(upbeat music)
- Hey, my name is Erica Merritt,
and I am a local singer and songwriter.
Today we're gonna talk about proper breathing.
As a singer, proper breathing is extremely important
to carry out a full sound
and to have the proper support you need to carry your notes.
Alright?
Before we do that, we're going to begin
with a centering exercise that I like to do before I sing.
Anytime I sing I like to relax my mind
and my body just a little bit,
so that I can chase away any nervousness or anxiousness.
Okay?
So, I invite you to close your eyes,
take a deep breath, (breathing in deeply)
let it out. (breathing out softly)
Good, deep breath in, (breathing in deeply)
let it out. (breathing out softly)
One more time, deep breath in, (breathing in deeply)
let it out. (breathing out softly)
I would like for you to feel the bottom of your feet,
wiggle your toes just a little bit.
Now let's move to our ankles,
let's wiggle them just a little bit.
Let's move to our knees,
but continue to take breaths as we're moving
to different part of our body, let's move to our hips.
Good.
Our shoulders, (breathing out softly)
our necks,
let's go to our temples, (breathing in and out softly)
if they're tight, I want you
to just concentrate on relaxing them.
What about the top of our heads?
What does that feel like?
Is it tight?
If it is, let's loosen it up.
We're gonna go to the back of our shoulders,
our shoulder blades.
(breathing out softly)
Going down to our lower back,
behind our knees,
and back down to our heels.
Let's pretend that our feet are glued to the ground,
and that our head has puppet strings,
and they're being pulled straight up into the air.
I want you to imagine, excuse me,
to feel the full length of your body,
and the full length of your offerings.
Think about what you'd like to offer this world,
your friends and your family.
As far as love, as far as energy,
as far as your great talent and ability.
Let's breathe it in, (breathing in deeply)
now let's let it out. (breathing out softly)
Good job, we're centered and ready
to talk about proper breathing.
It's very important to have proper breathing technique
as a singer, it supports your beautiful voice,
and your notes, and it affects your pitch and your tone.
Also, when you have good breathing support,
you don't have to breathe 1000 times as you're singing,
(breathing in and out heavily) right?
We wanna make sure that we have some good breath support,
we put it in something we call our diaphragm
that's a holding tank for our air, okay?
So, who knows where our diaphragm is?
Our diaphragm is located,
can you go to your belly button area?
And right above your belly button area,
and below your ribs is your diaphragm, okay?
When you take a deep breath, and a proper deep breath,
the air should go into your diaphragm.
Much like when you're putting air to a paper bag,
or a plastic bag, you put air into the bag,
(blowing out air) and what happens?
It gets bigger, the same thing adds when you breathe,
when you're into your diaphragm.
Your diaphragm and your waist, you can feel it here,
should get bigger right above your waist, right?
In order to do that you have
to have proper breathing technique.
So, you're gonna stand up,
you are going to make sure your legs
are shoulder length apart.
You're gonna make sure that your shoulders are relaxed
and your chest is up, okay?
And in order to get to this position,
sometimes I like to put my hands behind my back
and grab my hands together like this, link them together.
And that kinda positions you in the perfect position
to have great posture, okay?
If you don't have great posture,
then your diaphragm can't, let's see, can't accept,
or you can't get the air in your diaphragm
like you'd want to, it's like a straw, right?
If you bend the straw,
you can't get the air through the straw, right?
So I wanna make sure that we're standing up straight
and our posture is great so that we can get all the air
in our diaphragm that we need, okay?
Alright, I'd like you to try taking a deep breath
through your nose, and we're gonna really try
to get that air into our diaphragm.
Something I like to act like I'm doing is,
going swimming or going underneath the water.
When you go underneath the water,
you wanna take a deep breath, right?
And instinctually when you do that,
that air goes into your diaphragm
because you know that you're gonna need some oxygen
to be under that water, correct?
So you take a deep breath, (breathing in deeply)
and then you go underneath the water,
(breathing out softly)
then you come out of the water, right?
Alright, what I'd like you to do,
is imagine that same energy, and that same mindset,
when you're taking a deep breath into your diaphragm.
Shoulders down, chest up,
take a deep breath through your nose (breathing in deeply)
and if you put your hands on your waist like this,
you should feel it expand.
Act like there's a rubber band, actually,
around your whole waist.
If you're doing it correctly, the rubber band gets bigger
and as the air expels or lets out of your body,
the rubber band gets smaller, okay?
So, let's make our rubber band bigger,
deep breath, (breathing in deeply)
let it out, (breathing out softly) rubber band gets smaller.
Let's act like it's a paper bag, fill up your paper bag,
(inhales)
let it out, (breathing out softly) the bag deflates.
Good,
okay.
As we're talking about singing from our diaphragm,
it's a great idea to practice breathing from your diaphragm,
I say like three times a day.
It gets really easy to get dizzy when we're doing this,
because that's what happens when you breathe
in your diaphragm, but don't worry that's pretty normal.
So if you need to sit, that's fine,
I would prefer you stand.
I am sitting, but if you are sitting,
you wanna make sure that your posture is up straight
and proper so that you're getting that air.
When you take a deep breath, this time,
I want you to see how long, how many seconds,
you can expel the air.
So as we take in deep breaths (breathing in deeply)
and you let it out, (breathing out softly)
we wanna actually take our time and let it out.
So that we can, let's try five seconds, okay?
Deep breath through your nose (breathing in deeply)
and we're gonna try to let it out for five seconds,
let's go, (breathing out softly) pretty good.
All right, let's try it again,
this time, I want you to make a "ts" sound like this,
(making the "ts" sound), much like you are a balloon
and you're letting out air.
I want you to make a "ts" sound as we're expelling our air
and we're gonna see how many seconds we can expel that air.
Let's try expelling it for 10 seconds, all right?
Deep breath through your nose, (breathing in deeply)
expel. (making the "ts" sound)
Good, that was 10 whole seconds,
if you weren't able to do it for 10 seconds,
that's quite all right.
You can start at five and work your way up to 10,
and then to 15, then the 20, and before you know it
there'll be a 30 seconds, 40 seconds,
and maybe all the way to a minute.
But it takes practice, but I promise you,
if you keep practicing you can get better
and better at this, and this will allow you
to have lots of air to draw from
when you're singing those beautiful notes, okay?
We're gonna do it again, I'm gonna stand up,
and this time we're gonna try to take a deep breath
through our nose again and when we let it out,
we're gonna go for 15 seconds, okay?
Alright, deep breath in, (breathing in deeply)
let it out, (making the "ts" sound)
(sighing) very good, okay.
How many people got to 15 seconds?
If not, that's quite all right,
the idea is to keep practicing
so that you can get more and more time,
or I would say, that you can get more
and more air into your diaphragm
and so that you can expel it for a longer amount of time.
Much like when you're holding a note,
you take a deep breath. (breathing deeply)
And you might go, (holding a note)
Right? Just like when we tried the "ts" exercise,
I'd also like you to try the a-w-e, "awe" exercise, okay?
When you're doing "awe", you're doing the same thing
but this time you're making a sound when you do it.
making that rubber band expand.
And as you're doing that,
we're gonna see if we can hold our note for five seconds.
Deep breath in, (breathing in deeply) let's do it,
(holding "awe" note)
Good, now, don't be scared or nervous,
if it seems harder to do it when you're singing a note.
When you're singing a note,
a lot more air comes out of your mouth
than when you're going (making the "ts" sound).
So the goal is, to try to control your diaphragm,
your diaphragm makes it easier to control, actually,
how much air is coming out of your diaphragm,
excuse me, out of your mouth, okay?
It's like a pressure gauge, okay?
So we'll take a deep breath (breathing in deeply)
let it out. (holding "awe" note)
All right, I think that was about seven seconds,
I don't know.
This time we're gonna try to do it for 10 seconds, okay?
Remember, your diaphragm is controlling the rate
of the air that's coming out of your mouth,
and out of your body, okay?
That if you take a deep breath into your diaphragm
and you're gonna hold that,
if you're expanding a rubber band,
you're gonna hold that rubber band
in place as long as you can.
And you wanna make sure that you are,
it's flattening, but it's flattening
at the slowest rate possible, right?
Because you wanna make sure that air is lasting
as long as possible in your diaphragm, okay?
Take a deep breath and we're gonna try to do this,
a note for 10 seconds, okay?
Deep breath, (breathing in deeply)
let it out, (holding "awe" note)
10 seconds, wow, how many people got to 10 seconds?
Okay! A little game I like to play,
it's called Breathing Olympics.
I time myself, I get a little timer or I count,
have someone count or I might count in my head.
And I take a deep breath
and I see how many seconds I can get, right?
Sometimes I get five, sometimes I get 10,
but if you keep practicing you can probably get up
to 30 seconds fairly easily and fairly quickly, okay?
So let's try doing that hmm three times a day,
and I promise you that if you start at five seconds,
in a couple of days you'll be able to do 10 seconds.
And then as you keep going you'll be able
to get a 30 seconds to 40 seconds in no time, okay?
Now that we've learned how to breathe into our diaphragm
and to get lots of air stored in there,
we're gonna try a singing exercise that incorporates,
using your diaphragm and holding air in that capacity,
in that space to support the notes that we're gonna sing.
We're gonna use the call and response method,
every time that I sing something, or call something,
I'm gonna throw it to you
and then you're gonna throw it back to me.
Which mean I'm gonna sing it
and then you're gonna repeat it.
Now, every time that I sing something for you,
I'm gonna add a little bit more.
So you're gonna make sure that you have lots
of air support in your diaphragm
to carry out the exercise of the note, okay?
Or the pattern of notes, okay?
I'm going to be singing, "No way, no way, no way,
no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way,
I'll never stop singing," okay?
Alright, deep breath, (breathing in deeply) here we go,
♪No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
deep breath. (breathing in deeply)
♪No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
Your turn.
Good, deep breath (breathing in deeply)
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
You ready?
Deep breath, (breathing in deeply) your turn.
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
Good, take a deep breath,
'cause it's gonna get a little bit harder
(breathing in deeply) or more challenging, okay?
Are you ready?
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
You ready?
Deep breath, (breathing in deeply)
Now you sing it with me.
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
How'd you do?
Let's try it again.
Deep breath. (breathing in deeply)
Let's go.
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop! ♪
Okay?
So what we did is we did,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
Four no ways, three times in a row,
and on the fourth time we do it, we say,
♪ No way, I'll never stop! ♪
So,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
Do you see how we keep building upon that?
Let's try it again, deep breath.
(breathing deeply)
Let's do it,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
Good job!
Are you able to get that with one breath?
Good!
And if not, that's still good, okay?
Because if you're trying, you're winning, okay?
Alright.
We're gonna add a little bit more with that one breath
so make sure that you take it right deep through your nose,
(breathing deeply)
Alright, deep through your nose (breathing deeply)
Alright, and I'm gonna add a little bit more,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
♪ Singing ♪
Alright, that's it!
We're gonna say no way, no way, no way, no way,
no way, no way, no way, no way,
no way, I'll never stop, singing,
and hold it out, okay?
Deep breath through your nose,
(breathing deeply)
Here we go,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop, ♪
♪ Singing ♪
Your turn.
One, two, (breathing deeply) deep breath, let's go,
♪ No way, no way, no way, no way ♪
♪ No way, I'll never stop ♪
♪ Singing ♪
Good job!
Do you see how we built upon,
starting with just a few no ways,
then we got to four whole rounds of no ways,
and then we ended with no way I'll never stop singing,
with one breath?
That's how you do it.
You practice everyday
and the better that you get at this
the more words you'll be able to say with one breath,
or more words you'll be able to sing with one breath, okay?
But it's very important to put that air in your diaphragm,
so that you can hold it there
and it can support all these beautiful notes
that you're singing.
Okay?
Alright!
My name is Erica Merritt,
and again I wanna thank you for joining me
to talk about proper breathing technique,
breathing from your diaphragm.
(upbeat music)