Diaphragmatic breathing is the most complete, deepest type. It’s why we must learn how to sing from your diaphragm.
If you closely watch professional singers, you probably notice that they sing especially. They do not seem to open their mouths wide, but the sound is loud and powerful even without a microphone.
And the thing is that true vocalists use the whole body, and not just the throat, ligaments, and lungs. So, how to learn to sing properly from your diaphragm and improve your vocal capabilities many times over? Let’s check it out!
How To Sing From Your Diaphragm?
The diaphragm is a muscle that runs along the border of the lower rib and separates the chest and abdomen. It serves to expand the lungs and enhance their ventilation.
High-quality sound is impossible without proper breathing. Therefore, the skillful use of the properties of the diaphragm is one of the main secrets of true masters of singing.
Learn To Breathe With The Diaphragm
Inhale deeply, inflating the abdomen with a bubble while keeping the chest still. As you exhale, draw in your stomach. Watch your shoulders so that they do not move either.
It is convenient to do this exercise in front of a mirror. You can control yourself with the help of your palms, one of which should rest on your stomach and the other on your chest.
Having mastered the diaphragmatic type of breathing, proceed to its more complicated version. Inhale with your belly again, but exhale as slowly as possible.
Use counting to control your exhalation. Count slowly and at regular intervals. Be sure to write down the total daily and watch the progress.
Warm-Up Your Diaphragm
You need to stand as straight as possible to learn to sing: not stooping, hunching, and hooking.
With only the vibration of the tip of the tongue on the palate, you need to pronounce the letter “r”. It is necessary to do this for an extremely long time on one exhalation. And extremely smoothly so that the sound does not interrupt and does not fade.
The task is to reproduce the noise of a flying helicopter, but this is only one side of the coin. The main goal is to make the diaphragm function.
If you do everything right, you will very soon feel tension at the waist level. It will start the diaphragm.
It is necessary to inhale quickly and briefly, preferably through the mouth and nose simultaneously, not into the lungs, but immediately into the stomach.
You can tell by the swollen abdominal muscles, not the chest. It means that the air has gone into the diaphragm.
You can do this exercise almost anywhere, and if you need quieter rehearsals. Then you can change the sound “r” for a faint semblance of a whistle, reminiscent of an escapement wheel.
This sound also appears by pronouncing the first letters of the word “thank”. Again, try to keep it as long and continuous as possible.
Vocal Exercises To Sing Properly From Your Diaphragm
How to sing using your diaphragm? Every professional artist needs to learn to feel this support. But what is it specifically, sometimes even eminent teachers cannot answer.
It is because different people feel the support in different ways. The only output criterion is a confident and strong voice that can easily and naturally take notes without overstraining. See more in this video.
Exercise Number 1
Let’s start with the simplest exercise: this is an everyday exercise:
- Lie on your back.
- Place your hands on your sides;
- Direct your thumbs to the center of the abdomen;
- Inhale and exhale, trying to breathe only from the belly.
The first thing you need to start with the following exercises is the posture in which you sing. Remember that we have one correct singing breathing: diaphragmatic or abdominal.
When exercising, stand or sit in a chair. A high chair is perfect.
Remember that your ribcage should be flat, it should not rise and fall, and your shoulders should not jump. All this suggests that you have poor diaphragm control and are trying to push the air from above.
If the stomach leaves when you inhale inward, then you still capture air in your chest. Watch your abdomen: it should be kind of inflated while singing. Keep yourself in this state during your activities.
Exercise Number 2
While singing, you must squeeze the air slowly and effortlessly escape through the glottis. Before you start singing, take some air in your stomach;
Keep the air in yourself. Do not forget: the chest and shoulders should be calm.
Begin to sing as if squeezing the abdominal cavity forward. And release the pressure as you sing the phrase.
Exercise Number 3
Try to take an intermittent “a” or “s” with a breath, as if a small balloon is releasing its air. This sound is similar to the one you make when you are frightened. Try to write them straight and keep the sound in its duration.
Record how gently you release the air. Feel the internal pressure: it is stable, not consumed quickly, and lasts for long. This exercise will teach you how to use the minimum amount of air.
Exercise Number 4
Inhale into your stomach and hold your breath. Start counting: one, two, three, four, five. Slowly, in a full voice, and how much you get. Usually, it turns out about fifteen times.
The main thing is not to exhale between the numbers and stay on a held breath. If you do this simple exercise every day, your breathing will gradually lengthen.
Exercises Number 5
We take the sound “c” and begin to rhythmically “push out” it. Four short runs, one long.
We take the syllable “ma” and try to stretch it out for several bars. Your task is to pull the vowel as long as possible. Inhale and hold the air.
Let’s go for complications: take a few syllables. We sing on one note. Your task is to distribute the air in a way that you have enough for the rest of the phrase.
Exercises Number 6
Lie on your back on a flat surface and inhale. Remember that while doing this, you must puff your belly up.
Place the book on your belly, and apply some pressure. Your task is to resist and maintain the same degree of abdomen swelling as at the beginning of the exercise.
Exhale the air and resist the pressure until the air supply is exhausted. Remember this feeling, and this is exactly what you should feel with the correct breathing while singing.
What Is Singing With Your Diaphragm?
Correct vocal breathing is diaphragmatic inferior rib breathing. This section makes it easier to understand the essence of this type of breathing. In total, there are three main ways to breathe: clavicular, thoracic, and abdominal.
Clavicular Breathing
The clavicular type of breathing is also called upper breathing, in which the shoulders rise and the upper ribs open. You can’t breathe like that while singing cause you will get an uncontrollable non-vocal sound.
Chest Breathing
Chest breathing involves the work of the central part of the lungs; during chest breathing, the chest expands. In another way, people also call chest breathing intercostal breathing.
Diaphragm Breathing
Vocalists, on the other hand, breathe in an abdominal way. It means you use the diaphragm muscles, filling the middle and lower parts of the lungs with air.
At the same time, the lower ribs of the singer expand, and the stomach protrudes forward. This breathing method allows you to control the airflow strength during exhalation, making support for smooth and beautiful singing.
To sing correctly with your belly, you need to inhale the lower ribs, expand, and the belly protrude. You can imagine that you are not filling your lungs with air but your stomach, which expands from this.
It’s necessary to keep the diaphragm tense to control the strength of the sound and distribute the air. Otherwise, you will release all the air in the first seconds of singing and lose control of the situation.
Why Is Singing With Your Diaphragm Important?
It’s easy to notice how powerful the performer’s voice sounds even without a microphone. The secret of such a vocal power is that when singing, not only the ligaments and throat are involved, but almost the entire body of the singer, where the diaphragm and stomach play a key role.
The article presents the main benefits you will get when you sing with your diaphragm.
Maintain A Stable, Even Sound
The way to take air is the main factor that determines the quality characteristics of the received sound. Therefore, setting the breath while singing is one of the most important tasks to learn how to sing beautifully.
The singing support created by correctly held breathing leads to the stability of your vocals and maintains a stable, even sound.
Determine The Strength And Duration Of Your Sound
While singing, the ability to breathe will determine the strength and duration of your sound. The air that we have will suffice for several cries in length.
But the problem is that we do not have enough oxygen. Therefore, you need to find support and learn how to dump it after every time you sing.
Form Uniform And Soft Voice
Our vocal muscle – the diaphragm – is flexed. When we take air into the lower part of the lungs, they immediately press on the diaphragm, which expands.
When singing, our main task is to keep the air inside for as long as possible and carefully feed it into voice communications: in small portions and evenly. It is precisely the secret of uniform, soft voice formation.
We prevent the continuous high-speed release of air through indirect diaphragm control, which prevents us from pulling a note.
Singing Safety
It is extremely important to observe safety precautions when singing. It will help avoid problems such as ligament breakage. During self-study, follow a few simple rules:
- Do not start practicing as soon as you wake up.
- Do not sing/whisper when you have laryngeal inflammation. You won’t save anything, quite the opposite.
- Postpone exercise during menstruation: the ligaments are extremely vulnerable due to blood flow.
- If you feel unwell, you have dizziness or weakness, postpone classes until next time.
- Do not irritate the laryngeal mucosa before singing! Set aside everything sweet and salty, and put an end to the seeds.
- Do not sing dry. Periodically wet your throat with plain water. The non-stop circulation of dry air is also harmful to the ligaments.
- If you want to learn how to sing, the first step is to get the correct breath.
Conclusion
There are many other secrets to help a vocalist control his vocal production. One of them is correct breathing with a diaphragm.
Above are only the highlights of how to sing from your diaphragm. This way helps the vocalist form an even powerful sound, control it, and get beautiful vocals thanks to the control.
Read more articles about singing on our site to improve your perfect voice.
Thank you for reading!
