Breathing for singing: Breathing for vocal expression

Breathing for singing is a huge topic that goes well beyond “breath deeply from your diaphragm”. Breathing for vocal expression is a whole learning world itself. Learning to sing does not only consist of learning vocal techniques and songs. When you embark on the process of releasing your voice and expressing it you are going to face some of the issues that blocked your voice in the first place.

That does not mean that you will experience those situations again. Rather you are going to find the blocked emotions that they stimulated. 

When we have an emotion that is overwhelming us the body might react by blocking it so we don’t feel it so intensively. When we repeatedly do this, we build some chronic tensions in our body that modify our posture and change our breathing patterns.

This often restricts our breathing and we are no longer able to breathe fully and freely.

Our breathing is the fuel of our voice and they are intrinsically connected. If your breathing is restricted you are not going to be able to fully express yourself.

That is one of the reasons why breathing is so important for singers! As singers we are communicators. Your capacity of expression will play a very important role in how much the audience can connect with you.

How to tell if your breathing is restricted

Have you ever heard of belly breathing? If your breathing is free you should be able to find your belly breathing without difficulty. Do you find yourself tensing your abs when you breathe in? That is another way of telling that you are not allowing your body to fully breathe.

We also breathe in by expanding the lungs to the sides, what we call side breathing. In this type of breathing you are using your ribs to help you bring the air in.

We have a third phase in our breathing, which in many people tends to be the first and only phase. It is what we call chest breathing.

If you mainly breathe with your chest breathing you are probably restricting your breathing quite a bit, which can not only affect your voice but also your quality of life and health.

Breathing for vocal expression: some exercises to release your breath that you can try today

Exercise 1

• Stand against a wall with your feet a hips length apart. 
• Your whole back should be resting against the wall. Make sure that there is no gap between your lower back and the wall. If there is a gap, walk your feet forward until you can close the gap. Your pelvis should be in a neutral position
• From there, drop down your torso little by little, starting the movement with your head. Make sure that the vertebras separate from the wall one by one instead of as a block!
• Stop at the level of your lower back. The goal is not to touch the floor with your hands but to relax your torso while keeping your pelvis neutral.
• In this position, you should be able to relax your torso, your neck, and your jaw.
• Bring one hand to your belly and breathe in! In this position, you should be able to breathe in your lower lungs more easily.