This will be a three-part column on the anatomy of breathing as it relates to singing technique. This post includes some general information and observations; the second post addresses how releasing the breath stimulates the vocal folds to vibrate (the Bernoulli effect); and the third discusses breath management.
Respiration is an incredibly fascinating and complex process. All physical and emotional experience affects our breathing to a greater or lesser extent. And there is very little in our physical and emotional experience that is not influenced by the quality of our breathing.
Here are some important things to keep in mind:
The diaphragm, the major muscle of inspiration, contracts on inhalation. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped sheet of muscle that goes all the way around the bottom of the rib cage. When it contracts, it descends, sucking air into the lungs. The admonishment to "Sing from your diaphragm!" makes absolutely no anatomical sense because as we sing, we exhale. If you're actively pushing air out while singing, it isn't the diaphragm that's doing the pushing.
There are two essential types of breathing: Costal breathing, through opening and closing the ribs; and diaphragmatic breathing, which works with the abdominal area. These two types of breathing impact on the lungs in completely different ways, and both are very important for singing. A singer who is overly dependent on costal breathing and needs to cultivate diaphragmatic breathing may get the idea that the ribs and upper torso should not be involved in breathing at all, but optimal breathing for singing requires that you master both types of breathing and skillfully coordinate them together. There is a good description of this on the first page of this lesson on The Respiratory System , plus a neat quiz you can take to test your understanding of respiration in general.
It can be very difficult to see, feel and control the movements of some of the major muscles of respiration. You can't really see the diaphragm working because all of its movements are internal. You also can't feel it well, as there are very few nerve endings providing you with any information about its activity. On the other hand, it's much easier to feel many of the muscles in the rib cage that are involved in breathing. This is one of the reasons that so many singers instinctively emphasize costal breathing at first – you can see and feel the movement of the ribs, whereas it's difficult to tell what the diaphragm is up to.
When singing, is NEVER necessary to forcibly exhale (i.e. push out the breath) using the abdominal muscles, ribs, or any other means. I discussed this in my earlier post, Resistance is Futile but it bears mentioning again. Driving the breath out like this is what some singers and teachers still refer to as "breath support", but to me that is a heck of a euphemism for what they're really doing: using aggressive breath pressure to override areas of resistance and entanglement in the voice. It's a quick fix that seems to compensate for poor intonation or lack of volume and vibrancy, but it deserves no place in your concept of healthy singing technique. Pinpoint and release the resistance, disentangle whatever needs disentangling, and you won't be tempted to engage in this kind of "support".
Breathing is a crucial means of regulating your emotions. When breathing is full and expansive, you experience physical sensations and emotions fully and expansively as well. When your physical sensations and emotions become intolerably strong, shutting down your breathing will dial back the intensity. This is true for both pleasant and unpleasant sensations and emotions. We tend to think that only the unpleasant ones can become intolerably strong, but think about it: if you find yourself moved to laughter in situations where it would be considered inappropriate or realize that you're excited by something you think you're supposed to find repellent, you may shut down your breathing to restore a sense of self-control. If you habitually shut down your breathing to maintain self-control, it creates chronic muscular tension in the muscles of respiration, and full mobility needs to be restored to these muscles in order to optimize your breathing for singing. I would argue that even the healthiest of you need some rehabilitation in this area, because in our culture even the most trauma-free childhood usually still involves many years of having to sit still and be quiet in elementary school classrooms when what you really want to do is run around wildly! F. Matthias Alexander, the creator of the Alexander Technique so beloved by performers of all kinds, emphasized balancing our dual abilities of volition and inhibition. He spoke eloquently about how relatively bad we are at cultivating healthy powers of inhibition – the ability to experience an impulse and then choose not to act on it, without judging yourself for having the impulse in the first place and habitually restricting your own movement to prevent yourself from acting on it.
Habitually restricting movement and breathing in this way will compromise full range of motion in your muscles of respiration. Fortunately, it is possible to regain full mobility and flexibility in these muscles. Various forms of exercise and bodywork can greatly accelerate this process. But keep in mind that anything that restores mobility to your breathing will probably bring up a lot of intense emotion. If you've ever found yourself inexplicably moved to tears or laughter in the middle of a voice lesson, this is the likely explanation! Full access to your breath capacity naturally means getting full access to other parts of yourself. In the long run, this will certainly expand your expressive vocabulary, but short term, it can feel like you're on an emotional roller coaster!
While there may seem to be nearly as many different methods of breath management and support as there are voice teachers, our anatomy is what it is. Understanding how all the parts work should give you a clearer idea of the reasons behind your breathing strategies. It's my hope that this series will shed some light on what is working for you in your own technique, what isn't, and why.
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