Breathing....

[Aotearoa girl]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

 

I am taking singing lessons and I am fairly new to formal singing tuition - I did a 10-week course about 9 years ago and started taking lessons for the first time since then in February this year. Then I moved abroad, but I found a new teacher pretty quickly. I've been practising with her for about 2 months now.

 

She tells me I really need to work on my breathing still, and I agree. She also tells me that I need to "open my vocal chords more" - she thinks I have a naturally quiet voice and she encourages me to try and get louder.

 

Recently she has had me practising (both warming up and singing) sitting down. I was surprised as I have heard experts say it is much harder to sing sitting down (as your diaphragm is kinda getting squished??). I asked my teacher if it is safe for a beginner, because my throat does hurt a little at times when I am really going into my upper range.

She said yes, it is safe, and the point of practising while sitting down is to:

1) Make it more challenging so that I work harder with breathing correctly,

2) And that once I master singing/proper breathing sitting down, singing standing up will feel easy.

 

Regarding the occasional sorness in my throat, she said it's because I need more practise with breathing, and to "open my vocal chords more".

 

I would like to hear people's thoughts on:

1) What my teacher has me doing, as no previous singing teacher ever asked me to sing sitting down.

2) I would also love to know - how the heck do I open my vocal chords more?? I am working on opening my mouth more, but my vocal chords...how?

 

Thanks for your time and help : )

 

[ido1957]

My vocal teacher said if it hurts stop doing it because you're doing it wrong.

[roberto verde]

I agree. No pain no gain does NOT apply to something like singing IMO

[Aotearoa girl]

So how do you push yourself into your upper range and avoid pain? I feel like I am breathing correctly but obviously I'm not. Any tips?

 

In addition, any thoughts on how to open the vocal chords?

[davie]

"Opening your vocal cords" is the exact opposite thing that you should be doing. When you sing higher you actually need to zip up your vocal cords. But what you SHOULD be opening is your throat space, by lifting the soft palate and stablizing your larynx position. You can get the open throat by training the 'yawning sensation'.

Sitting vs standing, I don't think there's much of a difference. Some people are worried that sitting will affect your singing posture, but as long as you keep your ribcage 'suspended' and not allow your body to 'collapse' then you should be fine.

[Aotearoa girl]

Thanks very much Davie, I appreciate the info and advice.