Mastering the Breath?
If you are reading this, its likely that you are really good at something and you don’t even realize it- breathing. You’re alive. You’re breathing. You’re not really thinking about it because it is a reflexive action that you don’t have to “manage,” kinda like blinking. So, the good news is, you already know how to breathe! Congratulations!
What you “may” not know how to do so well is govern the breath. Governing the breath is something we do in speech or singing. And the true breath governors are the vocal cords themselves! How can that be, you may ask?
Well, the vocal cords are in your larynx, in your trachea- your windpipe. And every single bit of breath that goes in or out of your body has to pass by the vocal cords. (Not to be confused with the esophagus which is what food or water that goes down - a different pipe that leads to your stomach!) We can both mentally decide when to allow breath in or out, but we can also “not” control or think about it, too, and our brain will manage it for us, cool!
But, in singing, we have various lengths of musical phrases and the vocal cords have to allow breath through as they adjust for various pitches. We are talking about a highly coordinative process!
The vocal cords get shorter and thinner for higher notes and longer and thicker for lower notes. Consequently, the lower notes let out more breath and the higher notes let out less, due to the changing aperture of the vocal cords. However, IF a singer is not doing this right, and they have manipulated the registration so that the cords aren’t allowed to do this correctly, it effects how much breath is being utilized. We should be able to create tone with the smallest dispensible amount of breath required! TOO MUCH tension and we don’t let enough air out! NOT ENOUGH tension and the air leaks out! It has to be just right.
A good vocal pedagogue can hear this functionally and be able to assess what is happening, and why. It comes down to the registration alignment - or CORRECT tensions between arytenoids (think closure) and crico-thyroid (think pitch). When this balance of tension is off, then the breath is not governed correctly. Essentially, there is a very fine line between good registration and dysfunctional registration. When its good, our vocal cord aperture is estimated with minute approximation, which doesn’t waste any air!
Resonance can influence registration (good or bad!), and so it factors in as well.
How can we better govern the breath then? The answer is quite simple. Through establishing correct registration, creating a perfect gradation of vocal cord tension (think flexibly firm), thinning or thickness of the vocal cords according to pitch, precise closure of the cords, and the exact resonance coupling reflective of the appropriate pitch and vowel.
We must replace the bad habits with good ones by training the laryngeal muscle systems, allowing them to do their job correctly, so any compensating muscle interference can then “let go.”
When registration is established with good closure and resonance adjustment, the breath is the last thing on our mind. Then, we can be free artists, reflecting the music’s emotional elements in abundance.
Happy practicing!
