subject: Learn To Do Breathing Exercises For Singing Improvement [print this page] Learn To Do Breathing Exercises For Singing Improvement
Did you know that by practicing breathing exercises for singing, you can improve your performance? It is a fact that some accomplished vocal teachers put as much emphasis on breathing as they do any other part of the craft of musical vocalization. Many people find this surprising because, after all, breathing is done naturally. Most people don't think they need practice.
The truth is that practicing ones breathing technique is integral to many activities and disciplines. It plays a large role in everything, from how you sing to the way you meditate; from yoga to the martial arts. A renowned psychologist developed a program for increasing self confidence. It centers around awareness of your breathing pattern. The patients are taught to focus on that every time they are in a situation where they feel a lack of confidence.
Most people breathe wrongly, and it affects their lives in ways they would be shocked to realize. When people are nervous they are usually short of breath. Being nervous affects your performance in everything you do, especially your singing. If you want to improve your ability to sing, as well as virtually everything you do, you should take a course in meditation, or a yoga class, or tai chi class. You will probably be amazed by the results.
All of these disciplines will teach you to stop sucking in your stomach to look good, and to begin to breathe to the bottom of your lungs first, and then let air fill to the top. Release the air, working from the top to the bottom. To ensure you exhale, push in your abdominal muscles and then release them and start over.
The vast majority of people only breathe with the top half of their lungs, or even less. Singing in this manner is not good for a number of reasons. You will have trouble sustaining long notes and there will be awkward phrasing at times you have to takes breaths when you should not be stopping your vocals.
Other aspects of your performance are also affected negatively, including your tone and general quality. By learning how to breathe correctly, your ability to sing will definitely be improved. A really good drill for increasing the capacity of your lungs is to hold your breath for as long as you can, and time yourself doing it.
At first, you should try for a single minute without a breath. In time, it might become 90 seconds or even 2 minutes, but there is no rush to get to that level. One of the very best breathing exercises for singing that you can engage in, is to jog while you actually sing. The idea is to try to not have the song affected too much by your running.
