1: We have to feel the air: She states that students believed that if they feel the air going past their vocal cords, then they are inhaling correctly. This is a myth because when you can hear the air rushing past the vocal cords it is actually drying out the cords and can cause an unsteady onset.
2: We need to work to get the air, we must inhale against resistance: This misconception is more common than myth number one according to Deirdre. She says that students feel the need to keep the core activated the entire time they are inhaling so they feel like they are working for the breath.
3: The air pushes the diaphragm down: The singer tries to the feel the air pushing the diaphragm down when this actually cannot be felt.
4: Lungs fill upward: This myth seems to be a concept we believe early in life. Deirdre explains this by talking about going to the doctor and the doctor tells you to take a deep breath. He or she demonstrates by lifting the shoulders. The way to fix this misconception is to demonstrate a relaxed abdomen and to feel the breath expand the rib cage, which is at the bottom of the lungs.
Exhalation myths:
1:The diaphragm inhales and exhales: The singer believes the diaphragm needs to help with exhaling when the diaphragm only helps to inhale.
2:Abdominal muscles push out the air: The abdomen muscles are not used to push out the air. The oxygen enters the lungs and as the oxygen is taken through the blood stream, the lungs exhale the CO2 gas in the lungs. The lungs simply deflate like a balloon.
3:The great panacea is breath support: This is when singers hear that they need better support for the tone, so they compromise by tightening the abdomen and pushing the air out as hard as possible. This creates tension in the glottis and damages the student's vocal technique.
There are a few myths about singing that I didn't necessarily know about. I am excited to hear what you all have to say.
The myth that stuck out most to me was the first one you talked about regarding inhalation. I had never thought about inhaling and trying to feel the breath on the actual vocal cords. However, I do like the thought of inhaling and feeling cool air on the soft palate - like in the "beginning of a yawn" breath, that makes the larynx go down, and raises the soft palate. I hadn't heard of some of these other myths either. I'm interested to see what others think about these in class on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI'm happiest to hear about the myth referring to the lungs going upward when breathing. This is a classic issue with all beginner singers, in that when they breathe they feel their shoulders raise. The idea of breathing must be instilled from the beginning that breathing pushes downward, not upward. Upward breathing will lead to shallow, poor breath control.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point, Alicia. One of Russ's main notes to singers in Meistersingers is to "quiet" the shoulders while breathing. While sometimes correcting this ends up over-correcting to a more "belly-breathing" style, I almost think that fault would be better to correct out of to proper breath support and control mechanisms than high shoulder-breaths.
ReplyDeleteOddly, though, I thought that the dynamically opposed muscles in the abdomen *did* help the process of exhalation; aren't those the muscles you're actively working to counteract when using the appoggio technique?
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ReplyDeleteSo important! I used to think my diaphragm was a little ball in my tummy and when it trembled that was vibrato. So much is figuring out what you can let be passive, what needs to be active, what you're actually sensing and what is actually in your control.
ReplyDeleteYeaaahhh. This is probably these are best things to know about BEFORE you start singing. Voice teachers should just start bringing these different kind of things up so students have a solid idea of what is true and what is false. One that I think just came up in class the other day was:
ReplyDelete1:The diaphragm inhales and exhales: The singer believes the diaphragm needs to help with exhaling when the diaphragm only helps to inhale.
Kinda. But pretty much.
Breathing is a natural process. When singing we do need to have breath control but the act of breathing shouldn't be work. If you are working too hard to breath most people will end up shoulder or belly breathing.
ReplyDeleteI think this ties back into using analogies in lessons. While they can be appropriate at times, I think that it creates a lot of confusion and misconception if the students don't know the process behind it. While they don't need to be able to label the exact muscles involved (especially the ones they have no control of), I think it is important to give an accurate explanation of how the voice works, what is proper technique, and what exactly is happening when bad technique is used.
ReplyDeleteI actually really liked the first myth on inhalation- mostly because I was never conscious of whether or not I was "feeling the air." I then had to sing a little and decide whether or not I was breathing correctly. As someone who always has dry cords, I'm glad I'm not "feeling the air." I'll keep this myth in my back pocket in case I ever have a student with dry cords- maybe it's an inhalation issue!
ReplyDeleteI had actually never heard of the first myth, feeling the air going past the vocal chords. Then I was awkwardly sitting at my computer doing this and I still couldn't feel the air. However, the myth of lungs filling upward is something I think every person goes through in life. When I was really young, before voice lessons and choir, if someone asked for me to take a large breath, most certainly my shoulders and chest would rise.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good list of myths to take note of and save for future students.