On Sun, 09 Apr 2000, Karen Mercedes wrote:
>If the tension is below the navel and above the thighs, it's support. If >it's anywhere else, it's just tension. :)
COMMENT: I have some difficulty with this statement. For me it strongly suggests that one must maintain some kind of lower abdominal strength or tension to properly support the voice. Perhaps you are merely suggesting that such lower support is always there and need only to be noticed. If so, I would agree, but I have never found it necessary to teach that the area you outline above is ever in need of overt physical movement, tension or strengthening.
If one inhales such that the epigastric (That area between the navel and the bottom of the sternum) becomes moderately full feeling and the lower ribs (those disconnected from the sternum) are opened outwardly in a lateral position one experiences a sensation similar to that of surprise or anticipation. This feeling can occur even if only half a breath is taken. In other words, it is not necessary to inhale to capacity.
This is the position of appoggio and should be maintained as along a possible as one sings. That is, one should maintain the inhalatory position during singing without any inward movement of the epigastric area nor the lower ribs unless the phrase is unusually long.
It is easier to maintain this inhalation, anticipatory mode if one practices exhaling a small amount of warm most breath, as one does when cleaning ones glasses. It is this rather small amount of warm, moist breath that should be used in all singing. The voice does not require large amounts of breath! It is also the use of the warm, moist breath that makes one aware of the mild action in the lower abdominal area. But that action is not overt nor even feelable by the hands. If it can be observed or is able to be felt by the hands it is excessive.
However, it is still common to observe students who have been taught to release the muscles in their lower abdomen on the inhale and pull these muscles back into their normally firm position on the exhale. This extraneous activity is not necessary for singing and it has not been taught in the traditional, Italianate school of voice. The diaphragm descends only to a flat position at the bottom of the rib cage during the inhale. It is not able to actively descend below this level. For this reason, there is no advantage to releasing the lower abdominal muscle wall (commonly called "belly" breathing) to make more room for the diaphragm or to attempt to take a larger breath. Breath capacity studies have shown that this release of lower abdominal muscles actually reduces the breath capacity because it tends to encourage the rib cage to sag slightly.
Generally there should be nothing about breathing for singing that is much different than normal active breathing except that it is done at will and with a great deal of awareness because it is used to activate the vocal process. The most important achievement that singers must accomplish is an awareness of how they use the breath and how to maintain that use.
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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