Your breath is the fuel for your singing. Without proper breathing, not only will your singing fall flat, but you can potentially damage your vocal cords. Luckily, with practice, you can train yourself to breathe properly automatically.
Breathe With Your Diaphragm
Your diaphragm is a muscle situated just below the bottom of your lungs. It expands and contracts to control the amount and force of air in your lungs, supporting your breath while you sing.
Using your diaphragm to breathe is one of the most important concepts in singing. It can be hard to get used to at first, but there are a number of things you can do to help get the proper feel.
First, I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and watch yourself breathe normally. You will see your chest fill with air and your shoulders rise up. This is fine for normal everyday breathing, but when singing, you shouldn’t see movement in your chest or shoulders caused by your breath.
Now, fill your chest somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full of air and keep it there. Breathe deep into your belly, as this will cause your diaphragm to expand your lungs down, allowing you to maximize the air supply in your lungs.
To aid you in using your diaphragm to fill your lungs with air, I like to use the birthday analogy. Think about breathing enough air in to blow out the candles on your birthday cake, or else take that breath you need to blow up one of those hard-to-inflate birthday balloons.
In the mirror, you should see your belly extend out as it fills with air. Your shoulders and chest should remain still. Now, exhale and try this again five to ten times. You should start to understand what breathing with your diaphragm feels like.
You can do this as a daily breathing exercise until you learn to breathe through your diaphragm automatically while you sing.
Back and Chest Breathing for Singers
I mentioned keeping some air in your chest while breathing. This will help stabilize the air in your lungs, giving your more control when you sing. Shoot for somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 full of air in your chest, and keep it there.
You also want to allow air to extend to your back when using your diaphragm to fill your lungs with air. You can see it while looking in the mirror, although it is not as dramatic a change as what you see in your belly. You will feel your back fill with air. The sensation is close to what you feel when blowing up balloons.
Turn sideways in front of the mirror and practice breathing into your diaphragm. Keep the air in your chest and watch it to see that it doesn’t move from filling it with air. Watch your back around your waist, and you should see movement when it fills with air. Practice this five or ten times until you are able to breathe properly utilizing your diaphragm.
Control Your Breath Support While Singing
Use breath control to regulate and control your air while singing. Keep your air free-flowing. You want to use as little breath as possible to both avoid damaging your vocal cords and to provide the air you need for extended singing phrases.
This means you use just enough breath to support what you need to sing. It does not mean you should hold your breath. It does not mean you tighten your abdominal and chest muscles. It does mean that you use those muscles to control the release of air. You need to keep them elastic and pliable. You want those muscles to be firm but somewhat relaxed. Think of them more as a sponge than steel.
If you make your abdominal muscles rock hard, you will tighten other muscles, and your singing can get strained, which is the opposite of what you want. If you completely relax your abdominal muscles, you will lose your breath control. You want to use a balanced resistance to let the air out.
Let the air out while making a controlled “Sss” sound, like a snake hissing. Don’t get too tight, and don’t let it all out at once. If you find you are too tight, you can help yourself release the tightness by moving your hips. Try doing a hula-hoop shape, or else do a figure eight.
Practice
As a beginner, just feeling that belly breath is important. Start by breathing into your belly, holding for three seconds, then releasing a little slower than you do for standard breathing. You want to fill the air in your belly, then continue breathing, and you should feel the air expand your lower back too. If you are having trouble feeling it, think of the breath you take before you are going to blow up a balloon. That will pull the air into both your belly and back. Do not release the air like you are blowing up a balloon, as that is too much air going over your vocal folds.
The next step is to practice releasing. You want to release only the amount of air you need to sing what you are singing. The amount of air you need is related to the feeling of the song you are singing. If you are singing a lullaby, you won’t release as much air as you will for a song that is light and happy. Your air release will go up further as the emotions get stronger.
The style of music can also impact the amount of breath you use. For example, a ballad like Angie from The Rolling Stones will use a light amount of breath. School’s Out by Alice Cooper will use large volumes of air to support when you sing, “School’s Out for Summer.”
To practice the different releases, I recommend using three different releases.
For the lullaby, use a light “Sssss” sound like a snake. If you don’t like to think of a snake, you could alternatively think of blowing lightly on soup to cool it down. Either way, you let out just a little bit of air at a time. You do not want to take a big gulp of air before this practice, as you don’t need that much to get the line out. You can think of a line from a lullaby or a soft ballad in your head as you release to give you a good amount of time to release. Something like, “Hush, little baby, don’t say a word. Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.” You can do just the first sentence, then do both sentences together. Another example is from “Kiss From a Rose” by Seal. You can use the line, “There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea.”
For the light, happy sound, think of a song like, “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates. Instead of the snake “Ssss” sound, now you are going to release like standard breathing. Just a steady breath out. Still, you are not taking in a big gulp of air. While you exhale, think of a line in the song you are using for your example. For Hall and Oates, breathe out while thinking, “You make-a my dreams come true.” Another example would be from the start of Triumph’s “Magic Power.” “Something’s at the edge of your mind. You don’t know what it is.” You will use this type of breath release typically in the verses. The chorus could get heavier or lighter, requiring more or less air on the release.
For the huge emotion/anthem sound, you will release the air like you are blowing up a balloon. You will need a good gulp of air to get through the phrases. Note this is not the balloon you must blow as hard as you can to get it going. That is too much and will dry out your vocal folds, but it is harder than a standard speaking breath release. Some songs that you can think of while releasing the air are Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” or The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” You will usually have these bigger releases on the chorus instead of the verses. “Smoke on the water. A fire in the sky.” Or “Welcome to the Hotel California.”