Myth:
Having good breath and posture means sitting up really straight and puffing up your chest OR only breathing into your belly. Fact: Posture and breathing are related, of course, but a good breath involves all the parts of the breath mechanism including your ribs and diaphragm. A great breath is one that you can feel all the way around your torso but doesn’t make you lift your shoulders high, shove your stomach way out, or puff up anything. A great breath simply supplies your vocal folds with enough air to use your voice the way you want. Useful info: Your lungs, which are housed in your rib cage, are made of spongy tissue. When the muscles around them contract, air is sucked in like a vacuum via negative pressure. The tiny muscles in between your ribs, as well as your diaphragm which is underneath the rib cage, contract to help bring in air to your lungs. The air passes through your larynx and trachea when you inhale and exhale. When air moves through your adducted (brought together) vocal folds, it blows them apart; the vocal folds recoil and this process is repeated hundreds of times per second. When you increase the amount of lung pressure going to the vocal folds, this can change the tension and raise the pitch and also usually increases the volume of your voice. Slow and steady: Just as you are sitting/standing/walking/riding the train and reading this, try to feel your breath. What parts of your body are moving when you inhale and exhale? Do you feel your breath in your lower torso, or upper, or both? Is it fast or slow? Is it deep or shallow? If you change your posture, how does that affect the breath? Here are a few things to check for in your breath:
Fast Track/Goldilocks: In the Goldilocks fairy tale, the title character tries too much of one thing, not enough, and then gets it just right. You can use this method with voice, too! Try speaking the phrase “Sally sells sea shells on Saturdays” in three different ways.
What can you notice about your habitual breathing patterns by doing this exercise? Do you think you use enough air in normal speech? Too much? Too little? As you approach some of the upcoming vocal warm ups and exercises, you will have the best results if you are breathing well. Starting any kind of voice work with a relaxed but engaged breath will help keep your voice healthy while you build stamina and flexibility in your new speaking voice. Breath is not a set-it-and-forget-it process; you will probably always be checking in with your breath and discovering new things about it as your whole vocal mechanism develops, and that’s great! Stay flexible and open to respiratory experiences! Tl;dr Breathing is not a set-it-and-forget-it thing; you have to keep working at it. You should feel your breath all the way around your torso, without any constriction or tension. Make sure to take enough breaths in conversation so you don’t run out of air or use too much air. Also, changing your speech patterns will probably require you to use your breath and body differently than you used to. One Weird Trick: Check your s/z ratio! The [s] sound is “unvoiced,” meaning that your vocal folds don’t have to vibrate to make that sound. On the other hand, [z] is “voiced,” so your vocal folds vibrate when you make that sound. The s/z ratio is a measure of how many seconds you can hold out an [s] sound compared to how many seconds you can hold a [z] sound (at a comfortable pitch and volume), and it can tell you a lot about your breath management when you use your voice. Take in a deep breath and hold out “ssss” as long as you can. Do this three times and write down the longest duration. Repeat with “zzz” sound. Divide your [s] seconds by your [z] seconds. If the number is 1, great! You have excellent breath management during voice use! If the number is greater than 1.4, you may need to work a bit on your breath or your healthy voice production. More info about s/z ratio here.
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AuthorHi! My name is Liz, and I'm a voice teacher and vocologist from Chicago. I have worked with many transgender and gender nonconforming clients, helping them develop speaking and singing voice patterns that align with their affirmed gender. I'm passionate about providing voice care for the t/gnc communities and in addition to seeing private clients, I love volunteering and doing outreach programs for LGBTQ medical and community centers and support groups. ArchivesCategories |