. The physical roles breath plays in supporting our bodily functions and regulating the flow of our emotions are as vital for the realization of our expressive impulses as the mechanical role breath plays as the generator of sound for the vocal instrument.
All musical instruments require a means of generating sound. A violin’s strings are set vibrating by the movement of a bow, a piano’s strings respond to hammer strikes initiated by fingers, and a singer’s vocal folds are activated by the breath. For any instrument, an effective generator provides for consistency, stamina, and variable intensity of sound production. Singers must therefore cultivate the ability to control and vary airflow and subglottal breath pressure with great specificity. As our breath is limited by our lung capacity, it is a resource that must be deployed economically and then skillfully renewed upon depletion.
Breathing for singing can be broken down into four distinct but related skills, each of which must be mastered for the breath to serve as an effective generator:
• The ability to take a full breath
• The ability to release the breath freely
• The ability to optimize and manage subglottal breath pressure
• The ability to consume oxygen efficiently.
When we inhale, we contract the muscles of inspiration. These include the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Figures 2.1 and 2.3 show the relationship of the ribs, diaphragm, and intercostal muscles prior to inhalation; figures 2.2 and 2.4 show how their positions evolve in response to a deep inhalation.
The diaphragm is the primary muscle of inspiration. This dome-shaped structure nestles under the lungs. The diaphragm attaches to the xyphoid process of the sternum as well as the lower ribs and spine, separating the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. The two crura of the diaphragm, shown in figures 2.1 to 2.4, originate in the lumbar vertebrae and serve as anchors for muscular contraction. When activated, the diaphragm descends as shown in figures 2.2 and 2.4, drawing air into the lungs by creating a vacuum in the thoracic cavity and displacing the viscera.
Figure 2.1 Front view of the ribs, diaphragm, and intercostals prior to inhalation. Sandy Escobar.
Figure 2.2 Front view of the ribs, diaphragm, and intercostals after a deep inhalation. Sandy Escobar.
The intercostals are the muscles between the ribs. On inspiration, they lift and separate the ribs, which hinge on the sternum in front and the spine in the back, as shown in figures 2.2 and 2.4, partnering with the diaphragm to create a vacuum and draw air into the lungs.
Both our control over the diaphragm and our ability to sense its movements are indirect. While the intention to inhale activates the diaphragm, we cannot exercise direct biomechanical control over its movements. We are only able to sense its whereabouts from the feedback we receive from its neighboring structures and an awareness of pressure changes in the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
Inspiration can be both voluntary and involuntary. When we wish to consciously modulate our breath, as in singing and many forms of physical exercise, we can deliberately inhale and exhale, as well as vary the speed and depth of both movements. At all other times, breathing automatically continues unconsciously, regulated by the nervous system. For singers, the ability to take a full breath means:
• Accessing the fullest possible range of motion for the diaphragm and intercostals.
• An absence of resistance in the throat and other airways.
• The ability to allow the shoulders to remain relaxed and settled while inhaling.
Factors that can impede the ability to take a full breath include:
• Postural distortions limiting range of motion for the diaphragm and intercostals, as discussed in chapter 1.
• Resistance in the throat that manifests as an audible inhalation.
• Habitual or chronic tensions in the chest and/or abdomen.
Figure 2.3 Side view of the ribs, diaphragm, and intercostals prior to inhalation. Sandy Escobar.
Figure 2.4 Side view of the ribs, diaphragm, and intercostals after a deep inhalation.Sandy Escobar.
While not every phrase you sing may require filling your lungs to capacity, it is vital that you enjoy the freedom and flexibility to maximally inhale so that you have the option to breathe as fully or minimally as desired. Optimizing alignment supports full range of motion for the diaphragm and intercostals and can be cultivated by adapting the workout regimen detailed in chapter 6 for your specific postural needs. The static stretches for the rib cage are particularly helpful for releasing tensions in the intercostals and abdominal muscles.
Throat tensions that result in an audible gasp impede the flow of inhalation and can be alleviated through slow, mindful, repeated practice. In my experience, singers are far more inclined to practice the movements that produce sound than they are to practice the movements involved in inhalation, but the things you do to prepare to sing are every bit as important as the things you do while singing. You can habituate silent inhalations through a relaxed throat by slowing down the process, inhaling out of tempo, then gradually building the coordination to accomplish this movement more swiftly. The “turn your breath around” exercise described below addresses this procedure in greater detail.
While the shoulders normally elevate during inhalation and settle during exhalation, singers must cultivate the ability to allow the shoulders to remain low during inhalation rather than elevating them. Elevating the shoulders engages the upper trapezius. This tightens the neck and shoulder muscles in the back and on both sides and draws the shoulders up and in toward the neck, potentially causing problems for laryngeal mobility and stability. The scapular retraction exercise described below helps stabilize the shoulders and improve awareness of and control over the upper trapezius.
Habitual tensions, such as the common tendency to suck in your stomach, must be observed and consciously released. Some degree of engagement of the abdominal muscles is necessary to support alignment and movement, and some further engagement may be cultivated as a component of your singing technique. But unconscious holding in this area will restrict the diaphragm’s ability to displace the viscera on inhalation and limit your ability to fully expand your lungs. The static stretches for the rib cage described in chapter 6 also help lengthen and release the abdominal muscles.
Chronic muscular tensions in the torso, such as the tightness in the pectoral and latissimus dorsi muscles that is characteristic of upper crossed syndrome, can be alleviated through the self-myofascial release and flexibility exercises detailed in chapter 6.
When we exhale, we passively release the muscles of inspiration.
The diaphragm contracts when we inhale and releases when we exhale, returning to a relaxed position as shown in figures 2.1 and 2.2. During normal exhalation, the same is true of its synergists, the intercostals. While the intercostals, as well as many other muscles throughout the torso, can be engaged to forcefully expel the air in our lungs, the skill under discussion in this section is simply that of allowing the air to passively release.
The tissue that makes up our lungs is similar in quality to the rubber used in balloons. Inhaling expands and stretches this tissue, which is then naturally inclined to return to a relaxed state. The passive expiratory force generated by the natural elasticity of our lung tissue is more formidable than any active muscular action we can take to expel our air—something to keep in mind when developing breath-management strategies, as discussed below.
When you consider that the diaphragm relaxes rather than contracts on exhalation, it becomes clear that admonitions to “sing from your diaphragm” or “engage your diaphragm” are anatomically incorrect and misleading. The diaphragm has one job, and that is to contract on inhalation, whereas singing is an activity of exhalation. If it feels like you are “singing from the diaphragm,” you are likely feeling the abdominal muscles. These intersect with the diaphragm in the front at the sternum and lower ribs (see figure 2.8, below) but given that you cannot directly control or sense the diaphragm and that it is relaxed during exhalation, it is more probable that you are engaging and sensing your abdominal muscles. For singers, the ability to release the breath freely means:
• After a full inhalation, the ability to let the breath go without creating resistance in the throat, controlling the rate of release, or actively doing anything to push the breath out
• The ability to maintain good alignment of the shoulders and sternum rather than allowing them to collapse
• The ability to seamlessly turn the breath around after completing the exhalation, rather than pausing and holding the breath prior to the next inhalation
Factors that can impede the ability to release the breath include:
• Habitual or chronic tensions in the rib cage or throat impeding a full, swift exhalation
• Allowing the sternum and/or shoulders to collapse due to weakness in the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius
• A tendency to either push the breath out or modulate its release rather than passively letting it go
• A habit of pausing and holding the breath on completion of the exhalation
While your approach to singing technique may involve exercising control over the rate at which your breath releases, the ability to simply let it go in a complete and uncomplicated fashion is a prerequisite for the development of breath-management skills. Any pushing or controlling you may be doing unintentionally or unconsciously will slow or limit your progress in breath management, so it’s important to note and resolve such tendencies early.
During normal exhalation, the shoulders generally descend and rotate internally and the sternum also descends, but singers must cultivate the ability to stabilize the shoulders while releasing the breath; many singing techniques call for sustaining an elevated position of the sternum as well. Figure 2.5 shows the scapulae at rest. Maintaining shoulder stability, which also contributes to sustaining an elevated sternum, requires retraction of the scapulae, shown in figure 2.6; however, a tendency to elevate the shoulders on inspiration, as shown in figure 2.7, makes it impossible to either stabilize the shoulders or keep the sternum up. Good default alignment is necessary for accomplishing this, as well as strength in the muscles that stabilize the scapulae—the rhomboids and middle and lower trapezius, shown in figure 2.9 (later in the chapter). The scapular retraction exercise described below helps stabilize the shoulders and maintain an elevated sternum while exhaling.
A habit of pausing and holding the breath on completion of the exhalation puts the whole breathing cycle on hold, taking up valuable time between phrases and requiring additional effort to initiate the inhalation that follows. Such pauses can be accompanied by a habitual tightening in the throat and/or abdominal muscles. Practice exhaling, then seamlessly transitioning to inhaling without a pause. The “turn your breath around” exercise described below applies this process to the performance of consecutive phrases.
Figure 2.5 Relaxed shoulders. Daniel Welch.
Figure 2.6 Shoulder retraction. Daniel Welch.
Figure 2.7 Shoulder elevation. Daniel Welch.
The breath generates vocal fold vibration in accordance with the Bernoulli principle. After a full inhalation, the air pressure below the vocal folds is greater than the air pressure above them, so when the vocal folds are sufficiently adducted while remaining pliant, releasing breath through the resulting narrow aperture alternately sucks them together and escapes between them, generating a vibratory cycle.
The process of inhalation creates adequate subglottal breath pressure to generate this vibratory cycle during exhalation due to the elasticity of our lung tissue. Breath management for singing therefore consists of a means of increasing and regulating subglottal breath pressure to facilitate a greater and/or more specific impact on vocal fold vibration in order to modulate volume, projection, and registration.
Enhancing subglottal breath pressure means exercising control over the degree of concentration, or compression, of the air molecules inside your lungs. We have a variety of means to accomplish this. Most muscles in the torso are capable of playing primarily an inspiratory or expiratory role, either by directly influencing the rib cage or by impacting intra-abdominal pressure, which also influences pressure inside the thoracic cavity. Muscles that play an expiratory role will accelerate the rate at which breath exits our lungs, while muscles that play an inspiratory role will decelerate the rate of release. If we wish to influence the air compression inside our lungs, we must harness and skillfully balance these forces of acceleration and deceleration.
Forces that accelerate breath release include anything that can act on the lungs to push the air out, including the abdominal muscles (shown in figure 2.8), the intercostal muscles, and any muscles or movements that cause the sternum to descend (figure 2.9).
Forces that decelerate breath release include anything that can hold the air back, including continued engagement of the muscles of inspiration, such as the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles. Engaging the rhomboids and lower and middle trapezius, shown in figure 2.8, to stabilize the shoulders and elevate the sternum assists with continued engagement of the intercostals. Anything that slows the release of the breath by creating resistance in or around the glottis will also exercise a decelerating force. This includes the normal approximation of the vocal folds during phonation. Exaggerated adduction of the vocal folds will further decelerate the rate of breath release, as will the creation of additional throat tension around the larynx.
Figure 2.8 The four major abdominal muscles: transversus abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques, and internal obliques. All have significant attachments to the rib cage and influence breathing in myriad ways. Sandy Escobar.
Pairing and coordinating forces that accelerate and decelerate the rate of breath release facilitate the concentration and compression of the breath, impacting subglottal breath pressure. As you can see, there are many muscles that can exercise each of these forces, and I believe that this is the reason for the evolution of so many different schools of breath management. For example, bel canto aficionados recommend sustained expansion of the rib cage (deceleration) combined with an upward tuck of the abdominal muscles (acceleration); adherents of the German school of breathing advise continuously distending the abdomen (deceleration) while singing, requiring the sternum and ribs to draw in and down (acceleration).
Given the variety of options we have for regulating subglottal breath pressure, I find it unlikely that any one method could be demonstrated to be superior to any other. However, there is one principle that must hold true for any successful means of breath management: Never recruit anatomy whose primary role in the vocal instrument is something other than generator to play the role of the generator. In other words, you must not engage the structures in and around the larynx (vibrator) or articulators (resonator) for the purpose of increasing subglottal breath pressure.
Figure 2.9 Upper trapezius, rhomboids, and middle and lower trapezius. The upper trapezius elevates the shoulders; the rhomboids and middle and lower trapezius retract and stabilize the scapulae. Sandy Escobar.
I feel that this cannot be overstated, because the most instinctive and expedient way to increase subglottal breath pressure is by generating tension in the throat, usually by excessively adducting the vocal folds (deceleration) and driving the breath against this closure with the abdominal and/or intercostal muscles (acceleration). Doing so will effectively increase subglottal breath pressure, but at the expense of laryngeal function, as your laryngeal anatomy and the structures surrounding it will no longer be adequately available to perform their roles in vibration and resonance. Your vocal folds will not be able to vibrate or modulate pitch and registration as freely if they are also responsible for creating resistance for the breath to push against. Subjecting your vocal folds to prolonged and excessive breath pressure can also increase the risk of vocal fold hemorrhage or the development of nodes or polyps.
This is my reason for preferring the term breath management to support. I find that singers too often respond to the word support by engaging the forces that accelerate the breath while possibly failing to notice that they are using these forces to override excessive resistance at the glottis—some of which may be due to an underdeveloped technique rather than an intentional means of breath management.
Chapter 6 will include exercises to improve flexibility, strength, and coordination throughout the musculature that impacts breathing, in order to facilitate the application of whatever breath-management strategy works best for you. The scapular retraction exercise described below helps strengthen a number of the muscles capable of decelerating breath release by enabling the shoulders, sternum, and thoracic spine to sustain an inspiratory position.
The primary function of respiration is the delivery of oxygen to our cells and elimination of carbon dioxide from our bodies. Our level of cardiorespiratory fitness is defined by how well our bodies accomplish these tasks. The efficiency with which we are able to circulate oxygen through our bodies and then make good use of that oxygen contributes our overall level of energy and physical stamina.
Our bodies do not consume all of the oxygen we take in with each breath. This is why it is possible to deliver oxygen to another person when administering rescue breaths during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)—there is still a significant quantity of oxygen in the air we exhale.
The positive adaptations our bodies undergo as the result of cardiorespiratory training include an increase in stroke volume—the quantity of blood our hearts pump with each beat—and an improvement in oxygen consumption due to an increase in capillary and mitochondrial density. When your heart becomes capable of pumping more blood every time it beats, it circulates not only a greater volume of blood but also a greater quantity of oxygen through your body with each beat. A greater stroke volume results in a lower resting heart rate because your heart no longer needs to beat as frequently. As a consequence, you do not need to breathe as frequently. An increase in capillary density provides more pathways for oxygen to reach your tissues; an increase in mitochondrial density provides more locations for oxygen to interact with the nutrients you consume in order to supply your body with energy.
Simply put, the more efficiently you consume oxygen, the less frequently you need to breathe. An improvement in oxygen consumption raises your overall level of energy and stamina. In addition, it yields two highly desirable advantages for your singing:
1. The ability to sustain long phrases, and
2. The ability to continue singing calmly and skillfully throughout vigorous stage movement.
If you’ve ever felt like you were running out of breath despite seeming to have plenty of air in your lungs, it is likely due to your having depleted all the oxygen you were capable of consuming from your last breath. This generates an emergency signal from your body to inhale as soon as possible. Better oxygen consumption translates into greater latitude for your musicanship because it enables you to sustain longer phrases as well as regulate dynamics and modulate registration with greater skill. Everything for which you rely on breath management becomes easier.
Your respiratory system’s main job is delivering oxygen so it can be converted into the energy you need to function. Movement places further demands upon your respiratory system, and singing still more. An increase in physical activity means an increase in energy expenditure, necessitating more frequent breaths as well as more frequent heartbeats. The frequency of a singer’s breaths is necessarily dictated by the number and length of the phrases that must be performed over a given period of time. Therefore, it is essential that you cultivate a level of oxygen consumption adequate to meet the demands of stage movement without necessitating more frequent breaths than would be ideal for your musical and dramatic delivery. Interval training, an excellent means of improving oxygen consumption, will be discussed in chapter 6.
In the introduction to this book, I described sport-specific training as comprising strength and flexibility exercises, to be carried out in the gym, and coordination and skill exercises, which are cultivated in the field (aka the practice room where our sport is concerned). You will find exercises to condition your breathing musculature in chapter 6. Following are two breathing coordination exercises that you can incorporate into your vocal practice regimen.
The rhomboids and middle and lower trapezius stabilize the shoulders by retracting the scapulae. Sustaining this retracted position is beneficial for singing because it helps maintain an elevated sternum while inhibiting the upper trapezius from elevating the shoulders. Here is a procedure for improving awareness and coordination in this crucial area.
1. Warm up your shoulders with the following exercises from chapter 6:
• Self-myofascial release for the shoulders
• Massage for the upper trapezius
• Half-angel stretch for the shoulders
2. Explore the impact of your shoulder muscles on your alignment:
• Stand with good alignment.
• Slouch by allowing your chest to collapse and your shoulders to slump forward.
• Slowly draw yourself back into a position of good alignment.
• Repeat several times, noting where you sensed the effort. The muscles that restore you to good alignment include the muscles between your shoulder blades—the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius. When these muscles are weak or lengthened, the result is a slouch.
3. Practice scapular retraction:
• Sit upright on a padded workout bench, massage table, or other firm upholstered surface.
• Make fists with your hands and place them beside your hips, knuckles against the surface you are seated upon.
• Maintaining good upper-body alignment with your sternum elevated, raise your hips off the surface by pushing yourself up onto your fists. This will cause your scapulae to retract.
• Keep your weight on your fists for two to four seconds, continuing to breathe; then lower yourself and return to a seated position.
• Repeat four to six times.
4. Integrate scapular retraction into the lat pulldown exercise in chapter 6.
The purpose of these exercises is to permanently strengthen the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius to promote good alignment, as well as to habituate dynamic shoulder stabilization during singing. Remember to keep your shoulders loose and available for movement—the point of these exercises is never the promotion of a rigid or held position but rather a balance of strength and flexibility throughout the skeletomuscular system.
Singers who tirelessly work their best technique, diction, and musicianship into the performance of each individual phrase often do not invest similar time and attention to choreographing their breaths—the way they release a phrase, inhale, prepare, and initiate the subsequent phrase. No matter how efficient and well-coordinated your breath-management skills, they will only serve you well in performance if you intentionally apply these skills to the transitions between phrases in your repertoire. You must also ensure that the instinctive urge to come in “on time” does not override your preparation.
While composers do not always notate rests of sufficient length for breathing between phrases, they still expect you to take the time you need in order to breathe and prepare well. The composer, your pianist or conductor, and everyone listening knows that breathing takes time. It is up to you to build the breath you need into the overall flow of musical expression so that it feels organic.
I frequently observe singers taking a noisy catch breath an eighth or quarter note before an entrance even when they are provided rests a full measure or more in length to prepare, essentially treating the breath as a rhythmic event. However, under nearly all circumstances while singing, breathing should be regarded as completely arhythmic. If you have a break of a measure or more before an entrance, you must choose the moment where you will begin to prepare for that entrance based on how long it will take you to inhale adequately rather than on rhythmic concerns. When you do not have a lengthy break, remember that while performing you should always be either singing or inhaling (never holding your breath), so your inhalation and preparation must occupy whatever rhythmic duration you are allotted in the space between phrases. If there are no rests between phrases, or only short ones, you must exercise good judgment and shorten the last note of the previous phrase so that you have the time you need to prepare well and come in on time when the subsequent one is set to begin. Here is an exercise sequence for turning your breath around between phrases.
Breathing without vocalizing. Stand with good alignment and a relaxed jaw. Relax your throat, shoulders, and abdomen and take a full breath through your mouth. Exhale through your mouth, taking care to release rather than push your breath out. When you have finished exhaling, seamlessly turn your breath around and begin to inhale, again encouraging your throat, shoulders, and abdomen to relax; then seamlessly turn your breath around and exhale. Repeat the cycle several times. Observe:
• Do your throat, shoulders, and abdomen remain relaxed, or do you find it necessary to release some accumulated tension in these or other areas when you resume inhaling?
• Are you able to seamlessly transition between inhaling and exhaling, or are you inclined to pause and hold your breath briefly in between?
Onsets and releases. Stand with good alignment and a relaxed jaw. Relax your throat, shoulders, and abdomen, and take a full breath through your mouth. When you are ready to exhale, turn your breath around seamlessly as you did in the previous exercise, and onset on a comfortable pitch in your middle voice on the vowel of your choice. Sustain for two to three seconds, release the pitch, and inhale again. Repeat the cycle several times. Observe:
• Do your throat, shoulders, and abdomen remain relaxed as you onset and sustain, or do you find it necessary to release tension in these or other areas in order to inhale?
• Are you able to seamlessly transition between inhaling and onseting, releasing and inhaling, or is there a pause or some tightening unrelated to singing in between?
• Note and try to inhibit or release any extraneous movements and tensions interfering with a seamless turnaround between your inhalation and your onset or between your release and subsequent inhalation.
Application to repertoire. Choose two consecutive phrases in a song or aria with either no notated rest or only a brief notated rest in between.
• Onset on the final pitch and vowel of the first phrase.
• Sustain for two to three seconds.
• Release and seamlessly transition to a full inhalation.
• Onset on the first pitch and vowel of the second phrase.
• Sustain for two or three seconds.
• Release and seamlessly transition to a full inhalation.
• Repeat the cycle several times, alternating between the two pitches and vowels required.
• Sing through both phrases, taking adequate time for an optimal breath.
• Sing through both phrases, taking the time in between them that would be appropriate for performance.
• Compare your breath coordination between the version where you allowed yourself ample time to breathe and prepare and the version where you allowed yourself only as much time as would be appropriate in performance. Did additional tensions creep in when a time constraint was imposed? Was your breath silent and full or comparatively audible and shallow?
Breathing takes time, but you can improve your coordination to ensure that it does not take any more time than is necessary. Like any other movement sequence, practicing the movements involved in breathing will enable you to accomplish them with increased speed and efficiency.
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Just as our life experiences lead most of us to develop idiosyncratic postural imbalances, each of us evolves unique breathing patterns. If you address the habits that impede range of motion for your ribs and diaphragm while building flexibility and strength in the muscles governing breath management, you will more readily cultivate the breath coordination and management skills you practice in the studio. And the better your level of cardiorespiratory fitness, the more stamina you will enjoy not only for your singing but also for everything else you pursue.