Breathing for singing: low, steady and relaxed

How breathing works when you sing

When you breathe in, the diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle under your lungs, tightens and moves down. Your belly moves out a little and your lower ribs widen to the sides and back. When you breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes and rises again, and the muscles around your ribs and abdomen control how fast the air leaves.

Singing asks for a longer, steadier breath out than speaking does. Teachers often call this control "support". In practice it means keeping an even flow of air under the voice, so the sound doesn't wobble, fade at the end of a line, or get squeezed out from the throat.

Set up your posture first

• Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, weight even, knees slightly bent.
• Let your shoulders drop and your chest stay comfortably open.
• Balance your head on top of your spine, with your chin level.
• If you sit, sit toward the front of the chair with both feet flat.

Tension in the neck, jaw or shoulders tends to show up in the voice. A slow shoulder roll and a gentle stretch of the neck from side to side before you start can help a lot.

Breathe low, not high

Put one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly, just above the navel. Breathe in through your nose. If the top hand rises and your shoulders lift, the breath is high and shallow. Try again and let the lower hand move out while the upper hand stays fairly still. Then move your hands to the sides of your lower ribs and feel them widen as you breathe in.

Don't force your belly out or pull it in hard. The movement should feel easy, much like the breathing you do when you are relaxed or lying on your back. Lying down with a book on your belly is a good way to feel it the first time.

Four breathing exercises

1. The hiss. Breathe in low for a slow count of four, then hiss on a long "sss" as evenly as you can. Count silently how long it lasts. Over a few weeks, aim for a longer, steadier hiss, not a louder one.
2. Counting aloud. Breathe in, then count out loud at your normal speaking pitch on one breath. Stop before you feel squeezed. This links breath to voice.
3. Pulses. Say "sh, sh, sh" in short bursts and feel a small kick just below your ribs each time. This wakes up the muscles that help with short, rhythmic phrases.
4. Long tone. Sing one easy note on "ah" or "oo" at a medium volume and hold it, keeping the sound even. Stop when it starts to shake or thin out.

Two or three rounds of each, once a day, is enough. Breathing work fits well at the start of the warm-up routine.

Plan your breaths in a song

Mark where you will breathe on your lyric sheet, usually at the end of a phrase or at a comma. Take a quick, low breath at each mark instead of waiting until you run out. Running completely out of air makes the throat tighten on the last notes of a line, which is where strain often starts.

If a phrase is too long for you right now, add a breath. Singers at every level do this, and your phrases will lengthen as your control improves.

Common problems

Breathing exercises should feel easy. If you feel dizzy, stop and breathe normally. If you have asthma or another breathing or heart condition, ask your doctor which exercises suit you.

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