How can I control the flow of air (exhale) when breathing from diaphragm?
I sing from my diaphragm but the air flushes out real quickly & I am out of tone. Do I have to harden my stomach to trap the air? Is there any exercise to control exhaling air from the diaphragm?
Answer: Your questions are good ones. Your notion that the diaphragm is vitally involved in the breathing process is right on too. However, there are at least two prongs to the answer for taking care of air that flushes out too quickly. One IS related to breathing and support, the other is related to using your voice efficiently – turning all the breath into clear ringing tone.
Concerning breathing and support
Here is an exercise that may help you learn the feel of breathing for singing: Be sure you are standing or sitting with good tall posture. Place one hand open-palmed on your “tummy” and the other just below your collar bones high on your chest. What you should notice is that the hand by your collar bones stays quite still, while the lower hand on your epigastrium (tummy area) moves in and out constantly.
a) inhale deeply – feeling the “middle” of your body expand all around (the lower hand).
b) immediately after inhaling, suspend the breath inside you, keeping it there by staying expanded and without closing your vocal cords. Yes, you will probably notice that the surface of your tummy does get “tighter” with expansion. Hold it there for two or three seconds just to learn the sensations of maintaining air inside you for a moment, then
c) very lightly produce an “s” (hiss) while metering out the air very slowly. Stay expanded as far as possible. Aim to make this last 30 – 60 seconds. By the time you need to inhale again, you should feel (with the hand placed on your tummy) that those muscles have contracted – but that it was a gradual process. Do 10 repetitions of this exercise in a row. Singing well requires the expansion in the body, the sustaining of that breath in the body, and the slow metering out of the air. It is a learned skill. Note, the upper hand high on the chest should have remained relatively still. The hand on your tummy-area (epigastrium) will have moved out on your intake of air and slowly moved in as you metered the air out.
Concerning clear ringing tone (efficient use of the vocal cords)
The other half of the equation is that the sound you produce must be very clear – that is, not breathy. The essence of a breathy tone is tone that is letting out air too quickly. Let me suggest the following exercise as an introduction to finding some clear sound. You’re going to sigh several times. The first time, sigh letting all the breath out easily and quickly and without any voiced sound, just a gust of air released. The second time sigh again, start somewhat high in your range with just a little sound. It’ll be something like a voiced yawn and very breathy, and pitch will descend quickly. The third time, increase the amount of sound you are giving the sigh. You’ll notice that it sounds a bit like a siren going down in pitch and it was louder than the second repetition. On the fourth and final time, make it your aim to still “feel” as though you’re sighing, but turn ALL the breath into clear ringing sound. You’ll notice that the sound is a good deal louder than ever before and the downward siren lasts a good deal longer than any of the previous “sighs.” What you’ve done is to use your vocal cords increasingly more efficiently. You’ve made increasingly clearer tone.
To sustain long musical phrases you need to cultivate the skill of breathing for singing such as is described above as well as maintaining tone that is very clear – both at the same time. This takes concentrated practice on a daily basis – and usually most effectively under the guidance of a good voice teacher. Still, the two exercises I’ve suggested above can get you started. Best wishes to you.
Tags: breathing, Breathing for Singing, breathing from the diaphragm, clear tone, learn how to sing, ringing tone