Want to learn some of the best breathing exercises for singers? In this video
Stephanie shares a few fun exercises that every beginner can use to develop
breath support and control. So stay tuned and don't forget to click the link in
the description box to access free online singing lessons. -Hi, this is
Stephanie from TakeLessons. The very important thing to do is learn how to
control your breath and take a proper breath. So the first one is a problem
because most people breathe incorrectly on a daily basis. We take very shallow
inhales from our chest that causes tension right where the vocal cords are
and your neck and all the area that needs to be relaxed when singing. What's
important about the breath is that it does support your sound. Even tone and
pitch is created by that particular breath. Pitch is created by that little
air stream and that passes through your vocal cords and allows your vocal cords
to vibrate. It also is important because you don't want to produce sound from the
throat - ah. It comes straight out and very damaging if you prolong the sound coming
straight from your vocal cords. So you want to almost imagine like you're
sighing it out.
It's very low in your body and you should feel it almost very grounding and
very relaxing. It shouldn't be strenuous or hard work; energy, yes, but not hard
work and painful. So a lot of times you'll take a breath when you start
singing like this... the tension is in my throat and in my neck
and my upper chest. So the way you should breathe - you can take your hands like
you're about to eat a burger, wrap them around your back and your rib cage. You
feel the front of your hands on your belly.
You should feel an expansion in your stomach, in your sides, and almost like
your back is getting wider. So when you inhale you should actually see no upward
motion. You shouldn't be getting skinny. You actually should be expanding - almost
taking up more space in the room, and you should feel very relaxed. Proper
breathing will take some time to get used to so be patient. It does take
practice and it is a skill that you need to develop. It's actually redeveloped
because we normally should breathe that way. So take your hands around your waist,
feel all that engagement around your entire core.
Inhale almost like you're suctioning up the floor or into your hips or out into
the room. So you can think of it as almost like a circle or a sphere around
you. So inhale... See, no tension in the upper body, and actually I'm taking in a
lot more air than I did before. So learn to breathe properly because it is
important. One important aspect about breath management are some muscles in
between your ribcage called intercostal muscles. So you take your hands again,
wrap them around your ribcage, take a breath like you got surprised and
collapse. Do it again, and collapse slowly.
That expansion you can control. So you want to keep those muscles tight. When I
did the 360 breath I expanded correctly, but I'm gonna
manipulate that collapse. So as I'm talking I'm actually letting it collapse
slowly. So an exercise that you can do is also a hissing exercise. You should last
35 to 45 seconds. If you are collapsing too soon, and a lot of
times people release, especially at the beginning of their phrases, too much air.
So they will release that little collapse right at the start. So take a
breath, control that expansion, imagine like you're almost releasing a string.
Keep controlling it. You should last that amount of air. If you don't, then practice
that control. A good strengthening exercise for your diaphragm is learning
to pant like a dog. Alright so you want to take your hand, find your belly button,
find that the last ribcage bone on your stomach, place your hand right there in
the middle, and you should feel some type of push out. A lot of times people will
say that you should feel your abdominal muscles engaged. You want to actually
relax your abdominal muscles. So I'll turn to the side. I can push out my
abdominal muscles without actually releasing air. What you want to
do to engage your diaphragm is actually release your air. So keeping your air in
will cause tension, and you'll actually produce the sound
straight from your vocal cords - the same way if you wouldn't have taken the
breath. So make sure they almost feel like you're sighing out a phrase... ahh.
You should feel a downward push of air in a relaxed motion, of an outward push.
So panting like a dog. You should feel your diaphragm almost push out violently.
So you can start slow... start speeding it up.
You should feel your back engagement in the muscles, your torso,
your stomach, everything is engaged, your entire body. But the breath is what's
pushing out that diaphragm not your abdominal muscles.
Alright another exercise you can do with that same panting is produce sound
with the panting. So start slowly, ha ha ha ha ha. You're almost laughing on the
note. So make sure it's not coming out from your throat and going ah ah ah ah. A lot of times
you'll go, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, and you'll think that you're engaging that because the
sound sounds that way, but it feels straight in your throat. So make sure
you're feeling that power come from your diaphragm.
Another strengthening exercise you can do is do scales on panting, so ha ha ha
ha. So you can speed them up... You can take the tone that you're struggling in on
your song and produce it in that kind of laughing sort of manner. So make sure you
use an H to drop down the H into your stomach... You should feel the air push
down your diaphragm...
If this tone isn't controlled and powerful that means you're not engaging
your diaphragm. So any note that you're struggling with, see if you can test it
and make sure that it's coming from your diaphragm. -Hey there, thanks for watching.
Which of these breathing exercises helps you the most? Leave a comment and let us
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