Breathing Control: Knowing Where To Rest
- Identifying the Breaks
- Tone & Vocal Register
- Exercises For Breathing Control
If you have ever sung a song and in just 2 minutes felt out of breath, or off tempo.
You will want to make sure you are practicing good breathing control.
Breathing control is not limited to how you fluctuate your tone or vocal register.
It can also mean taking moments to breathe when there are breaks. Doing so will help you improve your endurance for singing a song that tires you out.
Identifying the Breaks
The breaks in a song are wherever a singer is not singing. It can also be an instrumental break.
This is a pause that happens after a word is sung that is big enough to catch a breath.
Sometimes the pause can be very short, but with good breathing control, it is possible to sneak a breath in; making faster paced songs easier.
It is important to catch a breath where you can. Pay attention to songs that have overlapping tracks.
Some singers don’t record in one take. This means there can be tracks lined up that are already pre recorded.
The best way to identify the breaks in a song is to look for a live version of the song.
That way you can physically see where the singer takes their breaks.
Tone & Vocal Register
Another very important way to rest your voice is to listen for the tone of voice.
Is the singer singing loud or soft? At what parts are they the loudest?
Sometimes this can affect vocal register as some singers have loud mixes(mixed voice).
If you are unable to define what register to sing in it will make breathing control much harder. It’s almost like your voice is a map guide with no map.
If the singer is mixing their voice higher than you are able to belt, you can strain your voice.
Understanding your vocal register and tone will help you to find places to ease tension off of the vocal cords.
If you work a muscle too hard, eventually it will get tired.
Exercises For Breathing Control
Diaphragm breathing techniques are a great way to warm yourself up and help you wake up your voice.
This is especially beneficial the moment you wake up. If you took a nap, or slept and had to sing, your voice hasn’t quite woken up.
When we sleep our breathing slows down, so when we wake up, our breathing gradually picks up as the day continues.
Try the Hut exercise, from your Voicercise kit. If you want to take it a step further, pull up a drum loop that is 100 bpm and hut to the beat.
Doing faster speeds will help train you to take faster breaths and remain on tempo.
Next, try doing some full breath lip rolls and see how long you can sustain.
Physical cardio or building abdominal strength is key to building diaphragm muscles.
Practice singing while jogging, or even the stomach muscle flex under diaphragm exercises in your Voicercise kit.
Lastly, consistency is key to mastering your breathing, so try to practice once a day.
