Through the world over, it is accepted that the best method of breathing for singers is diaphragmatic breathing. A lot of you may ask, what’s so hard about breathing…you breathe in…you breathe out? It is in fact one of the most important aspects of singing. After all, its air that passes through your vocal chords which convert that air into sound or tone.
1stly, if you were to take a deep breath in right now…do it…chances are you lifted your shoulders & your chest area was expanded. That is an expected response BUT not diaphragmatic breathing. Lets call that “chest” breathing.
So where is the diaphragm? Well, instead of me describing where it is, click on this link:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TxL3Y0_WaIawCjfjlkaE4JpIGTZATX0R1gy4qapQe2jzqEMkBH8OCqs8gdVO-MbUkPPYbZnc_pPZZ_rvf1FeoC5GCtK7lnGYpcgLcquqEWv6hNhkNbJB9W0BdZsjrMbUHGFIdeYO75re/s400/223681_diaphragm.jpg
Now, understand that when you breathe correctly, the diaphragm which, when relaxed looks something like an up-side down salad bowl flattens & creates space for the lungs to expand.
Sure! The lungs expand when you “chest’ breathe but there are 2 factors that become a clear advantage to a singer when breathing diaphragmatically:
1) You have far more control over the air coming out of the lungs. To use a simple visual, think of a balloon as your lungs. If you blow up the balloon & just simply let it go, the air in a second or less escapes the balloon (chest breathing) but when blowing up the balloon, taking your hands & controlling the air flow from the balloon at the tip, you can control how much or little air escapes (diaphragmatic breathing).
2) Eliminating any added pressure on the neck. Think about it, when you “chest” breathe, your shoulders lift up, restricting your neck area. Also, think about when you’re stressed out or angry. Your breathing becomes very “chesty” & the 1st thing to feel that stress is your neck & shoulders. Those neck muscles play a huge part in assisting the vocal chords with singing & by creating tension in the neck you’re effectively creating unnecessary pressure for the vocal chords.
Grasping the concept is simple because in reality you are doing it all the time. Probably while you’re reading this. Think about when you’re sitting watching TV. You don’t sit there puffing out your chest every time you breathe in. You would look insane. So what’s moving? In simple terms, your stomach…put a hand there. That is your diaphragm functioning on a sub-conscious level & it does that in most occasions when you’re not thinking about breathing. That’s the difference. When you do think “breathe in” your shoulders lift & chest puffs out. You need to learn to change this.
How? Just use various scenarios where you already breathe diaphragmatically to spark the concept. In other words, while your watching TV, every now & then put a hand on your upper abdominals so you can feel it moving or while your lying in bed, when you wake up…lying on your back, again place a hand their & feel how its working. You are teaching yourself how to do this.
The aim is to show yourself 1) you can “chest” breathe & 2) you can breathe “Diaphragmatically”.
This is just the beginning. Once you have grasped the concept, you need to master it which takes practice & use of muscles you may not know even existed but if want to become a professional singer this is an essential piece of the puzzle.
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