What to Do if You're Running Out of Breath When You Sing
You probably know the moment all too well.
You only have a few words left but your lungs feel like a wrung out sponge, trying to squeeze notes out with nothing in the tank.
Running out of air is a feeling none of us are putting our hands up to experience.
It sends panic signals through the body (and rightly so).
But our initial instinct is to simply load up on more air at the start of the phrase.
And that's not always the best move.
Breath support/management is a RELATIONSHIP.
It’s actually kinda like a thruple.
The key players are
your ribs/belly,
your vocal cords and
your airflow.
And you’ll want to check in on each party to see if they’re pulling their weight when it comes to efficiency.
What that looks like…
RIBS
You’ll want your ribs to expand a little on the inhale and stay gently expanded as you exhale/sing.
BELLY
Your belly will expand a little on the inhale and collapse in response to the way you use your air.
AIRFLOW
Which leads us to airflow.
The speed or intensity with which you release your air will depend on how high and how strong you want the note to be.
(Psst! Far too many singers are slowing down and over-controlling their airflow which means their throat then picks up the slack to add power or go up in pitch)
VOCAL CORDS
Your vocal cords are the final gatekeepers of the breath.
If they’re not connected, then air will leak between them, meaning you’ll go through your stash quicker.
Listen to whether or not your voice sounds clear or breathy as you sing to signal whether your vocal cords are the culprits.
We can bring them together through getting back to the notion of more organic expression, by thinking about “speaking/calling on pitch” or “telling the story” more.
If these guys are all doing their part and the line is still too long for you to make it through, add a little more air (going from say 50% capacity to 60%) and try again.
We don’t want to take in more air than we need because the more air we have, the more challenging it is to control with the ribs and the more effort it takes.
Most contemporary songs won’t require full breath capacity (opera is another story), but you will stumble across the odd line that might require you to tank up more than usual.
Remember, singing is storytelling, so take note of where it makes sense to add a coma (or a breath) and don’t push through when you don’t need to.
Is this way of thinking about the breath new to you?
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