Some Basic Thoughts on Breathing & Support

1. 💨 Ok, so what’s all this fuzz about breathing and support? Well, without air, there would be no sound. Go ahead and try to voice a sound without air 😉 the airflow (aka your respiratory process) makes the vocal folds vibrate, and there’s your sound.

2. 💨 The sound happens on the exhale. We fill our lungs with air on the inhale (they widen and the diaphragm lowers and contracts), and when we exhale, we make our vocal folds vibrate (it’s physics and called the Bernoulli effect).

3. 💨 All this happens automatically – so don’t worry about not getting enough air. Your lungs suck in the air and your diaphragm does its job no matter what. That’s how we live! Let it do its job by not constricting it and let it go all the way.

4. 💨 Still, we have muscles whose (second) job it is to help us breathe: abs, back and loin muscles.

5. 💨 We do agree now that breathing and support are crucial for singing and speaking, right? On account of producing a healthy, steady note/sound we need to control our airflow – and that’s what we call support.

6. Now take a minute to breathe 😀