Dear Vocalisters

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000 Randy wrote:

"The word support is often undefined and a catch all."

Mark Montgomery added:

"You left out "and misunderstood by the majority of the vocal teaching

establishment."

COMMENT:  There is no doubt that the teaching of breath support or breath management is one of the most difficult concepts to impart.  And this difficulty is exacerbated by the tendency to lump everything relating to the working of the breath under the general term "support".  One corrects vibrato problems with "support"; one corrects breathy tone with "support"; one corrects neck and throat tension with "support"; and on and on with the use of "support" to solve the all major concerns of singing.

There is a basis of fact in all of these suggested solutions.  When breath support is mismanaged almost all of the many difficulties that we hear in singing can occur and the breath mismanagement, while not necessarily the original source of the difficulties, definitely adds to the problem.

It becomes necessary to determine the fundamental or primary error that causes any vocal problem.  Because this is often not easy to do, another obvious error is more easily noticed; breath support.  But the inadequate or mismanaged breath support that is present may also be a symptom produced by the cause of the original problem and simply correcting the breath issue in such cases seldom corrects the original problem.

Or, conversely, correcting the breath support mismanagement the is present might lead the singer past the cause of the original problem.  The original problem disappears and the assumption is made that the actual cause of the original problem has been found.  When it later rears its ugly head, the singer and teacher again resort to breath management issues but this time with less success and this is logical because the cause of the original problem was never addressed correctly.

The diligence of the teacher and the singer will eventually solve the original problem if exploration is made beyond what appeared to be the original cause and other possibilities are considered.  It has been my experience that this is one of the primary reasons for a student to remain with a teacher long enough for this process to be carried out successfully.

As regards teaching breath support management in as simple a manner as possible I use the following:

When you create a gentle, warm and moist breath on the fingers which are
placed at the lips, (similar to the breath you produce when attempting to
clean your glasses), you are creating the ideal breath for singing. Very
little breath flow is used for singing.  The old Italian device of singing
to a candle flame and attempting to deflect the flame as little as possible
was an example of a method to test this concept.  As one sings higher
pitches, breath pressure increases but breath flow changes very little.
Low voices will have more breath flow when compared to high voices.  The
amount of flow is determined by the mass of the vocal folds.  But in all
cases, a warm, moist breath is the ideal.

Of course, the control of this breath is what breath support is all about.
If you repeat the warm, moist breath on the fingers routine mention above,
you will notice some very faint activity happening at the level of the
epigastric area (that area between the bottom of the sternum and the navel)
but within the core of the body.  This is a sign that the diaphragm is
active during the exhaling process.  The diaphragm is primarily an inhaling
muscle system but it can also be active as an antagonistic muscle system
during the exhale to assist in controlling the exhale process.  This
condition must exist if the singer is to have control of the breath.

We have all had the experience of taking a reasonable breath and, after
singing only a few notes, finding ourselves out of breath.  Actually, we
are not out of breath but we have allowed the diaphragm to collapse upward

and we have lost control of the breath.  We are not out of breath, but out

of control of the breath.  This can be easily corrected by repeating the
warm moist breath routine which will reestablish our proper control of the

breath by the activation of the diaphragm during exhale.

Occasionally, a choral director or voice teacher will instruct the singer

that the epigastric area should move inward during singing.  When the
epigastric area moves inward, the diaphragm must collapse.  When the
diaphragm collapses, the singer loses control of the breath.  Although the
epigastric area will move inward near the end of the exhale cycle it should
not move inward too early in the cycle.  When singing, the epigastric area
should maintain a sense of fullness, without being pushed out, during the
better part of the duration of the exhale cycle and should only move inward
toward the end of the cycle to obtain the last of the breath supply, if
necessary.  Most musical phrases will not require the inward movement of
the epigastric because they do not require the final supply of air.  To
repeat, once the epigastric moves inward, the diaphragm has begun to

collapse upward and the end of efficient breath control is begun.

--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011