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The Fine Art of
Breathing - Make Your Voice a Masterpiece!
By
Jim Chapman
The one thing that we all do
daily is breathe. It's a necessary part of our existence
and we all do it the same way. Or do we? Those of us in
the performance arts have learned that proper breathing is
essential to giving a great performance. Read on to learn
how proper breathing technique can improve your
performance.
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When it comes down to it,
breathing control directly affects vocal control. To have
full range of all the nuances your voice, you must have
full use of your lungs. Like a painter uses different
brushes and strokes for effect in creating his art, you
need to develop that same type of control with your
breathing. In order for you to create your masterpiece of
vocal sound, you need to develop your breathing technique.
One of the ways you can
improve your performance breathing is to learn to do it
properly. This involves actively using your diaphragm
muscles in your abdomen. Some people call this "middle
breathing" as your stomach will move in and out as opposed
to using your chest or shoulders (considered chest
breathing or shallow breathing). Here's how it works.
Sit up straight in your chair
and place your hands in your lap with your palms resting
against your lower abdomen. Sit in a natural "attentive"
position with your head up as if you are gazing across the
room. While holding this position breath in slowly and
deeply through your nose and inhale as fully as possible.
While you are inhaling, imagine you are filling a balloon
with water. The water goes straight to the bottom of the
balloon and expands out while it fills up. You should be
able to see your hands moving out as your lower lungs fill
with air. Pay attention that your chest and shoulders stay
in their normal position during your inhale.
When you have inhaled as
fully as possible hold your breath for a second or two and
then slowly exhale through your mouth. Part your lips just
enough to allow the air to escape. Use your diaphragm
muscles to push the air out by slowly contracting them and
pulling your stomach in. Imagine you are now squeezing the
water back out of the balloon from the bottom up. You will
see your hands slowly pulling in toward your pelvis.
Continue your slow squeeze until you have completely
exhaled every bit of air you can from your lungs.
Congratulations! You have now
completed your first controlled breath! You should
practice your controlled breathing several minutes daily.
This exercise is very effective for several reasons: As
your lung capacity improves so does your abdominal
strength. This also has a positive effect on your vocal
cords. There will be less vocal strain simply because you
have more air and greater breathing control.
You can hear how effective
your breathing control is by making simple sounds (like,
la, so, fa, do, etc.) during the exhale part of the
exercise. You can control and vary your sound by how
slowly or forcefully you exhale. Any variations you do
will improve your control as long as you remember to
breathe from the diaphragm! So take a deep breath,
practice your controlled breathing and wow your producer
at your next VO performance!
Such A Voice
Such A Voice is a full service voice-over training and
production company, and a link between voice-over
talent, and the producers who hire Voice-Over Talent.
We specialize in high quality training and the
production of network quality voice-over demos.
http://www.suchavoice.com
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