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Frustrated With Breath Support?

This one’s for you if you get frustrated with breath support.  Trust me, you’re not alone if you: Struggle to make it to the end of long phrases Have an airy sound Deal with tension or strain (yup….that’s a support issue) Feel like you never get enough air on your inhale Have trouble transitioning between registers (yup….also a support issue) I want to let you in on something. . . . .there are three simple changes you can make that will improve your support right away so that you’re not frustrated with breath support anymore. Here’s what I want you to know: Your ability to improve your breath support involves the synthesis of a few essential things. You’ve probably heard me say before that singing is not just an artistic endeavor, it’s an athletic endeavor. And not only that, singing is also a cerebral endeavor. It’s body AND mind. One thing matters more than anything else when it comes to how the mind & body communicate. . . . drum roll please. . . . Words! The words we choose to direct ourselves around our singing really affect how we embody our technique, for better or for worse.   Changing

Arden Kaywin, voice teacher in los angeles, singing techniques, breathing for singing, breath support,

A Tip To Improve Your Breathing For Singing

Breathing For Singing Is Way Easier When You Stop Taking A Breath!   What if I said that your singing will dramatically improve if you stop actively taking breaths? You would probably think I was nuts. But hear me out. . . . . I hate the phrase “take a breath”.  It implies a certain violence – a grabbing, a taking, a fast manipulation to pull as much air into the body as possible in the shortest amount of time. This inevitably creates tension in the ribs, in the muscles of the abdomen, in the muscles of the neck and throat that surround the larynx and tension in the jaw. In my experience, excess tension in a singer’s body is the number one saboteur of a good sound. By “taking” or grabbing a breath, you are setting up the rest of the phrase you’re about to sing from a place of tension rather then from a place of open release. The ensuing phrase will suffer because you receive much less air then you would if the body was free, open, soft and released during the inhale. Additionally, if you breathe with tension in your neck, throat and abdomen, that tension inevitably continues

Anatomical diagram of diaphragm for breathing used by Arden Kaywin, voice teacher los angeles in voice lessons los angeles to explain breath support for singing, how to use diaphragm in singing,

Stop Trying to “Use Your Diaphragm”

A Tip On The Anatomy Of Breath Support How many of you have been told to “use your diaphragm!” by a voice professional? I want to let you in on a little secret . . .you can’t actually “use” your diaphragm. It’s a futile request. While the diaphragm is an essential muscle for breath support and for the production of sound, you can’t actually direct your diaphragm to do anything because it is an involuntary muscle. Just like another very important involuntary muscle in our body, the heart, the diaphragm has an essential job to do, but we cannot directly control it. Telling a singer to “use your diaphragm!” is like telling an athlete to “pump your heart!” It’s an impossible request and contributes to much confusion around the nature of breath support for singing. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle at the bottom of your ribcage that separates your thorax (where your heart and lungs live) from your abdomen (where your digestive organs live). When you inhale, this dome-shaped diaphragm contracts downwards flattening out. When this happens, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases, a vacuum is activated and air is then drawn into the lungs. It’s the