What benefit is to be derived from good posture?
Friday, November 28th, 2008
Answer: I need to preface my answer with saying that what I say below is attributable primarily from a series of my own excellent teachers. However, my mentor, the late Dr. James C. McKinney put this material most succinctly in his book “The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults.”
Why defend good posture? Doesn’t everyone believe in it? The fact is that there are teachers who never mention posture, and there are some notable singers who exhibit poor posture. It is possible that if posture become a point of emphasis, that a singer could become rigid and tense. However good posture needs to be taught and reinforced for the following reasons:
In general, the body functions best when certain conditions exist. The purpose of the skeletal framework is to support, protect and give shape to the body. The main purpose of the muscles is to produce movement and to assist in positioning the body. It is very important not to confuse these purposes. For example: standing with the body out of line or with the head hanging or projected forward of the shoulders causes muscles to take over some of the function of the skeleton, resulting in unnecessary tension and eventual fatigue. When the skeleton is properly aligned, the muscles are left free to produce movement and to assist in positioning the body, thus unnecessary tension is kept to a minimum. The bottom line is: good posture allows the body to function at its top efficiency.
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