In a message dated 10/31/2001 8:30:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, despina@p... writes: despina@p... writes:
> Would any of our sages care to share with me their > thoughts on "singing on the breath"? I asked my teacher; her view is that > it > means all one's breath is going toward sound production, with no > breathiness > whatsoever.
rachel,
although i'm not a sage, i did stay at a holiday inn express last night so, here's my less than humble opinion.
not all sounds that are unbreathy are 'on the breath' (pressed phonation, for example) and some sounds that are breathy can be 'on the breath' (mel torme for example). if you consider the two extremes of breath usage, blowing out to grunting, 'sul fiato' (on the breath) and 'col fiato' (with the breath), lie somewhere in between. i think of 'col fiato' as that singing where there is a sensation of the breath going out while making sound with no perceptable sub-glottal pressure. with 'sul fiato', there is always a sense of sub-glottal pressure that may or may not increase with an increase of pitch (as the folds resist the air more, there is an increase of sub-glottal pressure).
to confuse matters, there may be times when there is more sub-glottal pressure in singing that would not be described as 'on the breath' (pressed phonation might be an example of such an occurance) while another type of singing (again, mel torme comes to mind), a breathy sound singing low, might not exhibit much in the way of sub-glottal pressure yet, will still be considered to be 'on the breath'.
practically speaking, these two approaches, either 'on' or 'with' the breath, refer to the management of the breath. as the rate of breath flow is greater 'with the breath', it is generally considered that 'on the breath' allows the user more control. i guess you could make an analogy by saying that 'with the breath' is like surfing while 'on the breath' is like floating on a raft. although, sometimes i would describe 'on the breath' as feeling like trying to push a beach ball under water (the surface being just below the neck).
to get a feeling for the two, sighing is an everyday sound you can use to get an idea of 'with the breath' while a soft grunt might show you the feeling of 'on the breath'. somewhere along that spectrum, you'll find something that works for you.
mike
| | |