subject: How to Improve Your Singing in Steps - Your Shoulders Are Not Your Spine [print this page] How to Improve Your Singing in Steps - Your Shoulders Are Not Your Spine
How to improve your singing by using your body instead of your throat? Fix your alignment. You may be surprised to find out that your shoulders are NOT your spine.
How many times have you heard Stand up straight! barked at you by a well-meaning parent or teacher? And when they said that to you, did you immediately jam your shoulders back as far as you could and stick your chest out? Most people do.
Go stand in front of a mirror and do that pose: shoulders jammed back and chest stuck out as far forward as you can get it. Now really look at it. Its goofy! And the best comedy of all is: its most definitely NOT STRAIGHT! There is NOTHING straight about that posture. Thats not good posture at all, yet most people immediately think of that as standing up straight.
Standing up straight means vertically aligning and lengthening your spine. THATS IT. Your shoulders really have very little to do with standing up straight. However, for singing, having your shoulders in their proper alignment is the key. Hike your shoulders up to your ears and get really tense. Now drop them down, and roll them slightly to the back. You will feel when the shoulders relax down into place. This position is great for singers because it gets your shoulders out of your way and keeps them from rolling forward toward your chest. Once you are clear that your shoulders and your spine are not connected and having nothing to do with each other, it is much easier to stand straight and be relaxed at the same time.
