I'm with Jim Dodge - a perfect description of what happens.

I studied with Joseph Klein way back there, and he was huge on "lift-drop."
It's what I teach today - never seen it not help a person sing better.
After you take that singer's breath, the lifting of the abs sends good nerve
signals to the larynx and environs, according to the physiology professor
who co-wrote Mr. Klein's book. I'm re-writing it now and putting in my own
stuff. It'll be out soon.

While I was the AD/Vocal coach with the Vocal Majority I developed a little
system for guys to think about. I call it Ten Steps to a Note. If you
do this every time, you'll be much more consistent.

1. Hear a Pitch - we talk about being more discriminating - two cycles (2
Hz).
2. Find Your Note - scale step awareness
3. Posture - especially head position - too many singers sing with their
chins in the air. I have them let their head drop "two degrees." If the
head is a little down from level, the chin will never be in the air. And
chin in the air is bad because it stretches the mylo-hyoid muscle under the
chin - leads to vocal tension
4. Drop the jaw - too many singers don't open their mouths enough - you
need to do that to engage all the resonating space back there, not to
mention defining the vowel sounds better.
5. Open the throat - that's the feeling of yawn that the opera singers
talk about. See Great Singers on Great Singing by Jerome Hines.
6. Form the vowel - if you're starting on an AH, breath on an AH, and when
you sing the vowel will be there immediately. If you're starting on an
EE, don't pinch that much but maybe breathe on an IH. Same for OO, breathe
on an OH, then get to the OO the instant before you sing.
7. Open the vocal folds - this is usually not much of an issue, but
occasionally someone will inhale with the folds more closed than they should
be,
and the inhale is noisy. Bad for the folds, distracting to listeners.
8. Singer's breath - just exactly what Jim Dodge was talking about.
Diaphragm (which is inside and you don't see it), drops, tummy muscles relax
and get out of the diaphragm's way, and you should feel like you have air all
the way to the bottom of the tummy. The diaphragm is the piston that
works all the air. Only moves about an inch to inch and a half, but it's big,
so it moves about two liters of air.
9. Nothing - my "cute" way of saying nothing happens here: especially,
the vocal folds do NOT close again after you breathe. There's air wafting up
the back of the throat to the nose, and you'd drown if someone threw you
into the pool.
10. Support and add air - in that order. Support starts, air starts,
sound starts. Sound quits, air quits, and then the support quits. All in
that sequence.

Enjoy!

Brian Beck



In a message dated 9/23/2009 12:09:19 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
jamesdodge@... writes:

Breathing through the mouth is the proper way to breathe when singing.
Breathing through the nose is what you do all day every day or you will die!!
It is normal and natural.

Stop for a moment, exhale all the air out of your lungs (well, as much as
possible...you'll never get it all) and take a deep breath through your
nose. Notice what happens to your body. Your stomach expands and seems to
fill with air. What is really happening is, as your stomach gets out of the
way, your diaphragm drops, allowing air to rush into the lungs. That's
what you do all day, every day. Your little old tummy keeps going in and out
and that old diaphragm keeps dropping, and you are alive to tell about it.

It is exactly the same sensation you get when you lie on you back. Check
it out tonight when you go to bed. That old tummy just keeps going up and
down all night!

Now, if the body does that all day, every day, why would anyone want to
use the body to breathe any other way? So learn to use your body to take
breaths while singing. Singing is one of the few times you have to
manufacture breath on command. When you take a breath, pop the gut, let the
diaphragm drop, let the lungs fill and proceed to the next breathing place.

Now where were we.....?

Jim

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Jim Dodge
Director - Portsmouth (NH) Seacoast Vocal Union
NED/HEP Singing A's Coach


----- Original Message -----
From: johnsondp@...
To: BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 10:02 PM
Subject: Re: [BBSBasses] Re: Proper singing



I share Alex's preference for breathing through the mouth, in normal
circumstances. When standing with good posture, i.e. erect, with rib case
expanded, shoulders back but relaxed, lowering the diaphragm will cause
the air
to fill the lungs to capacity through either the nose or an open mouth.
Because their is less restriction to air flow through the mouth, the
breath will
be quicker and less noisy.

George, I suspect that if nasal breathing seems to provide greater
capacity for increased note duration, something else is going on involving
posture, chest expansion, or diaphragm action. Perhaps being consciously
aware of
the breath process is causing you achieve fuller rib case expansion and
lowered diaphragm. I doubt there is a significant difference in air
temperature. On the other hand, if it works for you, great!

Some people advocate nasal breathing for health reasons, but that's a
whole
different story. But it's a less efficient process, as you quickly find
out if you attempt to breath through your nose during heavy exercise.

Duane Johnson
Hoosier Gentry and Summit City Chorus




In a message dated 9/22/2009 9:13:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
beardedtree28@... writes:

There is one thing that concerns me about this. Yes breathing through your
nose can fill your lungs, but there is one thing that breathing through
your mouth really benefits over singing through your knows, and that is to
help with proper placement in order to create the ultimate resonant sound
by
lifting the soft palate and giving you space for creating the best
overtones. Breathing through your nose fills your lungs, but leaves the
mouth with
nothing, meaning all the more work that you have to do to get your voice
into the best placement. It also might have a tendency to cause a droopy
sound
that might cause you to dig at the sound versus float on top of it to get
the best resonance.

This is just my thoughts, if someone more knowledgeable would be willing
to share their $.02 that would be great.

Alex Donaldson
Bass in the Great Northern Union (Hilltop Chapter)

--- In _BBSBasses@yahoogrouBBSBas_ (mailto:BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com) ,
"george.luken" <georgelj@..g> wrote:
>
> Gentlemen: I discovered another secret and you tell me if it works for
you. Do you have problems on tags or just long passages where you don't
seem
to have enough oxygen to make it through the phrase?
> Close your mouth and pull the air in
> through your nose only, the warm air warmed by your nose that you use
> for singing will let you belt a tag out or make it through a phrase like
nobody's business!
>
> What say you? George Luken
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: 270.13.112/2388 - Release Date:
09/22/09 05:51:00


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

Keep The Whole World Singing
and
Harmonize The World
Singing LOW!

Yahoo! Groups Links







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]