Something that helped a lot - new wisdom I got today from working with a new coach - is using one hand to conduct (i.e., as if I were the conductor of the music) while I sing. My breath management improved incredibly, no doubt because (1) I'm moving and not "locking"; (2) I'm reinforcing in my body the beats and tempo in the music, so my singing remains focused and directed, and thus the breathing is easier than when I sometimes lapse into what I call "stream of consciousness singing" when I lose track of "where I am" in a given phrase, measure, etc.; (3) I'm distracting just enough of my mind by trying to conduct properly (hand/brain coordination) that I stop worrying about breath management, because the part of my brain that would obsess on breath is now occupied, and the rest is focusing on musical, textual, and interpretive issues.
KM === On Neil Shicoff - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html On yours truly - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+-------------------------------------------------------+ | For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that | | appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. | | - James 4:14 | +-------------------------------------------------------+
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