TOP TEN FAQ’s FOR SINGERS

5.   How Do I Breathe Properly?

This is the most important thing in singing. Over 80% of the students who initially come to me for lessons don’t breathe

properly. If you don’t breathe correctly you will lose control, you will have poor tone, over-sing or shout, sing out of

tune, lose your voice, never increase you range or your projection, etc etc etc. This is too big an area to discuss here

in FAQ’s but the most important thing is to take small breaths and to use your diaphragm, rib cage and lower back. It is

entirely a myth that says you need to take a big breath when you sing but there are still teachers teaching this way

and teaching to breathe down into your tummy. Your tummy is for kai (food) and good wine (on a non singing day).

Watch a boxer in a fight; watch a rugby league player tackling, or a swimmer about to dive into a pool. They take a

little breath just as they are about to engage in the action, and that is what you should be doing. Take the air in and

get it down into your back, diaphragm and ribs and use that part of your body to control your breathing, after all it is

the core of your body. Don’t try to sing whole lines in one breath, listen to what the original artist did and how he/she

breathed with the meaning of the words. Look in a mirror; are your shoulders going up and down when you breathe,

are your breasts rising? They are all telltale signs of a person who is breathing wrong. Also we don’t help ourselves by

standing badly. You are often about to exert a huge amount of pressure on your body yet you are standing with you

feet together or one behind the other and so therefore you are not prepared to take the pressure of hitting that top

note or reaching down to that bottom one because you are out of balance. Be prepared, with your feet at the same

width as your shoulders and your knees ready to bend a little to take the pressure that you are about to exert on your

body. Once you have mastered it you will find your tone and intonation better, your control and projection much less

forced and your overall singing ability much enhanced. Don’t push out into the high notes; pull the notes out by pulling

your diaphragm in and using your rib cage and lower back. It’s like being constipated. Make yourself small and powerful

not large and bloated.

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