Teaching Breathing Exercises for Singing

How to Teach Students Breath Control for Optimum Vocal Performances

Sep 7, 2009

Correct breathing is essential if a student learning to sing has any hope of hitting high notes for a sustained period.

Regardless of how good the student might be at hitting the correct notes, mistakes in breathing techniques will detrimentally affect the performance. Having to break for breath in mid sentence of a song or trailing off on the last note are signs of incorrect breathing technique.

Increasing the Lung Capacity for the Best Singing Technique

The voice tutor must check for incorrect posture and breathing technique whilst the student singer is performing. By placing one hand on the chest and the other on the abdomen, the tutor can establish whether the student is breathing correctly whilst singing. According to voice specialist Cheryl Hodge who teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, correct breath control can improve voice projection by up to 60% (online resource: A Singer’s Guide to the Well-trained and Powerful Voice, viewed 2009).

Two Types of Breathing

When taking a breath, the novice singer often raises the shoulders and the chest, tightening the lower abdominal muscles. Whilst this is the correct way to breathe whilst dancing and during certain yoga postures, breathing only in the chest uses about half the lung capacity. Similarly, singing from the throat, particularly when emitting long and strenuous notes puts enormous strain upon the upper chest and throat muscles and could create problems with the vocal cords. In this respect the lower abdomen provides better support for sustained singing.

Guiding the Learner to Sing Correctly

The lower abdominal muscles must be relaxed during the inhalation to allow the air to fill the lungs from the diaphragm upwards. When this happens, the diaphragm that sits just below the lungs will fall into the convex position as the air pushes against it.

Step by Step Demonstration on Breathing Exercises for Singers

By placing a hand on the student’s chest and the other on the lower abdomen, the tutor is able to ensure the lower lungs expand prior to the chest. This will be achieved by:

Improving the Breath for Increasing Breathing Stamina

The teacher must caution the student if an oxygen rush causes a dizzy spell. This happens when there is too much oxygen in the blood. When this occurs, the student should be encouraged to breathe normally until the sensation passes. The first few attempts at these exercises might prove difficult but practice will often yield improvements.

Improve Breath Control

Once the student has practiced this exercise for two weeks or so, the teacher must assess the student’s progress by counting the number of times the cycle can be repeated in one exhalation. Once improvement has been detected, the tutor may provide progressive exercises concentrating on breath control and on speak singing. As lung capacity improves, the number of pauses can be increased. Aerobic exercises such as swimming and cycling will help.

Tutor’s Guide on Aiding the Student Increase Singing Stamina

The singer may be forced to take a breath in mid-sentence or to trail off on the last note of a song if incorrect breathing is practiced. This would ruin the performance. According to voice specialist Cheryl Hodge, breathing from the lower abdomen will increase voice projection. To ensure the student is breathing correctly, the singing tutor may place a hand on the student’s chest and the other on the lower abdomen to ensure that the air fills the lower lungs prior to the upper lungs. Practising controlled breathing exercises from the abdomen will help the student build stamina when signing.

The copyright of the article Teaching Breathing Exercises for Singing in Music Education is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish Teaching Breathing Exercises for Singing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.