July 14, 2025 • 48 mins
Contemporary singing shouldn’t constantly feel like a full-body workout—and if it does, you’re probably overdoing it. In this episode, we’re breaking down the real difference between support, control, and squeezing. You’ll learn why your diaphragm isn’t involved, and how smart engagement (not force) unlocks real vocal freedom. There’s also an air hockey table analogy you’ll never forget—because great singing is more about glide than grunt. If you’ve been working hard but still feel stuck, this is where things start to make sense.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I think that's like a very clear way to identify it
like I it's
you know like exactly on paper
breath con breath support is the taking
being able to take in the amount of air that you need
for any given phrase right
like it's the ability um
the control is how you use it
how it's it's the function
uh engaging at the vocal fold
(00:20):
maybe not engaging but at the vocal fold level
actually getting the amount of air that you need out
so the ability to take in a really big breath
that's support or just the right amount of air
that's support yeah
using that is a different story
cause you can have really strong support and be able
to and they go where there is a fire
(00:41):
there is gonna be a fire right
like let it all yeah this mic is over me right now
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
(01:04):
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the 3 fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry
whether you're looking to go pro
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources Alrighty
(01:24):
are you ready let's get started
singing with support what the heck does that even mean
well I am joined by Coach Juliana
Coach Bri and Coach Emily from our team to dissect
what does singing with support mean
because oh my god can it be confusing
(01:45):
and everybody has a different definition for it
and everybody is confused on it about it
I was confused for the longest time
and and so let's maybe start with what is it
not not singing from your diaphragm no
it is not so
who wants to explain
why singing from your diaphragm is not a thing
(02:05):
get in there alright go coach Bree
um okay
so the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle what is it
an involuntary muscle
thank you hahaha so welcome Juliana hahaha um
you you can't control it
like your heart keeps beating
is the same thing for your diaphragm
you keep breathing in your sleep
(02:26):
you keep breathe if you like pass out
cause you didn't eat enough or drink enough water
eat and drink enough water hahaha
but you'll keep breathing
but you will keep breathing
but you will keep breathing yes um
it's a little sheet muscle right here underneath um
your lungs it separates your thoracic cavity from your
(02:46):
like abdominal cavity okay
and it's just like this
and when it contracts it contracts on your inhalation
and when it does that
it pulls the bottom of your lungs down
and it creates a negative pressure
so essentially like a vacuum that sucks all the air in
so that's what's happening
like at the anatomical level
(03:06):
like when you're breathing in
that is so weird to think about
like when you're breathing in
you're not like breathing in
you're sucking air in yeah
it's crazy right
to think about that yeah
hahaha so if the diaphragm is involved in inhalation
and it's an involuntary muscle
it has nothing to do with exhalation
(03:28):
which we haven't said yet
but is support hahaha
and there she is hahaha
there she goes yes
so your diaphragm is contracting
it's active it's working when you're breathing in
and it is relaxed when you're breathing out
completely relaxed
just like you have biceps and triceps right
(03:48):
yes the
what did you say they are
you know the word antagonistic pair
yeah right
um muscles can only contract in one direction
so you have your bicep that does this
and your tricep that does this
yes my bicep was not involved in extending my arm
your diaphragm is not involved in
pushing air out of your lungs
and when do we sing believe it or not
(04:09):
we sing on our exhalation
not our inhalation except sometimes
except sometimes you know who you are
Emily was talking the story earlier
oh like
how was she you was working with somebody yeah
I had student I've been working with for years
and we've been I and she basically was like
I've been inhaling when I sing and I was like huh what
(04:33):
yes what
like that's so hard like yes
which is like hard work yeah but you're killing it
well and she
she's a very advanced student too
so it would just be these little moments where I'm like
what is going on she's breathing in okay
well I was stumped yes
the voice is a wind instrument
(04:53):
yeah meaning without air there is no sound
but preferably it's going out
it's going out it's not coming in through your feel
like with whistling you can
with whistle on your exhalation
a lot easier than on your inhalation
but you can with singing
please just stick to the exhalation not the inhalation
the voice is not a harmonica
(05:13):
no
ha ha it's a harmonica
it's a flute we got harmonica
ha ha so we
the diaphragm is working on our inhalation
not our exhalation
which makes it physically impossible to sing
or support from your diaphragm okay
so we can strike that out of our vocabulary
(05:34):
sing from your diaphragm busted yes
yes
super busted don't don't
so it is not singing from your diaphragm
what else is singing with support not
squeezing it in squeezing the apps
squeezing the apps and letting the air out
cause you're not really I had to exhale after I squeeze
(05:55):
exactly I didn't get an exhale while I was
because of why the Valsalva maneuver
the what the who
Valsalva maneuver okay
so here's the thing you know
when you go to the bathroom
or you're lifting something really heavy
you know when you go
oh
exactly that
(06:16):
right
like that's what happens when you lift something heavy
you need to build up the
this internal pressure to perform a strenuous task
like going to the bathroom
or just lifting something really heavy right
and so when we do that
your ABS are somehow connected to your vocal folds
I don't really know the science behind it yeah
yeah we're building up subglottal pressure
(06:38):
so it's yes
so the glottis is the space between the vocal folds
mm hmm so subglottal means when they're closed tight
yeah and we're building up air pressure
air pressure below it yeah
yes can I share a fun fact about it
I would love for you to the glottis hahaha
it's the only um
like thing that has an anatomical name in the body
(07:00):
that's not a physical structure yes
it's like a it's in between space
it's a space yes
a cavity yeah
oh there you go
fun fact there you go
so that's why you just have to do that
when you were squeezing your ABS
you let all of your air come out after the fact
because when you're squeezing your ABS really tightly
your vocal folds are also squeezing together
(07:22):
really tightly
and when they're squeezing together really tightly
the air can come through
so if you're squeezing your ABS like curtsy
good luck trying to sing
there's no air going to be there to support you yeah
but have you guys seen the video of
pink laying on the floor
and somebody standing on her ABS
(07:42):
and she's singing no crazy insert here
coach Drea Webber okay
tighten up your stomach okay
ready be nice now sing where there is desire
there is come on
there is a flame come on where there is a flame
just because it fires doesn't mean you're gonna die
(08:05):
you gotta get off hahaha
yeah
it's a crazy she's just like belting her face off
and that brings up a great point when we come
when we're talking about support
we're talking about breathing in
you don't your breathing in is not exclusively
like a lower body activity
(08:26):
I feel like that's a
that's another myth we can bust that you
that this is the best and only breath
that's the only way to get a full breath
pushing out your stomach
that breathing up here is bad for you
girl no
girl no
there are four main methods of breathing
but the way that I like to explain them to students is
we have our clavicular here
we have our back we think of our clavicular here
we have our back we think of our growing wings
(08:47):
we think of growing our angel wing
things out expanding from the back
that's so cute hi
hi um
the fly little angel hi
hi that's precious
and then we have the the lower
the abdominal breath right
we're talking about inhalation
and then the balanced apogee breath
right so I work with a lot
of dancers who have cores that are just constantly like
(09:09):
squeeze squeeze just all the time
their resting state is the end of my plank
you know hahaha yeah
you know can relate hahaha
but like yeah
so um
so get having them take a low breath is just not ideal
also
if you're aiming to be in the ensemble of a musical
where you are dancing your face off
(09:31):
like
you need your ABS to be contracted in order to do that
and you want your ribcage a little closed
so you need to find a creative way
a place to to inhale a place in your body to inhale
so I'll often direct
dancers to breathe into their angel wings'cause that
that upper back we're using that thoracic breath
we're like expanding our rib cage
uh huh but in a more fun cute way
(09:55):
yeah so so with that pink video
I would go to say that she's not in taking in a real
I mean I maybe she is I'm not in her body
but that she's not taking in a really low deep breath
also that low deep breath yes
this is like it's so not what she's doing
cause if she's taking a low deep breath
it's gonna pull your larynx down and um
(10:16):
and she's belting high and she's belting high
which means we need a flexible to high larynx
to high your larynx
so she's probably breathing in somewhere else yeah
I wanna try it so bad I know we should later
I feel like that would be cool
I'm ready
yeah let me take off my shoes
who wants are you gonna take that off
I think it's
it's so interesting cause there's another visual cue
(10:39):
another video of Miley Cyrus singing Angels
Like You on a gym and you can see her ABS just like
going like super square and like crunchy
and it's so cool
but you can't really see the rest of her body
like what's happening in her
like back and like on her sides
like engaging is not the same as squeezing
and like
you can't really know until you feel it in your body
(11:00):
so like learning how with us
no hahaha
you we can help you get there okay
so we've talked a lot about like
engaging versus squeezing yeah
but we haven't talked about what muscles we're using
and engaging when we're talking about like
breath flow or breath support or breath control yeah
then we even open the door to control
(11:21):
oh my God okay
where are we going yeah yeah
um
but yeah like so
so you want to talk about like the muscles that like
what muscles do it how okay
um so we talked about inhalation exhalation
it's important to realize that the lungs are not
a muscle they're an organ
and I like to tell people to think of them as sponges
(11:42):
because they're there to like
take in the air to squeeze
to let the air like flow out of it
but the lungs themselves are not squeezing
the air out of your body
muscles either in your chest
like the muscles between your ribs or your abdominals
um
are squeezing in and essentially pushing other organs
(12:05):
up against the lungs to physically
like squeeze air out of them
like a balloon right
um so yeah yeah
that's yeah
100% and that opens up
that really does open the conversation to control
do we want to get into the breath control conversation
yes let's do it
yeah okay
(12:26):
so uh
breath support versus control
like what well
what even is well
what's the difference yeah
what is aren't they the same
f no
don't you start with me f no
f no well
like how how slash do you identify a difference
(12:47):
um I'll say like as a singer when
when you're talking about breathing
I very clearly have a difference in my head of like
support versus control
but I want to hear from you guys first
because I feel like in very modern times
at least since I started singing
I've thought they were the same
like I thought like
you're supporting and controlling at the same time
but no supporting is part of the inhalation
(13:09):
and controlling is part of the exhalation
is that yeah correct
yeah that would
I would is that correct teacher
yes lady with a master's degree no
I think that's like a very clear way to identify it
like I it's
you know like exactly on paper breath con
breath support is the taking
being able to take in the amount of air that you need
(13:30):
for any given phrase right
like it's the ability
the control is how you use it
how it's it's the function uh
engaging at the vocal fold
maybe not engaging but at the vocal fold level
actually getting the amount of air that you need out
so the ability to take in a really big breath
that's support or just the right amount of air
(13:51):
that's support yeah
using that is a different story
cause you can have really strong support
and be able to and then go where there is a fire
there is gonna be a fire right
like let it all yeah
this mic is over me right now
um like
and that's so interesting
yeah I
historically
always thought that breath support and control
(14:12):
I didn't think they were the same
like I understood them to mean like
slightly different things
but I definitely like
viewed both of them as relating to exhalation of like
same breath support is like
how much I am pushing air through the vocal tract
and control is how much I'm using in my vocal tone
and it really could be that as well
it's I mean
(14:32):
when we get into the semantics of it all
like it really could be that as well
no I like understanding it
like how you're explaining it as like yeah
the ability and the actual sense for me
it totally it changed throughout my teaching years
at first I was like alright
support is squeezing your ABS sorry
I'm so sorry to anybody I've said that
(14:53):
I'm so sorry I have Learned a lot
um
and control is what's happening at the vocal fold level
but also both like the exhalation
not the inhalation and then I was like
Alrighty squeezing your ABS is no bueno
let's not do that okay
cool and so for me
support and control became the same thing
because I removed the squeezing right
(15:14):
but then I was doing a session with both you uh
Kate and you Bree and a week apart oh
I'm Emma oh my God
I thought Emily
I'm hello
I thought you were putting a comma after Kate no
no no no
no you're so sorry
and no but I think it was with you or was it with Kate
yeah it was with me
no so I was doing a session with both you
(15:35):
Emily and you Bree and a week apart
and both of you told me like
oh like for that top note there
engage your lower ABS just a little bit
and it's gonna get it easier to get the note out
and that was the first time after years of like
just relax your ABS just relax your ABS
just relax your ABS I was like
(15:55):
oh okay
like it's okay to engage your ABS
but there's a difference between engagement and
squeezing yeah right yeah
I would love for us to feel something for a second yes
let's feel alright let's feel dead inside
oh no
so it's very simple
we're just gonna take in a take in a breath
(16:16):
a big breath and just exhale and I want we're
you're welcome to close
you're invited to close your eyes
and all of you as well are invited to close your eyes
and I want you to feel
the series of events that in your
occurs in your body as you breathe out okay
so we'll just breathe in
uh just go ahead breathe in and then
(16:38):
now just go ahead and breathe it all out
till you're totally out of air
when you have nothing left
and even when you think you have nothing left going
oh oops shit
I'm sorry I started breathing it again okay
and then you can stop if you're out please wow
so what did you notice I had to squeeze my ABS
(17:00):
not squeeze my butt
like I like pull them in to really push
push the air out like at the at the tail end
you know okay
yeah yeah yeah
not at first but just at the tail end
to really get the last pieces out yeah
like do you feel like the expansion
and then the complete retraction of every muscle to
like
yeah so like to
to get all of the air out of my lungs first
(17:23):
it was like a steady flow that I was like
pulling my core in and up um
and then as it was getting less and less and I was like
okay more and more has to go then um
my ribs started to come in
and then my shoulder started to drop
and then continue just like kind of
(17:44):
so really
yeah yeah yeah
to get the last bit out yeah
those are all like great observations exactly
exactly what I was going for
which is that your the
the lower AB thing that's just how your body exhales
we're just being a little intentional with it like
like you said
it starts in your lower ABS and it makes its way up
right and then
then the diaphragm flaps up not via us
(18:05):
not via our us telling it to
but via via the parachute
all the insides that you're pushing up against
the bottom of the lungs yeah
the lower ABS yeah yeah
the ABS right
the abdominals is literally like you're moving
it's like organ soup yeah
oh your insides are out too
that's like literally what's happening yeah
so it's like
(18:26):
just follow what your body already knows how to
that's the singing tip
your body already knows how to do it yes
but with breathing too your body knows how to do it
and we can take that and run with it
and be really intentional
maybe intentionally inhale more to exhale more
but using the lower ABS like that
that's why the I mean
I would say that's why the squeezing is not effective
(18:48):
because it's not
that's not how your body knows how to exhale
yeah and I have to say
I didn't really feel much engagement at all
in my upper ABS I usually don't like
like just on that exhalation exercise
yeah that we just did
and pre enlightened Laura would when I when singing
(19:10):
squeeze the top apps not the not lower right
so now both of you guys said engaged low
I'm like oh
okay okay
but yes
there's a difference between engaging and squeezing
yeah which like
if you're squeezing and too much is coming out
like it's gonna be like
where there is a fire versus like
just squeezing the right amount is like
(19:31):
I'm not gonna say that if you're hearing the like
engage the ABS but don't squeeze them
what does that even mean
one exercise that can be helpful in finding like the
the just the right balance is pulsing on an s
and like even when I just did that just now
the first one was like huh
way too much engagement
(19:52):
but then as you go you find the like oh
and it's like
your core is moving out a little bit each time
in between it
and engaging a little bit each time when you do it
and that's the type of like
Turbo Boost that I was referring to
when I was telling you like yeah
just use your core like a little Turbo Boost
like you're running over a mushroom in Mario Kart
(20:13):
you know I love that
thank you you're gonna get you right there
I you eat up those analogies
is that it yeah
OK gamer alright
talking about analogies
left handed creative brain over here
haha talking about analogies
one of my favorite analogies for singing with support
comes from you Bree
(20:34):
it's your air hockey table analogy
and we emailed our list about it
and everybody was like mind blowing
I like oh my god thank you Coach Bree
that was fantastic so
can you fill us all in on what is the air hockey table
yeah OK
we're gonna take a trip to the arcade right now um
in our minds and we've all played air hockey yes
(20:54):
like you've been to tables and you go
and it's just going like
and the little guards come up
and you still leave the table with bloody knuckles
after
you know
we get into it a little too hard
we yeah everyone gets too competitive with air hockey
it's like it's how siblings air out there
oh yeah oh yeah
um
(21:15):
but have you guys ever been to an arcade and like
try to play an air hockey table
that's either like broken
or it's not plugged in or something
it doesn't go anywhere
you can still hit the puck across the table
but it's just not gonna go as far
like
you have to work so hard to get it across the table
you have to hit it so yeah
exactly um
it's like it's scraping across the table
there's just a little bit too much friction
so in this scenario I want you to imagine your voice
(21:39):
and the sound that you're making
as the puck on the table
and when the air hockey table is on
and it's going Bing Bing
Bing Bing and it's just like flying
it's doing that
because it's not actually physically touching
the surface of the table it's floating on air
that's being shot up through the little tiny
right yes
so if we're singing and the air hockey table is off
(22:02):
it's gonna feel like really tight and like heavy
and you can stop like
sing and still sound like you have
like a warm enough tone
if you're manipulating your vowels and everything
and all this other stuff just okay
but um
what was the song the fallen song
um
Love you darling yes okay
(22:23):
so like I could sing that and be like
Loving You Darling
and I'm singing and it's like it's fine right
but like it's just a little bit flat
not in pitch but just mmm hmm
it's Amber yes
it's his ring thank you
yeah yeah
so then I'm gonna go
and I'm gonna turn the air hockey table on
(22:43):
and really what
I mean by that is
I'm moving that air flow through the body
and through the vocal tract
and then I'll sing it as I love you darling
yeah and it has the spin
it has the ring the
the live yeah
and so that is the air hockey table analogy
and I am so proud of it it is phenomenal
(23:07):
it is amazing lovely
it is a great analogy
but I've loved using it in lessons
it's actually been one of the most helpful things
that I've been able to bring to my students
yeah well
one word that you used was flow
and this is probably my biggest it
it was the biggest thing for me
in my personal journey with singing
with support um
(23:27):
and usually the big thing that I tell students as well
so this would be like my No. 1 tip
uh think of support as flow right
like whether you you
you know you have support being your inhalation
and control being your exhalation
like I said I usually kind of like yeah
it's often like on according to the
(23:48):
according to the Google scholars of it
all right like the it's
it's two separate events but as a singer
as a teacher yeah
we got
it was great thing to know because we wanna give like
yeah clear direction
yeah but as a student
I mean if it
if it's I breathe in pink and I breathe out yellow
and that works for you
(24:08):
rock it you're right yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
so yeah
I usually I focus on just let it flow
let the air flow out don't hold back on it
cause I'm a pusher I'm a squeezer
and so I have too much vocal fold closure
usually too much squeeze whatever
and and because of that
(24:29):
there's not enough air coming through
so I am thinking like open the vocal folds
let the air flow out obviously
without sounding breathy'cause
if you open the vocal folds too much
you sound breathy right
right unless that's the goal
then that's a different story
but I usually just try and focus on just flow
just use your air let the yeah
let the sound sit on top of your air right
(24:50):
like the yeah
hug on top of the a the air yes
I love that
so that's like my big thing that I usually tell singers
and it seems to resonate with a lot of them out there
yeah do you guys have like a singing
like a support tip
you probably don't need more air for pop music
than you do for speaking
like right now I'm still speaking
(25:11):
we're talking
and I can bring it up and I can bring it really high
and I can just stay here
and I still don't have to take in a breath
and then I can take it really low and really quiet
and kind of breathy and I still
don't need a breath and in a minute
and now I have hahaha right
but that was I think that was a long time
that was a long time right
like you are totally capable of doing that
so don't get caught up in the breathing of it all
(25:31):
you know like maybe not the breathing of it all
but you are capable uh
you your your lungs can take it your lungs can take it
I'll say that yeah um
don't worry about breathing too much
that's something that I see a lot as well of like
sometimes I love you sometimes you make me blue huh
(25:53):
yeah cause I'm stuck here
that oxygen doesn't have a chance to right like escape
so it turns to CO2 in your lungs
and that's when you get stuck with that
really tight feeling where you
you just can't catch your breath
and you're here and now you're getting tension
you just need to exhale let it out
so what I often do is just
if I see someone working with that
I just say alright
exhale everything you got
(26:13):
like kind of like where I was like
keep going
keep exhaling till you literally feel nothing right
or you feel like you cannot handle it anymore
and then sing a phrase
and you'll probably be able to do that
that's not how we're gonna sing the whole song
that's not how we're gonna artistically approach it
but sometimes you need to
prove to yourself what you can do
and you need to alert your body
tell your nervous system like
(26:33):
I don't need more air I don't need more air
I'm OK so that's my tip
you're probably breathing too much alright
after we talked about using air
you also may be breathing too much
yeah I love that like yeah
like only take as much air as you need
that's a huge part of support
taking in just the right amount of air
yeah yeah
not over breathing yeah yeah yeah Juliana
(26:55):
do you have a tip yes
I feel like including myself
a lot of singers need a visual cue
so learning to
understand how it feels when we're breathing
when we're holding when we're exhaling
and looking at ourselves in a mirror
or if you're recording yourself
to see how it's actually functioning
and not just think oh yeah
(27:16):
I'm gonna breathe
and then I'm gonna hold and then I'm gonna engage
like it's a lot of process mentally
but if you're watching it happen live
um it helps so much to
you know absorb in your muscles
and then that muscle memory kicks in later
so you don't need to worry about it too much later
you can just enjoy singing
just enjoy singing just have fun
ha ha ha ha ha
(27:38):
yeah that's the point yeah
what about you Bree um
my biggest tip for singers is
if you feel like you need to work on breath support and
you know that's like a problem area um
remove the song from it remove the singing from it
and go and connect with your body
and with your breath first um
(28:00):
because that's ultimately like where it starts right
we can
if we can connect to that breathing mechanism and just
like get in your body and feel what it feels like to
take in enough air to be able to support
and then practice controlling the exhalation
and controlling it in two ways right
we're controlling it here with the rate of exhalation
(28:21):
like by how we're engaging um
our muscles and like
usually thinking of that as like the abdominals
and then also controlling here
like how much air is escaping in the tone of like um
and that's like
(28:43):
that's control here at the vocal fold level
at the vocal fold level yeah
yeah so
can you walk us through what that would look like
if we were struggling with that phrase
for example in a song and then like we're removing it
like removing the song from it
but then how do we yeah
translate that back into the song
(29:03):
you know it's like ah
how do we go from exercise to song
can I can I walk us through an exercise
yeah let's do it OK
so the first exercise
I'm gonna do is just a breathing exercise
like literally not even related to the song at all
so OK
yeah I just needed to take that deep breath in OK
we're doing it with you haha
(29:23):
um
this is an exercise
that you guys can all do on your own um
and you listeners can do at home as well
all you need is a metronome
today I will be your metronome
I will love it uh
please know I was not a percussion major and so hahaha
perfect
please don't be annoying about it okay
no but I'll be the better
(29:44):
now
we're gonna take a controlled inhale over four counts
every time that we do this exercise
the inhale stays the same four counts
and then we're gonna
progressively extend our exhalation on a hiss
um from by extending by four counts each time so we'll
we're all singers we'll start with 12
(30:04):
sometimes I start my students with eight counts
sometimes we start with 12
it just really depends on the person um
so do what feels right to you OK
um but we'll start with 12
we're gonna do exhale on 12
and then 16 and then 20 today okay
um and then
we'll kind of walk through where we go from there
but let's take a deep cleansing breath in and out
and get started
(30:27):
good breathe in for four two
three 4 and his
going for 12 this time
halfway 8 9
10 11 12 get the air out hahaha
(30:50):
cause we won't be oh my gosh
thank you for reminding me
one thing I didn't stipulate is that this
exercise is really good about like
for budgeting air and learning to practice budgeting
because we
obviously don't want to run out of air before the end
but to your point
we also don't want to have a ton of air left over
at the end we want to be able to use all our breath
yeah I could have kept going way longer
(31:12):
but the goal was not necessarily
to go for as long as possible
yes right
it was to it was to go end at zero
I also feel like it's a really great exercise
for learning how much to breathe in
for a given yes
because I don't need to breathe
I don't need to inhale the same amount for a four count
20 counts and to yeah yeah yes
yeah and are we breathing in through the mouth
(31:33):
or through the nose through the mouth
through the mouth OK
yeah alright
you'll get a deeper breath through the nose
hmm
is that right and we reset
started breathing and I was
I was still going no
that's the interesting you well
deeper might not be bigger
but it'll shoot right down hmm
one thing I also tell students about like shoot
(31:55):
like shooting the breath down
is to breathe in through straw lips
yeah
it immediately engages for me
which also release it like
relaxes my larynx
when I'm breathing in through the mouth
yeah sometimes like if I'm breathing in through my nose
I feel like are you sucking your tongue
probably yeah I just noticed that I did that
(32:15):
that's crazy that you could even notice that hahaha
I'm always aware of my tongue my tongue goes crazy
it goes crazy my tongue that Lord goes back oh my gosh
you got history hahaha okay
uh should we try for 16
yeah hahaha
so we're gonna end at zero air
(32:36):
end at zero air and however
you're gonna feel like you have the most control
your area I usually tell students
to breathe in through the mouth
because it's the quickest
breath access that we have when we're singing
and so I've worked with students that are like
I thought
breathing through my nose was better for singing
because I do like this deep breathing with you
and I'm like it's a great breathing technique
and it's a great breathing practice
(32:56):
but if you do that when you're on stage
and take a good life
a catch breath in through your nose
and you're not gonna be able to
you're gonna like choke yeah
I imagine that because what if you're congested
oh yeah screw off yeah
OK let's take a cleansing breath in
I let it all the way out
good breathe in for 4 2 3 4 and hiss
(33:31):
8 halfway
well 13 14 15 16 0
haha
0 0 0 0 bro I think my
my body probably would have wanted to stop at 15
(33:52):
uh huh but I was like no I can keep going
but you have that extra push
yeah
but I was using more breath than I needed to make a
sound yeah
but again the goal was to end at zero
right right
yeah and that push
like for me came directly from like those lower
the lower yeah
yeah which
and another way that you can control
especially in this exercise
is by managing your s sound right
(34:13):
by changing your tongue placement
um sometimes I'll have
do this exercise
and a student will like run out of breath
like so fast
we'll do it like 8 counts and they'll be like
and they're like out of air by 5
yeah and I'm like okay
let's re evaluate where our tongue is haha
yeah um
because we can also like
(34:33):
really block the air too much and be like yeah
yeah and add too much
right exactly
so which also means like
there is part of breath control that happens here
yeah
all up to the articulators
yeah which is crazy to think about
and so you have your core your your
(34:55):
vocal folds and your mouth and the pharynx is in there
we just know it
ha ha ha
you know she's like
she's like twank
that's actually probably just me
please twank absolutely
um okay
let's do 20 and then we'll bridge this back to the song
but okay deep breath in
(35:15):
release
good breathe in for four two
three four and hiss
(35:36):
10 Halfway
15
16 home stretch 17 18 19
it's funny I had to start pushing more air out again
I was like yeah
I'm gonna run out I'm like
no I'm not I'm not okay
(35:56):
out out out yeah yeah yeah
it's so hard to keep it steady through the entire thing
I do something similar
but I'm totally gonna steal this from her not for sure
but I do something similar that I stole it from my um
university like love absolutely yeah
that I mean that's how that's how you go
you get something that you learn and then you're like
oh this is awesome but yeah
I I have to do a similar exercise
that I Learned from my friend
(36:17):
Sam Eisley who's awesome
an awesome voice teacher um
and I just don't do it with the metronome
I just time
that's what basically the only difference
and
one thing that I communicate to my students a lot is
instead of going
or even when you have this 20 second
if you wanna do it for a long time
think about letting out less air for a longer period
(36:40):
so less just less for longer stay there
and it's not quite adding the resistance
but it's just keeping the air in the lungs yeah
you can feel it rushing up and just staying at
in that subglottal area right
yeah yeah
oh my gosh okay
speaking of timing on exhale
I went to a voice clinic recently um
(37:01):
because I had some like
really bad laryngitis that was like
ongoing for a long time um
and didn't end up having it like an injury or anything
thank God but um went to go get it checked
and the vocal therapist that was
meeting with me
asked me to exhale for as long as I could on an s
(37:21):
and I did for like 22 or 23 seconds or something
and she was like impressive work and I was like
oh thank you
and then she asked me to exhale for as long as I could
pick any note I wanted on a Z
oh
and we've done that as a challenge before and yes
I discovered
but then
I saw her doing something in the computer with it
(37:42):
and I think and my z was like 12 seconds
mm hmm okay
and then I saw her like typing and I was like
did did you just make a ratio with the Z and the s
and she was like
never in all my years has anybody asked me that
I feel so validated oh my God
to her cause I'm gonna
do some voice therapy sessions
with her later this summer
and I'm so excited about it
but she was like yes
(38:04):
it can be a really great indicator
if there's a really imbalance
between your s and your z
because the only difference between those two
they're formulated in exactly the same way
they're actually
and I'm gonna get super nerdy for a second
called a consonant cognate
it means they're formed the same way
but one is voiceless the s
(38:25):
and one is pitched yes exactly
um
and so when you're exhaling
and if there's like a big difference
it can be a really good indicator of um
inefficient closure
which is exactly what was happening for me right
like that's exactly why I went in
um but I thought that was super interesting
(38:46):
that is so cool I'm so math
isn't that insane
math is everywhere in music and it makes
I'm sad no
haha you're good at math
you're not
haha
wow that's so fun
yeah isn't that no
(39:06):
it's cool to know it is very cool
it's very cool yeah
that's awesome oh my God
we've done that as a challenge with my
like this vocal community that I'm part of
and I didn't know that we could like get actual
like clinical data from it
that's insane it makes so much sense
but yeah wow
I love it anyways
that's awesome a little nerding out moment for you
but I wanna
come back to this breathing exercise that we just did
(39:27):
and ask you guys what were you thinking about
while you were doing this exercise
keeping the airflow steady as much as possible
what like without the going like zzz
yeah like yeah
without the Z sound but
you know like that
keeping it steady uh
but then also making sure that I'm budgeting it right
(39:49):
yeah right
so I'm at zero I don't have leftover
but I'm also not running out before right
so that was
those were the two main things that I was thinking
about yeah yeah
like not dying
haha real
I love it so real
I was actually this time
I was very focused on alignment
so not like perfect Buster me me but like
you know
(40:09):
allowing my in my inhale to expand in my rib cage
and then just like staying expanded
thinking about how my body is gonna do the exhalation
for me yeah yeah
I love that yeah
I say a lot to my students
like let the air do the work for you yes
and that was one of those moments
let the air do the work for you
(40:29):
yeah
let the air do the hockey yeah
let the hockey do the work wow
yes but yeah
like and let it let it do the work for you
and that was a moment where I was like
oh that thing I say makes sense cause it's out of yeah
yeah that's awesome
um yeah
I love that well
it's just like
(40:50):
getting out of the song and getting into our bodies
right and like focusing on that
so then one of the hardest things that I faced
as a student of voice
and also as a coach is bridging the gap from
I connect with my voice or with my breath
so well when it has nothing to do with the song
and how do I bring that into yeah
the song so
something I started doing with my students
(41:11):
pretty recently um
if we're struggling to
to make the correction when I'm prompting like okay
engage a little bit more I wanna hear more air flow
moving through the vocal tract um
is we'll start with that exercise
and then we'll go back to that song
so can you sing um
yeah okay
a little bit of it and I'm gonna demonstrate
(41:33):
what I'm gonna have my students do okay
as our like step 1 of bringing this over okay
let's try
huh
(41:56):
yeah okay
that's the chorus yeah
exactly that's right
doesn't really matter what part you sing right
it doesn't matter what part you sing at all
so
what I'm doing there is I'm having them
for the duration of each phrase
where you're going to take a breath
to push as much air as possible through
on that shh on that SH um
(42:17):
the SH rather than the s because the SH is easier to
like it takes more air to make that sound yeah
um so
and we're something we do a lot in voice teaching
is overcorrecting so we're going way yes
this is this is the extreme
this is the most amount of air that you could be using
here this is the
the most extreme
way that your body could be involved in this
(42:39):
um so we do that first and then they're like
oh my gosh I cannot believe it
like every time without fail
it's awesome um
and then we're gonna go ahead and add pitch to it
so just like s and Z are the same um
s H can become
so we're gonna add that to it um
(42:59):
do you wanna try it let's do it
yeah okay
ah
are you nice
(43:21):
hahaha
did you get the tickle
I totally inhaled some of my spit
oh
hahaha
so what I heard you do was like
it was like super smooth like your was smooth
it was not like
like you know
like making the different notes happen
but it was just like shh
(43:43):
like you were still singing the different notes
but it was smooth I love that you pointed that out
so yes and I will give that
explicit instructions to my students today
nice 2 is like
leave the articulation out of it just for this moment
because articulation is at the mouth level
and it's not at the core level
and it's not even at the vocal fold level
which is where like
(44:04):
most of the disconnect is in terms of engage
like utilizing your breath control really well right
is there's disconnect here or there's disconnect here
um so
we leave the articulation out of it
to go for as smooth and steady flow as possible'cause
the goal um
is for that breath flow to stay consistent
the entire time that's not changing
(44:26):
and we're creating the articulation
by interrupting that flow
with pressures in the mouth
that's creating the consonants
like
if you want to get really into the nitty gritty of it
yeah um
but yeah like
do you guys know the um
the word laminar flow
no what
laminar flow English
second language here I have an excuse okay
(44:48):
yeah
like some people have literally made art installations
I think about it but it's referring to like
when water is flowing
either over a waterfall or out of a faucet
and it's totally uninterrupted
and it's so consistent that it looks like it's frozen
it looks like it's not moving
like a picture instead of a video
yeah yeah
it looks like a picture instead of a video
(45:09):
cause there's not like droplets spraying everywhere
it's just like
it's just like it just is
what's that called that laminar flow
laminar flow L a m
I N a R yeah
that yeah
thank you that you need to do that a lot slower
my brain to catch up with that
but I got it I'll put it on screen
we'll write it down but
(45:32):
support and really engage
like really utilizing good breath control
is starting with
having that laminar flow of your breath
yeah yeah
um that it should be consistent the whole time
and your articulation is done here in your mouth
yeah yeah yeah
oh very cool
yeah and so okay
so now we did it on the Je
(45:53):
uh huh we did the pitches
it's the next step to just put the lyrics back in
uh huh very cool
yeah and it's been like
ever since I've started doing that with students
it's made the biggest difference
like in terms of how much progress we're able to make
on that front and how much more quickly it's like
able to stick right
I think really
because of how overcorrecting we're going with the shh
(46:17):
but even like when I was just doing that
the SH to the ZH um
my core was engaging differently when I was
when I had the phonation yeah cool
yeah we're all gonna steal that
oh yeah totally stealing that
please do it's like anyone can steal it
like it's life changing seriously
(46:38):
try it please
very cool so if you listening or watching
if you feel like you're not exhaling
while you're singing and you would like to change that
because you should hahaha
it makes everything a lot easier
uh do that
do that exercise and the other thing I'll say is
don't try it for like the whole song at a time
like please oh my God
you pass out lines
(47:00):
like yeah
we did the entire course
we probably could have done just half of that
yeah and it would have been yeah yeah
cause it's the same thing twice anyways
you know working baby chunks
yeah yes
zoom in yes
I love it
I'm feeling good about it
this was like fascinating
I'm learning stuff so this is this is amazing
thank you guys for sharing your
(47:21):
your perspectives
and I hope for everybody watching or listening
that this like
helped you feel a little bit less confused
about singing with support
and and you know
you're like alright cool
I know what I need to do a little bit of engagement
a little bit of the flow
a little bit of the Zhu Zhu and you're good to go
what a what a rhyme that was
(47:43):
oh yeah and look at me wow
I am a poet haha
if you want to work with us
we'd love to work with you yeah
you can learn how to breathe
book a session yeah
hahaha you can book an intro session
which is with me personally
I'm sorry I know you don't love me
you don't want to do a session with me
but it's fine no
I'm kidding but the the interest session is with me
(48:05):
so you know book a session and then we'll see alright
what's happening what do we need to work on
and then
I'll be able to place you with one of these beautiful
ladies um
if you want to continue with lessons
but anyways book a session
we'd love to help you and other than that
make sure you tune in for the next one
cause we'll be talking about more breathing things
and singing things in general Alrighty
we'll catch you in the next one bye
I think that's like a very clear way to identify it
like I it's
you know like exactly on paper
breath con breath support is the taking
being able to take in the amount of air that you need
for any given phrase right
like it's the ability um
the control is how you use it
how it's it's the function
uh engaging at the vocal fold
(00:20):
maybe not engaging but at the vocal fold level
actually getting the amount of air that you need out
so the ability to take in a really big breath
that's support or just the right amount of air
that's support yeah
using that is a different story
cause you can have really strong support and be able
to and they go where there is a fire
(00:41):
there is gonna be a fire right
like let it all yeah this mic is over me right now
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
(01:04):
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the 3 fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry
whether you're looking to go pro
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources Alrighty
(01:24):
are you ready let's get started
singing with support what the heck does that even mean
well I am joined by Coach Juliana
Coach Bri and Coach Emily from our team to dissect
what does singing with support mean
because oh my god can it be confusing
(01:45):
and everybody has a different definition for it
and everybody is confused on it about it
I was confused for the longest time
and and so let's maybe start with what is it
not not singing from your diaphragm no
it is not so
who wants to explain
why singing from your diaphragm is not a thing
(02:05):
get in there alright go coach Bree
um okay
so the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle what is it
an involuntary muscle
thank you hahaha so welcome Juliana hahaha um
you you can't control it
like your heart keeps beating
is the same thing for your diaphragm
you keep breathing in your sleep
(02:26):
you keep breathe if you like pass out
cause you didn't eat enough or drink enough water
eat and drink enough water hahaha
but you'll keep breathing
but you will keep breathing
but you will keep breathing yes um
it's a little sheet muscle right here underneath um
your lungs it separates your thoracic cavity from your
(02:46):
like abdominal cavity okay
and it's just like this
and when it contracts it contracts on your inhalation
and when it does that
it pulls the bottom of your lungs down
and it creates a negative pressure
so essentially like a vacuum that sucks all the air in
so that's what's happening
like at the anatomical level
(03:06):
like when you're breathing in
that is so weird to think about
like when you're breathing in
you're not like breathing in
you're sucking air in yeah
it's crazy right
to think about that yeah
hahaha so if the diaphragm is involved in inhalation
and it's an involuntary muscle
it has nothing to do with exhalation
(03:28):
which we haven't said yet
but is support hahaha
and there she is hahaha
there she goes yes
so your diaphragm is contracting
it's active it's working when you're breathing in
and it is relaxed when you're breathing out
completely relaxed
just like you have biceps and triceps right
(03:48):
yes the
what did you say they are
you know the word antagonistic pair
yeah right
um muscles can only contract in one direction
so you have your bicep that does this
and your tricep that does this
yes my bicep was not involved in extending my arm
your diaphragm is not involved in
pushing air out of your lungs
and when do we sing believe it or not
(04:09):
we sing on our exhalation
not our inhalation except sometimes
except sometimes you know who you are
Emily was talking the story earlier
oh like
how was she you was working with somebody yeah
I had student I've been working with for years
and we've been I and she basically was like
I've been inhaling when I sing and I was like huh what
(04:33):
yes what
like that's so hard like yes
which is like hard work yeah but you're killing it
well and she
she's a very advanced student too
so it would just be these little moments where I'm like
what is going on she's breathing in okay
well I was stumped yes
the voice is a wind instrument
(04:53):
yeah meaning without air there is no sound
but preferably it's going out
it's going out it's not coming in through your feel
like with whistling you can
with whistle on your exhalation
a lot easier than on your inhalation
but you can with singing
please just stick to the exhalation not the inhalation
the voice is not a harmonica
(05:13):
no
ha ha it's a harmonica
it's a flute we got harmonica
ha ha so we
the diaphragm is working on our inhalation
not our exhalation
which makes it physically impossible to sing
or support from your diaphragm okay
so we can strike that out of our vocabulary
(05:34):
sing from your diaphragm busted yes
yes
super busted don't don't
so it is not singing from your diaphragm
what else is singing with support not
squeezing it in squeezing the apps
squeezing the apps and letting the air out
cause you're not really I had to exhale after I squeeze
(05:55):
exactly I didn't get an exhale while I was
because of why the Valsalva maneuver
the what the who
Valsalva maneuver okay
so here's the thing you know
when you go to the bathroom
or you're lifting something really heavy
you know when you go
oh
exactly that
(06:16):
right
like that's what happens when you lift something heavy
you need to build up the
this internal pressure to perform a strenuous task
like going to the bathroom
or just lifting something really heavy right
and so when we do that
your ABS are somehow connected to your vocal folds
I don't really know the science behind it yeah
yeah we're building up subglottal pressure
(06:38):
so it's yes
so the glottis is the space between the vocal folds
mm hmm so subglottal means when they're closed tight
yeah and we're building up air pressure
air pressure below it yeah
yes can I share a fun fact about it
I would love for you to the glottis hahaha
it's the only um
like thing that has an anatomical name in the body
(07:00):
that's not a physical structure yes
it's like a it's in between space
it's a space yes
a cavity yeah
oh there you go
fun fact there you go
so that's why you just have to do that
when you were squeezing your ABS
you let all of your air come out after the fact
because when you're squeezing your ABS really tightly
your vocal folds are also squeezing together
(07:22):
really tightly
and when they're squeezing together really tightly
the air can come through
so if you're squeezing your ABS like curtsy
good luck trying to sing
there's no air going to be there to support you yeah
but have you guys seen the video of
pink laying on the floor
and somebody standing on her ABS
(07:42):
and she's singing no crazy insert here
coach Drea Webber okay
tighten up your stomach okay
ready be nice now sing where there is desire
there is come on
there is a flame come on where there is a flame
just because it fires doesn't mean you're gonna die
(08:05):
you gotta get off hahaha
yeah
it's a crazy she's just like belting her face off
and that brings up a great point when we come
when we're talking about support
we're talking about breathing in
you don't your breathing in is not exclusively
like a lower body activity
(08:26):
I feel like that's a
that's another myth we can bust that you
that this is the best and only breath
that's the only way to get a full breath
pushing out your stomach
that breathing up here is bad for you
girl no
girl no
there are four main methods of breathing
but the way that I like to explain them to students is
we have our clavicular here
we have our back we think of our clavicular here
we have our back we think of our growing wings
(08:47):
we think of growing our angel wing
things out expanding from the back
that's so cute hi
hi um
the fly little angel hi
hi that's precious
and then we have the the lower
the abdominal breath right
we're talking about inhalation
and then the balanced apogee breath
right so I work with a lot
of dancers who have cores that are just constantly like
(09:09):
squeeze squeeze just all the time
their resting state is the end of my plank
you know hahaha yeah
you know can relate hahaha
but like yeah
so um
so get having them take a low breath is just not ideal
also
if you're aiming to be in the ensemble of a musical
where you are dancing your face off
(09:31):
like
you need your ABS to be contracted in order to do that
and you want your ribcage a little closed
so you need to find a creative way
a place to to inhale a place in your body to inhale
so I'll often direct
dancers to breathe into their angel wings'cause that
that upper back we're using that thoracic breath
we're like expanding our rib cage
uh huh but in a more fun cute way
(09:55):
yeah so so with that pink video
I would go to say that she's not in taking in a real
I mean I maybe she is I'm not in her body
but that she's not taking in a really low deep breath
also that low deep breath yes
this is like it's so not what she's doing
cause if she's taking a low deep breath
it's gonna pull your larynx down and um
(10:16):
and she's belting high and she's belting high
which means we need a flexible to high larynx
to high your larynx
so she's probably breathing in somewhere else yeah
I wanna try it so bad I know we should later
I feel like that would be cool
I'm ready
yeah let me take off my shoes
who wants are you gonna take that off
I think it's
it's so interesting cause there's another visual cue
(10:39):
another video of Miley Cyrus singing Angels
Like You on a gym and you can see her ABS just like
going like super square and like crunchy
and it's so cool
but you can't really see the rest of her body
like what's happening in her
like back and like on her sides
like engaging is not the same as squeezing
and like
you can't really know until you feel it in your body
(11:00):
so like learning how with us
no hahaha
you we can help you get there okay
so we've talked a lot about like
engaging versus squeezing yeah
but we haven't talked about what muscles we're using
and engaging when we're talking about like
breath flow or breath support or breath control yeah
then we even open the door to control
(11:21):
oh my God okay
where are we going yeah yeah
um
but yeah like so
so you want to talk about like the muscles that like
what muscles do it how okay
um so we talked about inhalation exhalation
it's important to realize that the lungs are not
a muscle they're an organ
and I like to tell people to think of them as sponges
(11:42):
because they're there to like
take in the air to squeeze
to let the air like flow out of it
but the lungs themselves are not squeezing
the air out of your body
muscles either in your chest
like the muscles between your ribs or your abdominals
um
are squeezing in and essentially pushing other organs
(12:05):
up against the lungs to physically
like squeeze air out of them
like a balloon right
um so yeah yeah
that's yeah
100% and that opens up
that really does open the conversation to control
do we want to get into the breath control conversation
yes let's do it
yeah okay
(12:26):
so uh
breath support versus control
like what well
what even is well
what's the difference yeah
what is aren't they the same
f no
don't you start with me f no
f no well
like how how slash do you identify a difference
(12:47):
um I'll say like as a singer when
when you're talking about breathing
I very clearly have a difference in my head of like
support versus control
but I want to hear from you guys first
because I feel like in very modern times
at least since I started singing
I've thought they were the same
like I thought like
you're supporting and controlling at the same time
but no supporting is part of the inhalation
(13:09):
and controlling is part of the exhalation
is that yeah correct
yeah that would
I would is that correct teacher
yes lady with a master's degree no
I think that's like a very clear way to identify it
like I it's
you know like exactly on paper breath con
breath support is the taking
being able to take in the amount of air that you need
(13:30):
for any given phrase right
like it's the ability
the control is how you use it
how it's it's the function uh
engaging at the vocal fold
maybe not engaging but at the vocal fold level
actually getting the amount of air that you need out
so the ability to take in a really big breath
that's support or just the right amount of air
(13:51):
that's support yeah
using that is a different story
cause you can have really strong support
and be able to and then go where there is a fire
there is gonna be a fire right
like let it all yeah
this mic is over me right now
um like
and that's so interesting
yeah I
historically
always thought that breath support and control
(14:12):
I didn't think they were the same
like I understood them to mean like
slightly different things
but I definitely like
viewed both of them as relating to exhalation of like
same breath support is like
how much I am pushing air through the vocal tract
and control is how much I'm using in my vocal tone
and it really could be that as well
it's I mean
(14:32):
when we get into the semantics of it all
like it really could be that as well
no I like understanding it
like how you're explaining it as like yeah
the ability and the actual sense for me
it totally it changed throughout my teaching years
at first I was like alright
support is squeezing your ABS sorry
I'm so sorry to anybody I've said that
(14:53):
I'm so sorry I have Learned a lot
um
and control is what's happening at the vocal fold level
but also both like the exhalation
not the inhalation and then I was like
Alrighty squeezing your ABS is no bueno
let's not do that okay
cool and so for me
support and control became the same thing
because I removed the squeezing right
(15:14):
but then I was doing a session with both you uh
Kate and you Bree and a week apart oh
I'm Emma oh my God
I thought Emily
I'm hello
I thought you were putting a comma after Kate no
no no no
no you're so sorry
and no but I think it was with you or was it with Kate
yeah it was with me
no so I was doing a session with both you
(15:35):
Emily and you Bree and a week apart
and both of you told me like
oh like for that top note there
engage your lower ABS just a little bit
and it's gonna get it easier to get the note out
and that was the first time after years of like
just relax your ABS just relax your ABS
just relax your ABS I was like
(15:55):
oh okay
like it's okay to engage your ABS
but there's a difference between engagement and
squeezing yeah right yeah
I would love for us to feel something for a second yes
let's feel alright let's feel dead inside
oh no
so it's very simple
we're just gonna take in a take in a breath
(16:16):
a big breath and just exhale and I want we're
you're welcome to close
you're invited to close your eyes
and all of you as well are invited to close your eyes
and I want you to feel
the series of events that in your
occurs in your body as you breathe out okay
so we'll just breathe in
uh just go ahead breathe in and then
(16:38):
now just go ahead and breathe it all out
till you're totally out of air
when you have nothing left
and even when you think you have nothing left going
oh oops shit
I'm sorry I started breathing it again okay
and then you can stop if you're out please wow
so what did you notice I had to squeeze my ABS
(17:00):
not squeeze my butt
like I like pull them in to really push
push the air out like at the at the tail end
you know okay
yeah yeah yeah
not at first but just at the tail end
to really get the last pieces out yeah
like do you feel like the expansion
and then the complete retraction of every muscle to
like
yeah so like to
to get all of the air out of my lungs first
(17:23):
it was like a steady flow that I was like
pulling my core in and up um
and then as it was getting less and less and I was like
okay more and more has to go then um
my ribs started to come in
and then my shoulder started to drop
and then continue just like kind of
(17:44):
so really
yeah yeah yeah
to get the last bit out yeah
those are all like great observations exactly
exactly what I was going for
which is that your the
the lower AB thing that's just how your body exhales
we're just being a little intentional with it like
like you said
it starts in your lower ABS and it makes its way up
right and then
then the diaphragm flaps up not via us
(18:05):
not via our us telling it to
but via via the parachute
all the insides that you're pushing up against
the bottom of the lungs yeah
the lower ABS yeah yeah
the ABS right
the abdominals is literally like you're moving
it's like organ soup yeah
oh your insides are out too
that's like literally what's happening yeah
so it's like
(18:26):
just follow what your body already knows how to
that's the singing tip
your body already knows how to do it yes
but with breathing too your body knows how to do it
and we can take that and run with it
and be really intentional
maybe intentionally inhale more to exhale more
but using the lower ABS like that
that's why the I mean
I would say that's why the squeezing is not effective
(18:48):
because it's not
that's not how your body knows how to exhale
yeah and I have to say
I didn't really feel much engagement at all
in my upper ABS I usually don't like
like just on that exhalation exercise
yeah that we just did
and pre enlightened Laura would when I when singing
(19:10):
squeeze the top apps not the not lower right
so now both of you guys said engaged low
I'm like oh
okay okay
but yes
there's a difference between engaging and squeezing
yeah which like
if you're squeezing and too much is coming out
like it's gonna be like
where there is a fire versus like
just squeezing the right amount is like
(19:31):
I'm not gonna say that if you're hearing the like
engage the ABS but don't squeeze them
what does that even mean
one exercise that can be helpful in finding like the
the just the right balance is pulsing on an s
and like even when I just did that just now
the first one was like huh
way too much engagement
(19:52):
but then as you go you find the like oh
and it's like
your core is moving out a little bit each time
in between it
and engaging a little bit each time when you do it
and that's the type of like
Turbo Boost that I was referring to
when I was telling you like yeah
just use your core like a little Turbo Boost
like you're running over a mushroom in Mario Kart
(20:13):
you know I love that
thank you you're gonna get you right there
I you eat up those analogies
is that it yeah
OK gamer alright
talking about analogies
left handed creative brain over here
haha talking about analogies
one of my favorite analogies for singing with support
comes from you Bree
(20:34):
it's your air hockey table analogy
and we emailed our list about it
and everybody was like mind blowing
I like oh my god thank you Coach Bree
that was fantastic so
can you fill us all in on what is the air hockey table
yeah OK
we're gonna take a trip to the arcade right now um
in our minds and we've all played air hockey yes
(20:54):
like you've been to tables and you go
and it's just going like
and the little guards come up
and you still leave the table with bloody knuckles
after
you know
we get into it a little too hard
we yeah everyone gets too competitive with air hockey
it's like it's how siblings air out there
oh yeah oh yeah
um
(21:15):
but have you guys ever been to an arcade and like
try to play an air hockey table
that's either like broken
or it's not plugged in or something
it doesn't go anywhere
you can still hit the puck across the table
but it's just not gonna go as far
like
you have to work so hard to get it across the table
you have to hit it so yeah
exactly um
it's like it's scraping across the table
there's just a little bit too much friction
so in this scenario I want you to imagine your voice
(21:39):
and the sound that you're making
as the puck on the table
and when the air hockey table is on
and it's going Bing Bing
Bing Bing and it's just like flying
it's doing that
because it's not actually physically touching
the surface of the table it's floating on air
that's being shot up through the little tiny
right yes
so if we're singing and the air hockey table is off
(22:02):
it's gonna feel like really tight and like heavy
and you can stop like
sing and still sound like you have
like a warm enough tone
if you're manipulating your vowels and everything
and all this other stuff just okay
but um
what was the song the fallen song
um
Love you darling yes okay
(22:23):
so like I could sing that and be like
Loving You Darling
and I'm singing and it's like it's fine right
but like it's just a little bit flat
not in pitch but just mmm hmm
it's Amber yes
it's his ring thank you
yeah yeah
so then I'm gonna go
and I'm gonna turn the air hockey table on
(22:43):
and really what
I mean by that is
I'm moving that air flow through the body
and through the vocal tract
and then I'll sing it as I love you darling
yeah and it has the spin
it has the ring the
the live yeah
and so that is the air hockey table analogy
and I am so proud of it it is phenomenal
(23:07):
it is amazing lovely
it is a great analogy
but I've loved using it in lessons
it's actually been one of the most helpful things
that I've been able to bring to my students
yeah well
one word that you used was flow
and this is probably my biggest it
it was the biggest thing for me
in my personal journey with singing
with support um
(23:27):
and usually the big thing that I tell students as well
so this would be like my No. 1 tip
uh think of support as flow right
like whether you you
you know you have support being your inhalation
and control being your exhalation
like I said I usually kind of like yeah
it's often like on according to the
(23:48):
according to the Google scholars of it
all right like the it's
it's two separate events but as a singer
as a teacher yeah
we got
it was great thing to know because we wanna give like
yeah clear direction
yeah but as a student
I mean if it
if it's I breathe in pink and I breathe out yellow
and that works for you
(24:08):
rock it you're right yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
so yeah
I usually I focus on just let it flow
let the air flow out don't hold back on it
cause I'm a pusher I'm a squeezer
and so I have too much vocal fold closure
usually too much squeeze whatever
and and because of that
(24:29):
there's not enough air coming through
so I am thinking like open the vocal folds
let the air flow out obviously
without sounding breathy'cause
if you open the vocal folds too much
you sound breathy right
right unless that's the goal
then that's a different story
but I usually just try and focus on just flow
just use your air let the yeah
let the sound sit on top of your air right
(24:50):
like the yeah
hug on top of the a the air yes
I love that
so that's like my big thing that I usually tell singers
and it seems to resonate with a lot of them out there
yeah do you guys have like a singing
like a support tip
you probably don't need more air for pop music
than you do for speaking
like right now I'm still speaking
(25:11):
we're talking
and I can bring it up and I can bring it really high
and I can just stay here
and I still don't have to take in a breath
and then I can take it really low and really quiet
and kind of breathy and I still
don't need a breath and in a minute
and now I have hahaha right
but that was I think that was a long time
that was a long time right
like you are totally capable of doing that
so don't get caught up in the breathing of it all
(25:31):
you know like maybe not the breathing of it all
but you are capable uh
you your your lungs can take it your lungs can take it
I'll say that yeah um
don't worry about breathing too much
that's something that I see a lot as well of like
sometimes I love you sometimes you make me blue huh
(25:53):
yeah cause I'm stuck here
that oxygen doesn't have a chance to right like escape
so it turns to CO2 in your lungs
and that's when you get stuck with that
really tight feeling where you
you just can't catch your breath
and you're here and now you're getting tension
you just need to exhale let it out
so what I often do is just
if I see someone working with that
I just say alright
exhale everything you got
(26:13):
like kind of like where I was like
keep going
keep exhaling till you literally feel nothing right
or you feel like you cannot handle it anymore
and then sing a phrase
and you'll probably be able to do that
that's not how we're gonna sing the whole song
that's not how we're gonna artistically approach it
but sometimes you need to
prove to yourself what you can do
and you need to alert your body
tell your nervous system like
(26:33):
I don't need more air I don't need more air
I'm OK so that's my tip
you're probably breathing too much alright
after we talked about using air
you also may be breathing too much
yeah I love that like yeah
like only take as much air as you need
that's a huge part of support
taking in just the right amount of air
yeah yeah
not over breathing yeah yeah yeah Juliana
(26:55):
do you have a tip yes
I feel like including myself
a lot of singers need a visual cue
so learning to
understand how it feels when we're breathing
when we're holding when we're exhaling
and looking at ourselves in a mirror
or if you're recording yourself
to see how it's actually functioning
and not just think oh yeah
(27:16):
I'm gonna breathe
and then I'm gonna hold and then I'm gonna engage
like it's a lot of process mentally
but if you're watching it happen live
um it helps so much to
you know absorb in your muscles
and then that muscle memory kicks in later
so you don't need to worry about it too much later
you can just enjoy singing
just enjoy singing just have fun
ha ha ha ha ha
(27:38):
yeah that's the point yeah
what about you Bree um
my biggest tip for singers is
if you feel like you need to work on breath support and
you know that's like a problem area um
remove the song from it remove the singing from it
and go and connect with your body
and with your breath first um
(28:00):
because that's ultimately like where it starts right
we can
if we can connect to that breathing mechanism and just
like get in your body and feel what it feels like to
take in enough air to be able to support
and then practice controlling the exhalation
and controlling it in two ways right
we're controlling it here with the rate of exhalation
(28:21):
like by how we're engaging um
our muscles and like
usually thinking of that as like the abdominals
and then also controlling here
like how much air is escaping in the tone of like um
and that's like
(28:43):
that's control here at the vocal fold level
at the vocal fold level yeah
yeah so
can you walk us through what that would look like
if we were struggling with that phrase
for example in a song and then like we're removing it
like removing the song from it
but then how do we yeah
translate that back into the song
(29:03):
you know it's like ah
how do we go from exercise to song
can I can I walk us through an exercise
yeah let's do it OK
so the first exercise
I'm gonna do is just a breathing exercise
like literally not even related to the song at all
so OK
yeah I just needed to take that deep breath in OK
we're doing it with you haha
(29:23):
um
this is an exercise
that you guys can all do on your own um
and you listeners can do at home as well
all you need is a metronome
today I will be your metronome
I will love it uh
please know I was not a percussion major and so hahaha
perfect
please don't be annoying about it okay
no but I'll be the better
(29:44):
now
we're gonna take a controlled inhale over four counts
every time that we do this exercise
the inhale stays the same four counts
and then we're gonna
progressively extend our exhalation on a hiss
um from by extending by four counts each time so we'll
we're all singers we'll start with 12
(30:04):
sometimes I start my students with eight counts
sometimes we start with 12
it just really depends on the person um
so do what feels right to you OK
um but we'll start with 12
we're gonna do exhale on 12
and then 16 and then 20 today okay
um and then
we'll kind of walk through where we go from there
but let's take a deep cleansing breath in and out
and get started
(30:27):
good breathe in for four two
three 4 and his
going for 12 this time
halfway 8 9
10 11 12 get the air out hahaha
(30:50):
cause we won't be oh my gosh
thank you for reminding me
one thing I didn't stipulate is that this
exercise is really good about like
for budgeting air and learning to practice budgeting
because we
obviously don't want to run out of air before the end
but to your point
we also don't want to have a ton of air left over
at the end we want to be able to use all our breath
yeah I could have kept going way longer
(31:12):
but the goal was not necessarily
to go for as long as possible
yes right
it was to it was to go end at zero
I also feel like it's a really great exercise
for learning how much to breathe in
for a given yes
because I don't need to breathe
I don't need to inhale the same amount for a four count
20 counts and to yeah yeah yes
yeah and are we breathing in through the mouth
(31:33):
or through the nose through the mouth
through the mouth OK
yeah alright
you'll get a deeper breath through the nose
hmm
is that right and we reset
started breathing and I was
I was still going no
that's the interesting you well
deeper might not be bigger
but it'll shoot right down hmm
one thing I also tell students about like shoot
(31:55):
like shooting the breath down
is to breathe in through straw lips
yeah
it immediately engages for me
which also release it like
relaxes my larynx
when I'm breathing in through the mouth
yeah sometimes like if I'm breathing in through my nose
I feel like are you sucking your tongue
probably yeah I just noticed that I did that
(32:15):
that's crazy that you could even notice that hahaha
I'm always aware of my tongue my tongue goes crazy
it goes crazy my tongue that Lord goes back oh my gosh
you got history hahaha okay
uh should we try for 16
yeah hahaha
so we're gonna end at zero air
(32:36):
end at zero air and however
you're gonna feel like you have the most control
your area I usually tell students
to breathe in through the mouth
because it's the quickest
breath access that we have when we're singing
and so I've worked with students that are like
I thought
breathing through my nose was better for singing
because I do like this deep breathing with you
and I'm like it's a great breathing technique
and it's a great breathing practice
(32:56):
but if you do that when you're on stage
and take a good life
a catch breath in through your nose
and you're not gonna be able to
you're gonna like choke yeah
I imagine that because what if you're congested
oh yeah screw off yeah
OK let's take a cleansing breath in
I let it all the way out
good breathe in for 4 2 3 4 and hiss
(33:31):
8 halfway
well 13 14 15 16 0
haha
0 0 0 0 bro I think my
my body probably would have wanted to stop at 15
(33:52):
uh huh but I was like no I can keep going
but you have that extra push
yeah
but I was using more breath than I needed to make a
sound yeah
but again the goal was to end at zero
right right
yeah and that push
like for me came directly from like those lower
the lower yeah
yeah which
and another way that you can control
especially in this exercise
is by managing your s sound right
(34:13):
by changing your tongue placement
um sometimes I'll have
do this exercise
and a student will like run out of breath
like so fast
we'll do it like 8 counts and they'll be like
and they're like out of air by 5
yeah and I'm like okay
let's re evaluate where our tongue is haha
yeah um
because we can also like
(34:33):
really block the air too much and be like yeah
yeah and add too much
right exactly
so which also means like
there is part of breath control that happens here
yeah
all up to the articulators
yeah which is crazy to think about
and so you have your core your your
(34:55):
vocal folds and your mouth and the pharynx is in there
we just know it
ha ha ha
you know she's like
she's like twank
that's actually probably just me
please twank absolutely
um okay
let's do 20 and then we'll bridge this back to the song
but okay deep breath in
(35:15):
release
good breathe in for four two
three four and hiss
(35:36):
10 Halfway
15
16 home stretch 17 18 19
it's funny I had to start pushing more air out again
I was like yeah
I'm gonna run out I'm like
no I'm not I'm not okay
(35:56):
out out out yeah yeah yeah
it's so hard to keep it steady through the entire thing
I do something similar
but I'm totally gonna steal this from her not for sure
but I do something similar that I stole it from my um
university like love absolutely yeah
that I mean that's how that's how you go
you get something that you learn and then you're like
oh this is awesome but yeah
I I have to do a similar exercise
that I Learned from my friend
(36:17):
Sam Eisley who's awesome
an awesome voice teacher um
and I just don't do it with the metronome
I just time
that's what basically the only difference
and
one thing that I communicate to my students a lot is
instead of going
or even when you have this 20 second
if you wanna do it for a long time
think about letting out less air for a longer period
(36:40):
so less just less for longer stay there
and it's not quite adding the resistance
but it's just keeping the air in the lungs yeah
you can feel it rushing up and just staying at
in that subglottal area right
yeah yeah
oh my gosh okay
speaking of timing on exhale
I went to a voice clinic recently um
(37:01):
because I had some like
really bad laryngitis that was like
ongoing for a long time um
and didn't end up having it like an injury or anything
thank God but um went to go get it checked
and the vocal therapist that was
meeting with me
asked me to exhale for as long as I could on an s
(37:21):
and I did for like 22 or 23 seconds or something
and she was like impressive work and I was like
oh thank you
and then she asked me to exhale for as long as I could
pick any note I wanted on a Z
oh
and we've done that as a challenge before and yes
I discovered
but then
I saw her doing something in the computer with it
(37:42):
and I think and my z was like 12 seconds
mm hmm okay
and then I saw her like typing and I was like
did did you just make a ratio with the Z and the s
and she was like
never in all my years has anybody asked me that
I feel so validated oh my God
to her cause I'm gonna
do some voice therapy sessions
with her later this summer
and I'm so excited about it
but she was like yes
(38:04):
it can be a really great indicator
if there's a really imbalance
between your s and your z
because the only difference between those two
they're formulated in exactly the same way
they're actually
and I'm gonna get super nerdy for a second
called a consonant cognate
it means they're formed the same way
but one is voiceless the s
(38:25):
and one is pitched yes exactly
um
and so when you're exhaling
and if there's like a big difference
it can be a really good indicator of um
inefficient closure
which is exactly what was happening for me right
like that's exactly why I went in
um but I thought that was super interesting
(38:46):
that is so cool I'm so math
isn't that insane
math is everywhere in music and it makes
I'm sad no
haha you're good at math
you're not
haha
wow that's so fun
yeah isn't that no
(39:06):
it's cool to know it is very cool
it's very cool yeah
that's awesome oh my God
we've done that as a challenge with my
like this vocal community that I'm part of
and I didn't know that we could like get actual
like clinical data from it
that's insane it makes so much sense
but yeah wow
I love it anyways
that's awesome a little nerding out moment for you
but I wanna
come back to this breathing exercise that we just did
(39:27):
and ask you guys what were you thinking about
while you were doing this exercise
keeping the airflow steady as much as possible
what like without the going like zzz
yeah like yeah
without the Z sound but
you know like that
keeping it steady uh
but then also making sure that I'm budgeting it right
(39:49):
yeah right
so I'm at zero I don't have leftover
but I'm also not running out before right
so that was
those were the two main things that I was thinking
about yeah yeah
like not dying
haha real
I love it so real
I was actually this time
I was very focused on alignment
so not like perfect Buster me me but like
you know
(40:09):
allowing my in my inhale to expand in my rib cage
and then just like staying expanded
thinking about how my body is gonna do the exhalation
for me yeah yeah
I love that yeah
I say a lot to my students
like let the air do the work for you yes
and that was one of those moments
let the air do the work for you
(40:29):
yeah
let the air do the hockey yeah
let the hockey do the work wow
yes but yeah
like and let it let it do the work for you
and that was a moment where I was like
oh that thing I say makes sense cause it's out of yeah
yeah that's awesome
um yeah
I love that well
it's just like
(40:50):
getting out of the song and getting into our bodies
right and like focusing on that
so then one of the hardest things that I faced
as a student of voice
and also as a coach is bridging the gap from
I connect with my voice or with my breath
so well when it has nothing to do with the song
and how do I bring that into yeah
the song so
something I started doing with my students
(41:11):
pretty recently um
if we're struggling to
to make the correction when I'm prompting like okay
engage a little bit more I wanna hear more air flow
moving through the vocal tract um
is we'll start with that exercise
and then we'll go back to that song
so can you sing um
yeah okay
a little bit of it and I'm gonna demonstrate
(41:33):
what I'm gonna have my students do okay
as our like step 1 of bringing this over okay
let's try
huh
(41:56):
yeah okay
that's the chorus yeah
exactly that's right
doesn't really matter what part you sing right
it doesn't matter what part you sing at all
so
what I'm doing there is I'm having them
for the duration of each phrase
where you're going to take a breath
to push as much air as possible through
on that shh on that SH um
(42:17):
the SH rather than the s because the SH is easier to
like it takes more air to make that sound yeah
um so
and we're something we do a lot in voice teaching
is overcorrecting so we're going way yes
this is this is the extreme
this is the most amount of air that you could be using
here this is the
the most extreme
way that your body could be involved in this
(42:39):
um so we do that first and then they're like
oh my gosh I cannot believe it
like every time without fail
it's awesome um
and then we're gonna go ahead and add pitch to it
so just like s and Z are the same um
s H can become
so we're gonna add that to it um
(42:59):
do you wanna try it let's do it
yeah okay
ah
are you nice
(43:21):
hahaha
did you get the tickle
I totally inhaled some of my spit
oh
hahaha
so what I heard you do was like
it was like super smooth like your was smooth
it was not like
like you know
like making the different notes happen
but it was just like shh
(43:43):
like you were still singing the different notes
but it was smooth I love that you pointed that out
so yes and I will give that
explicit instructions to my students today
nice 2 is like
leave the articulation out of it just for this moment
because articulation is at the mouth level
and it's not at the core level
and it's not even at the vocal fold level
which is where like
(44:04):
most of the disconnect is in terms of engage
like utilizing your breath control really well right
is there's disconnect here or there's disconnect here
um so
we leave the articulation out of it
to go for as smooth and steady flow as possible'cause
the goal um
is for that breath flow to stay consistent
the entire time that's not changing
(44:26):
and we're creating the articulation
by interrupting that flow
with pressures in the mouth
that's creating the consonants
like
if you want to get really into the nitty gritty of it
yeah um
but yeah like
do you guys know the um
the word laminar flow
no what
laminar flow English
second language here I have an excuse okay
(44:48):
yeah
like some people have literally made art installations
I think about it but it's referring to like
when water is flowing
either over a waterfall or out of a faucet
and it's totally uninterrupted
and it's so consistent that it looks like it's frozen
it looks like it's not moving
like a picture instead of a video
yeah yeah
it looks like a picture instead of a video
(45:09):
cause there's not like droplets spraying everywhere
it's just like
it's just like it just is
what's that called that laminar flow
laminar flow L a m
I N a R yeah
that yeah
thank you that you need to do that a lot slower
my brain to catch up with that
but I got it I'll put it on screen
we'll write it down but
(45:32):
support and really engage
like really utilizing good breath control
is starting with
having that laminar flow of your breath
yeah yeah
um that it should be consistent the whole time
and your articulation is done here in your mouth
yeah yeah yeah
oh very cool
yeah and so okay
so now we did it on the Je
(45:53):
uh huh we did the pitches
it's the next step to just put the lyrics back in
uh huh very cool
yeah and it's been like
ever since I've started doing that with students
it's made the biggest difference
like in terms of how much progress we're able to make
on that front and how much more quickly it's like
able to stick right
I think really
because of how overcorrecting we're going with the shh
(46:17):
but even like when I was just doing that
the SH to the ZH um
my core was engaging differently when I was
when I had the phonation yeah cool
yeah we're all gonna steal that
oh yeah totally stealing that
please do it's like anyone can steal it
like it's life changing seriously
(46:38):
try it please
very cool so if you listening or watching
if you feel like you're not exhaling
while you're singing and you would like to change that
because you should hahaha
it makes everything a lot easier
uh do that
do that exercise and the other thing I'll say is
don't try it for like the whole song at a time
like please oh my God
you pass out lines
(47:00):
like yeah
we did the entire course
we probably could have done just half of that
yeah and it would have been yeah yeah
cause it's the same thing twice anyways
you know working baby chunks
yeah yes
zoom in yes
I love it
I'm feeling good about it
this was like fascinating
I'm learning stuff so this is this is amazing
thank you guys for sharing your
(47:21):
your perspectives
and I hope for everybody watching or listening
that this like
helped you feel a little bit less confused
about singing with support
and and you know
you're like alright cool
I know what I need to do a little bit of engagement
a little bit of the flow
a little bit of the Zhu Zhu and you're good to go
what a what a rhyme that was
(47:43):
oh yeah and look at me wow
I am a poet haha
if you want to work with us
we'd love to work with you yeah
you can learn how to breathe
book a session yeah
hahaha you can book an intro session
which is with me personally
I'm sorry I know you don't love me
you don't want to do a session with me
but it's fine no
I'm kidding but the the interest session is with me
(48:05):
so you know book a session and then we'll see alright
what's happening what do we need to work on
and then
I'll be able to place you with one of these beautiful
ladies um
if you want to continue with lessons
but anyways book a session
we'd love to help you and other than that
make sure you tune in for the next one
cause we'll be talking about more breathing things
and singing things in general Alrighty
we'll catch you in the next one bye
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