subject: How to Improve Your Singing in Steps - Breathe Back into Your Spine [print this page] How to Improve Your Singing in Steps - Breathe Back into Your Spine
"How can I improve my breathing while singing?" you ask. Breathing is the most important and complex issue a singer faces when confronting technique. "Aren't singing and breathing both natural actions? Shouldn't we already know how to do them?" Hardly! They may be natural, but combining them for great sound, ease, flow and relaxation is far from an instinctive in most people's body.
Improving breathing and the overall relaxation of the body is the single most important thing to focus on to improve your singing. It's those two things in combination that takes the most work to master.
Every voice teacher out there is all too familiar with the sight of a puffed-up chest and shoulders hiked up to the ears of an overly tense and inexperienced singer and breather, struggling through all that tension while straining to sound beautiful.
Here's how to improve your singing and breathing in combination -
Targeting your breathing away from your chest is one of the best ways to stay relaxed while singing. Try aiming your breath down to your tailbone or back into your spine while you breathe in. Imagine you can see a spot on your spine and get your breath to go right to it when you inhale. Pick a few other spots along your back and the bones in your body below your chest. Experiment with aiming your breath away from your chest and find a few spots that you like. The more you experiment with low breathing targets, the easier it is to use them while you sing.
