Well perhaps, that's a hard question. But the point is that, if we want to



sing in some kind of serious way, there are certain principles which can be

ignored only to our own detriment. That's the case whether we prefer to

sing pop or classically. The principles involved used to be mostly

associated with the latter. But now more and more people are realising

that they can be applied with good effect to any kind of singing.

For example, do you have confidence when you open your mouth?

Can you sing phrases which are as long as you would wish? Or do

you have to loose the sense of what you are singing because of

pauses for more breath? Do you have control over the pitch and

volume of your voice? Or do you sing in ways you did not intend?

All these aspects can be improved on by developing a few techniques

for 'good' singing i.e. for singing better than you currently sing.

Certainly, the best idea will probably be to get a good singing teacher.

But it is possible to make some prior progress. But essential to that

progress is breathing - breathing effectively and not, as most of us

tend to do, breathing inefficiently.

And the technique of breathing effectively is really quite simple.

But it will need working at. First of all, however, always be sure that you:

1. Care For Your Voice

Your voice is, in fact, comes from quite a delicate system of sound

pproduction. The system can be damaged, sometime irreprerably. So

always take care not to push it too far and try to do things which it has

not been 'educated' to do.

2.Practice

Ever heard that 'practice makes perfect'? Well, it does. Good

singing does not just come. It takes practice. Of course, no one would

sing something for a public audience without having sung through the song

at least a few times in private.

But is that where the practice should start? With the song itself? No, it

should start a good deal before that. For example, one cannot sing

without breathing - and that needs to be practised.

But practicng once a day is far better than once a week - much

more than seven times better! That applies to virtually anything, but

certainly to this. Your lungs need to develop and gain in doing what you

want them to do.

However, breathing is not just a matter of sucking in the air. So:

3. Breathe To Fill The Lungs - But Not To Over-fill

In a very short time, developing a good breathing technique will show

how inefficient your beathing used to be.

Breathing is much more than opening one's mouth and taking a lung-full

of air. In fact, just opening your mouth and trying to take a lung-full will

most likely not produce a lung-full. Most of us take breath in such a way

that we try to fill the lungs from top downwards. That's just inefficient.

The result is that often we do not speak or sing for as long as we

wanted or, even worse, for as long as we thought we could. Even worse

than that, sometimes, we actually have air left in the lungs which we do

not use because we do not know how to use it.

Fill the lungs from bottom up. Try to breathe so that the lower parts of

your lungs expand first, right down at the bottom. Continue to inhale

and feel the lungs expand from the bottom upwards. The first time can

make one a little dizzy, but it is only the first time.

Breathe in counting fairly slowly from one to ten. Hold the breath for a

second and then exhale over a count of twenty at the same rate. You

may not manage twenty at first, but with practice you will. And as you

practice, over a prolonged period of time, gradually slow down the rate

of counting to one second each count. Eventually, you may be able to

exhale over thirty seconds or even more.

When you breath out, do not force the air with your diaphram. That has an

adverse effct on the throat. Breath out using your back muscles. In

practice sessions, give an initial 'jerk' to the process, but then let the air

out gently

4. Breathe Anytime

You don't need to leave your breathing exercises at home. Take them

with you whenever you are walking. Breathe in to a given number of steps,

and then try to breathe out over twice as many. It's a harder excercise

than stood at home, but rewarding in the development of your technique

and what you can and once could not do with your breathing.

5. Breathe On Your Feet And On Your Back

Standing up is the usual position, but there can be advantages in other

breathing positions. For example. sit down in a chair with a firm back,

or on the floor with your back against the wall. Breathe in deeply, filling

from the bottom as usual. Feel your lungs fill and expand as they push

against the wall or chair.

Try doing the same laid flat on your back on the floor. After some

practice, try lifting a fairly heavy object up in your hands as you breath,

lowering it as you exhale.

6. Developing Additional Breathing Techniques

There are only a few basic principles attached to producing good

singing. The problem is that they all take considerable time and

practise to develop to anything approaching perfection. Breathing is just

one example, albeit a very important one.

Sometimes in actual singing one needs to get as much breath into

the lungs as possible within a very short space of time, perhaps when

there is a rest of only a quaver or eighth note. Sometimes the composer

has left no rest at all but a breath has still to be taken somehow between

one note and the next. In these cases it is important to be able to get

as much air into the lungs as possible in order to get through the next

phrase that has to be sung.

To help with this, practice taking very quick intakes of air and then

exhaling over increasing lengths of time.

During the early stages of breathing development it is useful to get some

variation into the practice period. If you spend, say, fifteen minutes on

breathing, follow the general approach outlined above. After a year or

two,breathe in for the usual count of ten so that the lungs feel full. But

then try continuing to breathe in for another ten. Then exhale in the

usual way.

Later still, follow the last paragraph, but after the second count of ten

try holding the breath for another ten, and then exhale over at least a

count of twenty but working up to thirty.

In the early stages, breathing practice can seem a bit deadly. Try to

get some variation into it. Perhaps most of all, make regular assessments

on your progress. That will help more than anything to keep the

motivation going.