Singing For Beginners - The Dangers Of Misunderstanding Breath Support In Singing

This is an article I wrote about a week ago, which recently got published on Ezine Articles. Hope you find it helpful.

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Breathing is the foundation of life, and efficient breathing spells unmistakable importance in great singing. However, it is very easy for novice singers to mistake breath support for necessary vocal power, and in the process, cause harm to their voices. This article aims to help clarify this dangerous misconception that so many new singers have.

What is considered good breath support?

Before all else, it is important for everyone to understand what good breath support is. Good breath support stems from what vocalists like to call "diaphragmatic breathing". Yes, it is very likely that you have heard about it, but no, it's not anything you haven't done before. With diaphragmatic breathing, each inhale of air should have you feel your stomach expand, and each exhale of air would suck your stomach in. If this happens in reverse for you, that is, your stomach gets sucked in when you breathe in, and out when you breathe out, you aren't breathing from your diaphragm. This article will not go into the physiology of breathing, but it is important to at least know if you're breathing right for efficient singing or not.

Now here comes the misunderstanding...

Have you ever heard someone comment on a weak and "airy" singing voice, saying how the singer lacks breath support? Well, that comment is not necessarily true.

Sound is produced when our vocal cords close, interrupting the flow of air pushing outwards from our lungs. With excellent breath support, one would have a lung filled with air that is just waiting to come out. Along with that, our vocal cords will instinctively position themselves in a way that allows sound to be produced. Even so, one should be aware that not everyone's vocal folds can do that effectively. The absence of a balanced vocal cord closure would in turn, produce a voice that would sound both weak and airy. With that much air blowing rapidly past the vocal folds, it wouldn't be long before the singer feels the desperate need for a drink. Singing in such a manner would in time, cause vocal damage.

In essence, it is unreasonable to expect a voice to be powerful or pleasant to the ear, if the vocalist's vocal cords don't have the coordination and strength to handle the magnitude of a strong exhale of air. It takes years of vocal cord training, good breathing technique and a battery of other skills to make a singer sound good, or even just powerful.

Otherwise, all professional athletes would be fantastic singers, especially swimmers!