Hi everyone. In this video, you'll learn exercises to improve your respiration and breath support.
This video is part 3 of the series on the Basics of Voice Production. Be sure to watch the first
videos that covered the background on how the voice is made and how we can warm up the voice.
Now let's talk about specific exercises you can do to improve each area of voice, starting with
respiration or breathing. The voice begins with the breath. It's what powers the voice. I want
you to start by taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Watch your shoulders - you don't want them to move at all. You want all of the movement to be in your
stomach as you breathe in. Relax your stomach and allow it to pop out as you breathe in, then
the stomach comes in as the air goes out of your mouth. Here is a video that shows what it should
look like when you complete deep belly breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing. Watch how the
stomach comes out as the person breathes in, and the stomach comes in as the person breathes out.
Notice how the diaphragm muscle also moves down and up with the breath.
Once you have a nice deep belly breath, you need to learn how to control the airflow as
you exhale. You don't want to blow all of the air out quickly because then you won't have any
air left to speak. You want the exhalation to be smooth and controlled. This will help you to power
your voice for longer periods of time. Let's start by taking a breath in for three seconds,
then breathe out for six seconds. Put your hand on your stomach to feel that it is
popping out as you breathe in and going in as you breathe out, and purse your lips slightly
as you exhale so you can hear it. So breathe in for a count of three and now out for six.
In for three and out for six. Maybe that felt easy, so let's increase the numbers
to in for four and out for eight. So in for four, and now out for eight.
Do that a few times and increase the numbers as you get more comfortable with the exercise,
but if you start to feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop, sit down and breathe normally. You can
hyperventilate if you do too many of these breathing exercises in a row,
so pay attention to how your body feels and stop if you feel any discomfort.
We'll stick with in four four and out for eight for this video. So inhale for four,
and when you exhale I want you to exhale on the S sound like this. Make sure the S sound is smooth
and consistent. So in for four, and put your hand on your stomach as you exhale and out for eight.
In for four, and now out for eight.
And do that a few times until you feel more comfortable with the exercise, and you can always
increase the numbers as well as you get stronger. Now as you exhale, I want you to go from soft
to loud to soft like this. In for four, and out for eight. You can build in as many soft, loud,
soft combinations as you want, just as long as the exhalation is controlled and smooth. Once you feel
comfortable with completing this exercise with the S sound, you can switch the sound to an SH sound,
an F sound, or TH sound. The point is to learn how to control the exhalation. Now let's use
the voice. Take a deep belly breath and count from 1 to 20 out loud, taking a breath every
five numbers. Be sure to use continuous airflow and vocal cord vibration as you say the numbers,
and put your hand on your stomach to feel it move out and in. It should look like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. If that was easy, try to increase the
amount of numbers that you say before you take a breath until you can say 10 numbers in one breath,
but always be sure to stop and take a breath if you need it. Never try to speak with empty
lungs. One more exercise. This will help you with coordination of breathing during conversational
speech. Once you can say 10 numbers in one breath, I want you to count from 30 to 39 in one breath
and slightly extend the TH sound like this: 30 31 32 33 34 35 36, etcetera, and be sure to put your
hand on your stomach so you can feel the movement as you breathe. You can switch the numbers to
42 to 49 and slightly extend the F sound, 40 41, 50 to 59 and slightly extend the F sound, 50,
51 and then 60 to 69 and slightly extend the S sound, 60 61. Thanks so much for watching.
Stay tuned for part 4 of the Basics of Voice Production Series: exercises for their resonance
system. And let me know if you'd like some help with improving your breath support for speech.