Are you supporting your voice when you sing? A lot of people use this term yet do not completely understand what it actually means. What is supporting what? Why should we support? How do we support?
Support means to control the in-breath as well as the escaping breath to produce a richer, rounder sound using the muscles of our abdomen, back and ribs whilst keeping the jaw, neck and shoulders relaxed. Using these muscles also helps our general health so a win on all accounts.
Our brain needs a clear idea of what this is and how to do it in order to achieve the desired results. It is well worth the effort once you realise how your sound is affected. The more you practice the individual components mindfully the easier it will become. At some point you will only have to think of support and your brain will send all the right signals to the body to make it happen.
We have dealt with the in-breath : SPLAT and fill the balloon (opening facing up) silently and quickly – in through the nose and out through the mouth. The rib cage is expanded and needs to stay so for as long as possible.
If we do nothing then the air will rush out and create too much pressure over the vocal folds – we create a breathy sound and then have to breathe again in the middle of a phrase, or worse in the middle of a word. This upsets the MD as it doesn’t sound good.
We have to look ahead to the end of the phrase to see how much air we need to get through to the end so that we have a little left so we can finish the phrase in tune and strong.
The pelvic floor, abdominal muscles, buttocks and lower back muscles must be engaged, the intercostal muscles of the ribs must be kept stretched to keep the rib cage expanded and lifted. This is hard as muscles prefer to be short, not lengthened. Working against nature is hard to do but possible with regular brain training, physical training and discipline.
All of these muscles help control the ascent of the diaphragm as they are all connected and thus the escaping air is controlled. The pressure against the vocal chords is consistent, they can close cleanly over their full length and produce a lovely sound which is amplified and shaped by the tongue and space in your mouth. If you have ever stood on a moving small boat the feeling of you trying to keep your balance is a good sense to have for a good base of support.
After you have finished singing the phrase you can SPLAT, which gives a moment of relaxation which is just as important as the effort.
Exercise
Sit down for this as you might end up feeling faint.
Fully breathe out – when you feel you can’t breathe out any more push more air out (pull in your stomach muscles to help you do this), you will be amazed at how much more air is left in your lungs. Do this another time before you let go and breathe in. This clears out your lungs and provides space for fresh air to enter. You might have to resist your brain telling you to breath in as it likes to be conservative with it’s air. Once you let go you will have a perfect SPLAT.
