How to sing from the diaphragm?

Sing with support – support your vocal cords

How to sing from the diaphragm?

Many people posted to me this question: In Short:  the diaphragm is the principal muscle of breathing. It causes three-dimensional shape change in the thoracic and abdominal cavities. I will explain more about this muscle in another post:) because theory doesn’t really let you feel how to sing from your diaphragm. 

Let’s get practical

These are a few practical exercises you can do that will really help you understand how it feels to sing with the help of the diaphragm. 

How to sing from the diaphragm Exercise no.1:

Produce the sound ‘SH’ as though you want a whole noisy class to turn silent. Let’s say you are in a concert hall with them and you want silent!. As you do that make sure you use the abdominal muscles to produce this sound. Repeat it at least 20 times. If you feel this action in your throat you are not doing it well enough. make sure you use your stomach muscles to produce the ‘SH’.

Two common mistakes performing this exercise are:

• the student wouldn’t start the action from the abdominal muscles but from the mouth.
• the student wouldn’t use the muscles all the way. The beginner singing student will start the action with the stomach but then won’t continue to pull the muscle in. The result is the air “falling” backwards, which means no support.

Therefor as I always say it’s more important how you do the exercise then what exercise you do. check out the website for a trial lesson.

Practicing abdominal muscles is crucial for singing.

How to sing from the diaphragm Exercise no 2:

Short ‘SH’.  ( in Staccato )

After you made a whole class silent with your  impressive ‘SH’

Now make short ‘SH’ ALWAYS pull your belly in. Make short pulses, but significant. 

Do it about 100 times of course with stops if you need it!

Common mistakes:

• The student will get lazy. He will cease using the abdominal muscles and produce the ‘SH’ by letting air out only through the mouth. This practice will give you nothing if you perform it like this. You must use the muscles each time!
• The student won’t release the muscles but pull in the muscles more and more. The whole idea is to release the muscles and the diaphragm between each ‘SH’ again and again and again.

How to sing from the diaphragm Exercise no 3:

Produce the consonants: FFFFFFT

As you do that, use the abdominal muscles. This time the tongue closes the circle by pronouncing ‘T’ This will help you with the diction. The movement of the air continues until the tongue meets the ‘T’. Don’t make any stop from the moment you started to produce the ‘F’ to the moment you reached to the ‘T’. Repeat it 100 times, with stops if you need it!

Common mistake:

• The student will not continue. Between the ‘F’ and the ‘T’. He won’t be able to connect because lack of muscles work. And this means a lack of support for the singing.

These exercises, to help you sing from the diaphragm, will train your singing support. With time your muscles will get stronger and more flexible. Use the abdominal muscles to support your singing.  They are responsible of your continuous airflow. The body should always be alert and in movement while singing. If you did these exercises correctly you will start to sense as if your mouth is in your stomach:) You will gain much control in this area. It will make your singing easy, more beautiful and more expressive. 

Good Luck! 

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Enjoy your free ~ Singing  > Anat Vocal Coaching.