Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Lee Morgan" <LMorgan923@t...>
Date:  Tue Jan 29, 2002  1:33 am
Subject:  RE: [vocalist] Re: critical commentary/ breathing exercises

Oh, Sharon - that's good. I really like the "your body already knows how to
do this" idea. I know that for years I worked waaaaay too hard at
breathing, and, as a consequence, built up too much tension. Once I relaxed
and trusted my body to breathe for me, my singing became much freer and
easier. It made a tremendous difference.

Lee Morgan
Mezzo-soprano

-----Original Message-----
From: Sharon Szymanski [mailto:szy@n...]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 11:30 AM
To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [vocalist] Re: critical commentary/ breathing exercises



>>>>i would describe normal breathing as the following: when we
talk, we begin talking on whatever air is in our lungs. as we talk,
we use air, creating a vacuum. when we stop talking and relax, we
stop the process that is creating that vacuum and, nature, by virtue
of eliminating that vacuum, inhales for us



They practically BEG you
to give them "a method" whereby they can simply do Step a b and c and
proceed to d when they have perfected the previous and feel they are
in control. It is always a relief if you can halt the rot at this
point and they can just settle with that and never look back.

Even further to this, there are yet another sub group of these
students who will NEVER "get it" and finally go off to another
teacher citing "breathing problems" as their nemisis.


After years of inefficient (and nervous) singing I finally figured out
how to harness my natural breathing process and use it for singing,
though I didn't think of it that way at the time. I now actively teach
this to all my students by addressing it quite clearly at the initial
lessons. I take the fear and confusion away by telling them -"Your body
ALREADY knows how to do this, you just have to train your brain to let
you do it when singing rather than something else more complex and
inefficient. Then I teach them three easy exercises (including a speech
component), along with the hand motions I mentioned in an earlier post,
and we actively learn to let the autonomic breathing system of the body
adapt to the rhythmic demands of singing. I tell them that as the brain
more clearly learns what is needed for the act of singing, it will begin
to let the breathing apparatus know how to prepare for the singing task
at hand. Most can clearly feel it working at lessons, some almost
immediately (a few take longer). I keep working on this until it is
learned as good singing can't happen until it does. The result is an
incredibly resilient, efficient and trustworthy breathing experience
that is with them always. (Note: the less experienced the singer, the
easier and faster this is learned, in general).

Sharon Szymanski

The Szymanski Studio - "encouraging excellence in the vocal arts"













emusic.com