Breathing technique for singing:

Before we look at breathing for singing lets just take a look at everyday breathing first, so as to better understand the differences between the two.

Note I will not be getting into depth on here as I want you to understand the concept rather than get bogged down with details, if you what to know more ask me and I will be only to happy to help

There is a good chance that right now you are sat down while you are reading this from your vdu screen, and slouched over as well, as a result of this you will probably be breathing from your chest (Clavicular or Chest Breathing), this is shallow breath and is fine for right now as the demands for lots of oxygen are low.

Take a moment to check this, just sit there for a moment and notice where you’re moving as you breathe in and out, is your chest moving in and out? If it is that’s the above, if not then you will either be breathing from your sides (Intercostal Breathing), belly or a combination of intercostal and belly breathing.

Note: there is still debate about which type of breathing is best for singing, Intercostal (lateral breathing), or diaphragmatic breathing, I can do both, but found that the results where no different, but that intercostal breathing is harder to learn, and thus teach! So as a result of this I stick to diaphragmatic breathing.

So normal breathing is a shallow breath in (inhale), and a shallow breath out (exhale), both the inhale and exhale are for about the same amount of time and are only using the tidal air in your lungs this is about 5% to 10%, for singing and physical exercise this is much higher, 50% or more and this tapes into your residual air.

Not only do we use more air (thus oxygen) but we also need to control the breathing with our conscious mind as normal breathing is done subconsciously (automatically). The breathing for singing should be a quick deep inhale and a long steady exhale, as the exhale is what we sing on, and the inhale if to long would interrupt the song phrase.

We now know what singing breathing should be like; I would like to now go into more detail about the type of breathing that I teach which is called diaphragmatic breathing which is a combination of intercostal and belly breathing.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

So what is Diaphragmatic breathing? This refers to the breathing muscle, which is the diaphragm. The diaphragm (in blue in the drawing), sits just inside the ribs on top of the abdomen and below the lungs, this muscle as it contracts straightens and as a result of this moves down, in doing so it creates more space for the lungs (in pink on the drawing), which in turn expand to fill this area, and the air rushes in to fill this space (due to the pressure drop in the lungs).This is inhalation.

As the diaphragm relaxes it moves back up to its resting place, this is due to the elasticity of the lungs which when there is nothing holding them open (the diaphragm) expel the air in them. This is exhaling.

Remember that for singing we need a quick inhale and a long controlled exhale so this means that when the diaphragm relaxes we need to stop all the air from just shouting out, we do this by holding back the diaphragm with our abdominal muscles, (it is also very important that the rib cage is kept open all the time so as not to obstruct the path of the diaphragm to its resting place, otherwise you will get inconsistent tone).

The three red spots on the torso are the places where we monitor for correct breathing, on inhalation the two side spots should move out, rest your hands in this area, its just below the bottom rib and just above the hip bone, make sure that your thumbs are round the back and your fingers at the front, all should feel expansion. The front spot is the epigastrium its just above the belly button and just below the sternum, rest a hand on here with your palm down, again you should notice it move out on the inhale, as you exhale push this area gently and you will notice that the air comes out more quickly, this is you pushing the epigastrium against the diaphragm which in turn is pushing against the lungs.

So now you should have an idea of what diaphragmatic breathing is all about, next follows an exercise that should be done daily so as to correct shallow breathing, and get you into the habit of correct breathing (remember that posture plays an important part in correct breathing, if you do the following exercise and the sit down all hunched over then you will be forcing your body to breath via the chest again, i.e. shallow breathing, try to sit up comfortably strait).

Diaphragmatic breathing exercise

  • Lie on the floor with your legs bent, and you’re back flat on the floor, if you have a bit of an arch on your back than lift your legs up and pull your knees into your chest, then let them back down again, this will straiten out your back.
  • You should feel like the front of your neck is short and the back long, your breathing should feel very easy.
  • Put one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen.
  • Breath in deeply through your nose, you should feel the abdomen rise and your sides expand, keep breathing in and your chest should also rise.
  • when you can take no more in and you feel like you are about to explode then while keeping your chest in the same position (being monitored by your hand), and your lips slightly open so as to make a breathy sss sound, allow the air out, while keeping some tension in the abdomen (it should feel like you are trying to push the upper abdomen into your hand). Go back to 4.
  • If you do this correctly you will be able to control the amount of air escaping by how relaxed or tense the abdomen is. If you have no tension in the abdomen to resist the diaphragm from going to its rest place then the air will rush out very quickly, the idea is that you should be able to control the air on exhale completely be your abdomen (support muscles), so as to leave the vocal folds free to phonate.
  • After doing this for about 5 to 10 minutes, you will find that you are breathing deep and easy.