Just Breathe Video
What’s the foundation of singing? If you’re thinking breathing, you’re thinking right!
You guys I am just really excited to finally start doing some exercises with you today and I kind of wanted to explain how this was going to work. Now that we’ve talked about things like our voice as an instrument, the importance of singing, and other things like that, now we’re going to start getting into some awesome exercises. And so every time I post a video that has to do with a certain principle of singing, there will most likely be a supplemental video with it, with just the exercise. So make sure to look for both videos every time a new video is posted.
So we’ve talked about the voice as an instrument and how breathing is the foundation of singing. If we have good breath support then our voice is going to be so much more successful and our voice is going to be able to sing notes we never imagined and be able to strengthen and improve. I mean breath is just everything! So we’re going to go ahead, we’re going to dive in, and we’re going to talk about breath.
The first thing that you need to know about good breath support is you need to have good posture. You don’t want to be too stiff and you don’t want to be slumped over. Make sure that your feet are firmly planted to the ground and that you’re nice and relaxed. So let’s go ahead and turn it over to me for some other breath support tips.
Let’s take a look at what bad breath support looks like. As you can see from my demonstration, my shoulders tensed up and the breath went primarily to my upper chest. Now while we breathe, of course our lungs and our chest are going to fill up, but our goal is we want our entire body to fill up. It’s not good to do it the way that I just did.
Let’s go ahead and take a look at what good breath support is supposed to look like. I want you to imagine that you have an inner tube around your whole body. You know – the kind of inner tubes that you use to go down a river or go sledding? Yeah! Imagine one of those inner tubes and imagine that it’s around your whole body. And you want to pretend that as you’re breathing in that you’re filling up this inner tube. Now the reason why I like to use the inner tube analogy is because the inner tube is located in the lower part of the body. And we often forget that we need to breathe all the way through our entire body, not just our lungs in our chest. We want to make sure that the breath is getting to our entire body. Remember our body is holding our voice and our voice is an instrument. We want to make sure that we’re breathing enough so that our lower back expands and our front side also expands.
As I breathe in, my stomach and my abdomen, they expand! This is what is going to help us have that good breath support. Yes it’s sometimes annoying and it sometimes hard to remember that we need to make sure we’re having a low breath and a deep breath all through our bodies, but in the end it’s going to help us and it’s going to give us that health and strength that our voice really needs when we sing.
Just to conclude this video, I wanted to make sure that you knew that a lot of these exercises and learning how to breathe correctly when we’re singing takes practice. So don’t ever overexert yourself and don’t ever feel like your failure if you’re not getting it exactly or if you’re you’re feeling that it’s a little hard. That is totally natural, so go at your own pace. I totally recommend reviewing these videos and doing the exercises. Even if it’s once or twice a day, find a few minutes here and there to practice. I highly encourage that you follow along in my supplemental videos and I can guarantee that you’ll see a lot of improvement in your breath support.
I hope to see you in our next video. Make sure to give this a like and keep on singing and keep on breathing!
I do these videos every other week, but if you still want more musical theatre, check out my newsletter! It’s called, Beyond The Score, and it just takes a closer look at musical theatre history. You can find that here.
Breathing Exercises Video
Hey you guys! Welcome to our supplemental video on breathing. Today we’re going to do some breathing exercises. Are you ready to get started? Okay! Here we go!
Breathing Exercise 1: Neck Rolls
We’re going to go ahead and we’re going to begin with some neck rolls. So go ahead and allow your neck to roll gently down, up, and around. Focus on your breathing. Breathe deeply and allow your neck to go the other way. Take your time and don’t hurt yourself. Let’s do one more on each side. And roll. And breathe. Allow your body to feel relaxed. Allow your neck to feel relaxed. And don’t forget to breathe. Whoops! Got lots of hair in my face!
Breathing Exercise 2: Jaw Massages
Next we’re going to massage our jaw a little bit and make sure that we’re nice and relaxed so that we can get nice, good breaths. So go ahead and take your hands, put it at the base of your head, and begin to rub right under the jaw. Go ahead and breathe deeply. Breathe in and breathe out. Remember we’re trying to fill that inner tube. Breathe in and breathe out. Nice and easy. And breathe in and breathe out. And continue to do this until you feel very relaxed.
Breathing Exercise 3: Floor Breathing
For this exercise find a place on the floor that has carpet so not to hurt yourself. After finding a comfortable spot on the floor go ahead and lie face down and put your forehead on your hands. Breathe deeply. Allow your full body to expand. You will notice that your back will lift and that your stomach will be pressing against the floor. Continue to breathe at your own pace, inhaling slowly and exhaling slowly. Notice how your back expands. Notice the pressure that you are giving the floor as you breathe. Avoid any sort of shallow breathing that may come in your shoulders or upper chest. Make sure that you are focused on a full, deep, low breath that will expand your entire body.
Breathing Exercise 4: Breath Holds
For this exercise make sure that you’re in a place that you can stand comfortably and with good posture. This exercise focuses on filling up that inner tube and filling up our entire body with good breath. I like to put my hands on my hips or my hands on my stomach, so that way I can feel the expansion. How this exercise works is that we are going to be inhaling for three, holding for three, and then exhaling for three. So let me explain that again. We will be inhaling for three counts, holding that breath for three counts, and then exhaling for three counts. Okay we’re going to go ahead and get started. Inhaling (1, 2, 3). Hold (2, 3). Exhale (2, 3). Okay and we’re going to inhale (1, 2, 3). Hold (2, 3). Exhale (2, 3). Again inhale (1, 2, 3). Hold (2, 3). Exhale (2, 3). And allow your body to relax.
Thank you for watching! These exercise videos are made to guide you through your practicing! Be sure to take breaks if you are feeling tired and make sure to drink water.
Make sure to like this video!
I do these videos every other week, but if you still want more musical theatre, check out my newsletter! It’s called, Beyond The Score, and it just takes a closer look at musical theatre history. You can find that here.