By Peter
To understand how tension and effort get in the way of correct breathing, you need to know a little about what’s happening inside your body. We’re lucky enough not to have to think about how to make all the parts mesh when we inhale and exhale, but bringing some consciousness into this automatic process will help you step in and make the adjustments you need.
In a nutshell, this is what the essential breathing equipment looks like and how it works: Your lungs rest on your diaphragm, a large muscular sheet that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen. The diaphragm is attached to your spinal column, lower ribs, and breastbone. It naturally arches upward, but when you inhale, it contracts, moving down an inch or two. That little movement sounds insignificant, but it powers the breathing process. It not only gives the lungs more room to expand; it also changes the pressure within the lungs. Imagine that the lungs are a container with a false bottom. When the diaphragm drops, the “false bottom” falls out and air rushes in to fill the vacuum. When the diaphragm relaxes and begins to rise, the air in the lungs becomes more compressed in its smaller space, and it rushes out.
If the lungs are allowed to hang freely in the chest, and if the diaphragm is allowed to drop and rise, you’ll be breathing like a baby, fully and naturally. That’s the goal.
Now you try it. The instructions below are aimed at removing the obstructions that many of us allow to get in the way of deep and easy breathing. I’ll stop to explain each basic step of the process, so you’ll be aware of any “extras” you’re unconsciously adding.
By Peter
I hope you’ll keep in mind that at every point you heard a sound you didn’t like, or noticed a flaw, you were actually listening to the sound of a bad habit. Our work together will be a process of making you conscious of the bad habits and directing the body toward a more natural means of expression. Step-by-step we will exchange bad for good: pressure for ease, tension for relaxation, constriction for freedom, and pain for pleasure. Without the obstacles we’ve inadvertently set in the way of the voice’s free
flow, its real beauty can surface. The careful listening you’ve just done is a crucial foundation. Now follow along with me, and have a bit of faith. Your voice already sounds better. Read more »
By Peter
Singers, I know this is what you’ve been waiting for. Speakers, I’d really like you to stay with me and give this a try. Follow me through these exercises and you’ll gain a wealth of vocal characteristics that will immediately and forever enrich your speaking voice. It’s important for all of us to stop drawing a line between speaking and singing. Remember, your brain thinks they’re almost the same thing, and I hope you’ll regard the work we’ll be doing next as sound exercises. They’re simply vocal exercises attached to musical notes, and they’ll help you, as nothing else can, to make your voice its most resonant and beautiful.
Every student I work with starts here, and students often ask me why I choose such a difficult first test. The answer is that I hate wasting time. I want to cut right to the heart of the situation, with sounds that bring all good and bad immediately to the fore. The reason I’ve chosen the ah sound is that it opens up the back part of your throat and sends a lot of air to the vocal cords. It takes great skill to control that much air, and as you try to do it, you’ll get a quick, vivid picture of the pluses and minuses in your voice. Read more »
By Peter
It’s always disconcerting to hear someone speaking a range that doesn’t seem to suit the person - like a Mike Tyson with a high, childish voice, for example. Our voices naturally want to fall into a particular pitch range as we speak, but often we’ve developed bad habits, or made unconscious choices, that force our voices into uncomfortable areas of the range, the equivalent of a shoe that doesn’t really fit.
How do you know if you’re too high or too low? First try this: Go to the lowest note you can comfortably hit with a certain amount of volume (your rendition of “Ol’ Man River” might help you get there). From that place, say “Hello,” holding out the o sound. If you’re doing it right, you should hear and feel a low, rumbling voice coming out of your mouth. Recognize it? If this is anywhere near the normal sound and placement of your speaking voice, it’s way too low. I’ll show you how to reset it in a more comfortable, and natural, range.
Put your four fingers (no thumb) on your stomach right below your sternum, the area at the top of the stomach where your ribs come together. As you say that drawn-out “hellooooooo,” press with your fingers in a rapid, pulsating motion that pushes your stomach in. As you do this, your voice should jump from the low pitch to a note that is much higher. Concentrate on the higher pitch and try to let go of the low one altogether. Read more »
By Peter
Less common than the qualities we’ve seen so far, but an occasional standout in the sea of troublesome vocal traits, is the guttural, raspy, Louis Armstrong sound. My demonstration of this sound is on track 9 of the CD. Grating and often unpleasant, it’s produced when the forces that produced the breathy voice and the ones that produced the brassy voice come together. For this sound to happen, the larynx must rise and partially block the windpipe. At the same time, a tremendous amount of air must be pushed through the vocal cords, forcing them apart so that only their outer edges vibrate. As the excess air pushes through, it combines with phlegm and natural moisture and begins to rumble. This sound is a cord killer. When I demonstrate it for even a few seconds, I feel my throat start to hurt and the cords beginning to dry and swell.
But if it’s your habitual sound, you probably don’t even notice the constriction of your throat or the irritation in the cords. It’s a sure bet, though, that you have a little trouble with hoarseness and occasionally lose your voice. If you hear even small traces of this quality in your voice when you listen to your tape, pay close attention to the sections of this book that deal with breathing, larynx work, and reducing phlegm. All of them will move you out of the vocal danger zone that the husky voice places you in.
