Quantifying the Breath - Exercises for Breath Control
In my experience breath control is the first thing to deteriorate if I am not singing regularly. Unfortunately teaching voice lessons and running choral rehearsals is not really singing regularly, despite what people may think. I first noticed this when one of my voice students was working a piece I had sung on my senior recital. I had difficulties making phrases that had not been a problem when I’d sung it. The difference was my lack of doing exercises and regular, daily singing.
Doing regular breath exercises can seem superfluous. I think that we can often fall into a trap of thinking that once we have attained a certain technical level we don’t need to worry about it anymore. This is wrong. Part of the problem also comes with a certain lack of definition to our breath control. I find that putting a number to it can solve this, and can also give us some additional motivation.
To begin we must establish our baseline. To do this I pull out a metronome. Set on 60 bpm, breathe in for four counts and then exhale as long as possible, tracking the number of beats on the exhalation. I usually begin on a hiss (a sustained “s” sound) but it can be done in several different ways. Each of the following methods presents its own challenges and works well for different aspects of technique. I start with the “s” because it is a sound that is simple for students to make and also helps them to feel how the breath itself is working, but any of the four can be used well for breath control. They key is to keep it consistent initially as the number may vary slightly between the four methods, depending on the student.
1) Simple inhale, exhale
2) Inhale, sustained “s”
3) Inhale, sustained “z” – adds pitch to the sound but still helps to pressurize the breath.
4) Inhale, sustained note – any vowel can be used but it should be consistent. I like an “ah.”
I do this exercise three times to get an average for our baseline. Some students will try to conserve the air in order to make their number higher. They should exhale with whatever force they would normally use to sing.
Once the baseline is established I tweak the exercise a bit by changing the goal. I still work with the metronome and an inhalation of four, but now I limit the number attached to the exhalation, initially beginning with four beats. The goal is now to completely empty the lungs in those four beats. We cycle through this a few times and then I’ll increase the number of the exhalation, usually to six or eight, depending on how well the student is doing.
Including a numbered inhalation is incredibly important. Regulating the inhalation is as important to good vocal technique as the support of exhalation. There are countless times when I have decided to breathe four beats before I have to sing and I fill my lungs on the first beat, meaning I need to exhale and then inhale again quickly, meaning I don’t get a good breath. Thus practicing a regulated inhalation. I usually stick with an inhalation to four, for the purposes of training. Eventually I will change that number as well, both increasing and decreasing the counts, but I wait until the student has made significant progress controlling the exhalation. This is also when I begin to modify the method of exhalation as described above.
This is the exercise that I use with my private voice students. It can be modified in many different ways to be used with choirs and students with other needs. I imagine it would be very effective for wind and brass players as well, with the additions of work with the mouthpiece and long tones. Two variations I have used over the years to great effect are as follows:
1. Inhale and exhale for the same number of beats, usually beginning with six and then counting down until a single beat for inhalation and exhalation. The goal is to move as much air during the last round as the first.
2. Stay within the same number of beats but modify the inhalation and exhalation numbers. If the total is ten, round one would be in for nine and out for one, then in eight out two, until the pattern is reversed at one in, nine out. Again the goal is to move as much air the last time as the first time.
There are countless breath exercises that can be found online and in various books, but I find that any of these exercises that attach a number to it are really good for any vocalist. It gives us the ability to quantify our technique, which doesn’t happen often in the vocal realm. Increasing the number can also provide incentive for many who wish to be constantly improving.
Notes
The main exercise presented in this post is a modification of one presented by Dr. Z. Randall Stroope during the 2015 Rome Choral Festival. The two other variants at the end of the article were stolen from Dr. Linda Mack Berven, Professor Emerita at Fort Lewis College, and Christ Argotsinger, Director of Bands at Farmington High School (NM).