Legato means to connect each sound to each other, which is in contrast to staccato whereby each sound is light and slightly separated from each other.
A phrase must have enough breath to see it through to the end and for that to happen you need to prepare and know how long the phrase is. Each phrase will require a different amount of breath, ideally a little breath is always left at the end of a phrase. Too little breath will mean that you have to breathe in between the phrase and then the legato is lost and the sound interrupted. If you don’t have enough breath left at the end of a phrase it will either be cut short or more often it will go flat.
Too many times do I see that singers don’t breathe where they are supposed, because mainly they feel they have enough breath left, and then inevitably they run out and have to breathe in the middle of a phrase or worse in the middle of a word. The text is the most import and however you would speak the text that is the way you should aim to sing it with the breaths placed where suitable.
Airflow must not be held back in order to achieve smooth/ legato singing. You must use the air you have breathed in, the aim isn’t to have loads of breath left at the end of a phrase, but the smoothness of the escape of it from the body has to be controlled through support (mentioned earlier). If you plan ahead your brain will know how much breath you need for a certain phrase. Use soft eyes to focus on what you are singing and what you will be singing a few bars/ a phrase ahead, just like when you read a book.
Think of holding an elastic band in front of you and as you sing you gradually extend the elastic smoothly until you have reached the end of the phrase, the elastic can only then be allowed to shorten. Alternatively you can smoothly circle your arm, any signs that the movement isn’t smooth indicates an absence of legato singing. Or think of stroking a cat, they do not like a lack of smoothness in being touched. Imagery is very subjective and one image may not work for all singers, I offer a few suggestions to receive the desired result and you can come up with some that work better for you. For a very small amount of people imagery doesn’t even work.
The sound must flow continuously for legato singing, having enough breath to get through a phrase and with enough support to ensure smoothness.
Exercise
Take a piece of elastic, hold either end in each hand and sing a phrase whilst gradually and smoothly pulling on the elastic, watch the elastic as you do this. Was it smooth? Did you get to the end of the phrase without having to breathe? Some people find it helps to just draw a smooth line on paper.
