Why does breathing make a difference in the way you sound when you sing? First, you cannot produce sound without air. It’s humanly impossible. When you speak, even one word or sound, it is because air strikes the vocal bands (folds) which causes them to vibrate. With vibration, sound is produced.
When we speak, we “let go” of the word quickly which doesn’t require a lot of air. So, just by inhaling and exhaling, using the upper chest cavity, we can carry on a conversation. No big deal. And it is so easy, we seldom ever think about breath at all.
However, when we sing, the very act of singing requires the word to be held (sustained), which demands more air. As hard as we try, breathing for speech, will not supply us with enough air for singing. As a result, we run out of air too soon, fail to project our singing, find that we can’t reach the high notes and even may strain our voice.
Our tone (singing sound) suffers the most when there is not enough air for the tone to “ride on”. Air, is what supports the tone. It acts as a cushion for singing. Without this cushion, we just take our chances when we sing, hoping that because we like the song, or the singer who recorded the song, our voice will sound great.
You can practice all day and all night long, but if you are not breathing correctly, by using your diaphragm, practicing won’t help you to sing better. By clicking on the link above, you will be guided to how to use the diagphragmatic muscle to help you sing better. Until you learn how to breathe with the use of the “breathing muscle”, the diaphragm, your singing will not improve. You will not be able to sing better.
As you learn “the belly breath”, you will become a healtheir person. The belly breath is used to reduce stress and tension as your body “let’s go” and completely relaxes.
The benefits of changing from chest breathing to belly breathing are many. You were born breathing the correct way. It’s time to return to the life-giving power of good breathing.