Breath, a basic life function, holds an interesting place in popular culture, regarded
in equal parts with romanticism and disdain. One may take a refreshing breath of sweet
spring air in joyous recognition of the wonders and beauty of life and nature. Or,
one can waste a life away doing little more than breathing. As Tennyson puts it, “How
dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As
though to breathe were life!”1 Regardless of such popular notions of breath, the activity, if it can be called such,
is a crucial part of proper singing. As pedagogue Julia Davids and psychologist Stephen
LaTour note, “breathing is the foundation of singing.”2 Without a properly drawn and expelled breath, one cannot sing with proper phonation,
resonance, or vitality. In order to sing well, then, it is important to know how to
breathe well. Despite its importance, or perhaps because of it, there is a wide range
of opinions on the proper ways to breathe within the context of singing. In regard
to exhalation, for example, some, such as Richard Miller, favour the Italian appoggio technique.3 Others favor a contraction of the abdomen, or an outward distention, or even that
the singer does little at all to retain or push out the air.4 With so many differences of opinion from a variety of reputable sources, one might
wonder which technique is most effective in the process of producing good singing.
This paper will attempt to examine the benefits and drawbacks of the variety of opinions
in literature, in order to find the most optimal method of breathing.
The Breathing Mechanism in Classical Singing
Jonathan Peterson
Breath, a basic life function, holds an interesting place in popular culture, regarded
in equal parts with romanticism and disdain. One may take a refreshing breath of sweet
spring air in joyous recognition of the wonders and beauty of life and nature. Or,
one can waste a life away doing little more than breathing. As Tennyson puts it, “How
dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As
though to breathe were life!”1 Regardless of such popular notions of breath, the activity, if it can be called such,
is a crucial part of proper singing. As pedagogue Julia Davids and psychologist Stephen
LaTour note, “breathing is the foundation of singing.”2 Without a properly drawn and expelled breath, one cannot sing with proper phonation,
resonance, or vitality. In order to sing well, then, it is important to know how to
breathe well. Despite its importance, or perhaps because of it, there is a wide range
of opinions on the proper ways to breathe within the context of singing. In regard
to exhalation, for example, some, such as Richard Miller, favour the Italian appoggio technique.3 Others favor a contraction of the abdomen, or an outward distention, or even that
the singer does little at all to retain or push out the air.4 With so many differences of opinion from a variety of reputable sources, one might
wonder which technique is most effective in the process of producing good singing.
This paper will attempt to examine the benefits and drawbacks of the variety of opinions
in literature, in order to find the most optimal method of breathing.
Posture
If good breath is the foundation of good singing, good posture is the foundation of
good breath. As Davids and LaTour note, “correct [singing] posture elevates the ribs,
allowing greater lung expansion and finer control of breathing.”5 Elevating the ribs through correct posture does two things. First, it permits the
ribs to expand more fully during inhalation, allowing for a deeper breath. Second,
by elevating the ribs, the abdomen is able to expand further, also allowing for a
deeper breath. There are other benefits to correct posture. Again from Davids and
LaTour,
without proper posture, muscles that can affect vocal production must compensate to
maintain body position. Tensing of the muscles [particularly those muscles that compensate
to maintain body position] degrades sound quality. Moreover, singers with poor posture
tire easily because they spend too much energy on maintaining balance.6
Posture’s importance, then, for breathing and singing is quite substantial, allowing
both a full breath and a relaxed musculature. Both the full breath and relaxed muscles
mean that the singer tires less quickly, both because of the lower frequency of breaths
requiring less work in inspiration and because of the removal of excessively tense
muscles.
Not all the literature agrees on the crucial importance of good posture, however.
Vennard argues that “it is easy to overemphasize posture … Opera singers demonstrate
continually that there is no one posture that is the sine qua non of good singing.”7 In many ways, Vennard is correct in this assessment. While onstage, opera singers
are often moving in ways that are not entirely conducive to “proper posture.” In fact,
they are required to do so in order to operate at the top levels of opera performance,
bending at the waist, standing on the balls of their toes, sitting, laying down, moving
about wildly. This being said, however, such movement is rarely so exaggerated that
the singer substantially diminishes their ability to fully expand the lungs or tense
muscles that diminish vocal quality. In fact, movement that does such things is actively
discouraged by many directors. If an opera requires exaggerated movement that diminishes
breathing ability, these things are often done when singers are not actively singing.8
If good posture is such an important element of good breath, and therefore good singing,
how does one achieve good posture? Feet should be spread a shoulder’s width apart,
directly underneath the pelvis. Some argue that one foot should be slightly in front
of the other to eliminate the tendency to sway side to side.9 This is perhaps an overly simplistic solution to an issue that could be solved through
better acting during singing, if it is indeed a problem at all. After all, if one
has one foot too far ahead of the other, it may lead to tensing of those same muscles
that poor posture tenses, leading to an inferior vocal production. Some, such as Davids
and LaTour, argue for even weight placement across the whole foot, favouring neither
ball nor heel.10 Others, such as Marilee David, argue that one should place more weight on the balls
of the feet.11 The great benefit of placing more weight on the balls of one’s feet is there will
be less of a tendency to lock the knees, so this may be more advisable, particularly
for new singers. But the question of weight distribution is perhaps not so important
an issue.
Moving up the body from the feet, one should have a straight back such that the hips,
chest, and head are all in a straight line.12 The sternum should be elevated, but not exaggeratedly so. All this will work in unison
to ensure that the weight of the body is being directed perpendicular to the floor,
allowing the legs and spine to bear the weight of the body, rather than abdominal,
back, and neck muscles. The shoulders should be back, but not forced so. To simplify
all these steps, Vennard compares this posture to “a marionette, hanging from strings,
one attached to the top of your head and one attached to the top of your breast bone.”13 This is a very effective visualization, one commonly used in theatre as well as classical
singing; though it may at times be easy to forget the second imaginary string attached
to the breast bone, leaving a less elevated sternum and more forward shoulders.
As David notes, however, “posture is highly individual.”14 While the physiognomy of the human race is largely the same, there are minor variations
that will result in good posture looking slightly different from one person to another.
The important principle to remember is that one should have space to fully expand
both the abdomen and rib cage during inhalation, while not being so rigid in the effort
of maintaining good posture that the muscles are tensed in a way that inhibits quality
vocal production. Once one has created a good posture which feels open and comfortable,
it is time to look toward the act of breathing itself–in particular, the inhalation.
The Anatomy of Inhalation
As the late Baroque singer and teacher Gasparo Pacchierotti noted, “chi sa ben respirare e sillibare sapra ben cantare” (translated, “he who knows how to breathe and pronounce well knows how to sing well”).15,16 While the subject of good pronunciation is beyond the scope of this paper, it is
easy to understand why good breathing is crucial for good singing. In order to vibrate
and generate pitch, the vocal folds require air to move between them. The principal
anatomical mechanism by which air enters and leaves the body is the breath. A poor
breath will generate pitch less effectively than a good breath. Therefore, one must
breathe well to sing well. To learn how to breathe well, one must turn to the anatomy
which allows one to breathe.
Air, the oxygen which allows every cell within the body to remove certain waste products,
is stored in the lungs upon inhalation, where most of it remains before being released
from the body during exhalation. The lungs, however, do not control their own expansion;
they have no muscular tissue by which to achieve this. The lungs must therefore rely
on other parts of the body to expand for it: the inspiratory muscles. Of the many
muscles involved in the process of inhalation, the two primary muscles are the diaphragm
and the external intercostals. The diaphragm is a dome-like muscle inside of the ribcage
which, when contracted, moves slightly downward at the top of its “dome.” The external
intercostals are the muscles on the outside of the ribcage, in between each rib, which,
when contracted, move each rib outward, similar to a balloon being inflated.17
These inspiratory muscles, which are connected to the lungs, allow the lungs to expand.
Through the principle of Boyle’s Law, which states that gases and liquids from an
area of high pressure will want to move toward an area of low pressure if possible
until there is no difference in pressure between the two areas, air enters the now
expanded lungs. With this basic anatomical understanding, it is appropriate to turn
to how one feels their inhalation as they sing.
The Process of Inhalation
Most pedagogues note three different types of breathing: clavicular, abdominal, and
costal.18 It is largely agreed that the first of these, clavicular breathing, is the sort of
breathing that primarily moves the upper part of the chest, near the shoulders and
clavicles. Vennard refers to this sort of breathing as “the kind of breathing used
by the exhausted athlete, the person who is ‘out of breath.’ It is the ‘last resort,’
desperate breathing.”19 Singers should treat this sort of breathing as the last resort. The primary issues
which come from clavicular are an insufficient breath – the upper lungs have a much
lower capacity than the lower lungs – and little control over the exhalation.20 David also notes that such breathing creates tension in the throat – a major issue
for singing.21
Abdominal breathing is perhaps the most noticeable of the three breathing types. This
type of breathing primarily relies on the action of the diaphragm. When the diaphragm
contracts to expand and fill the lungs, this expansion pushes the internal organs
beneath it further down. Because there is no room for the internal organs to move
directly downward, they instead push against the abdominal wall which moves outward
to compensate, leading to the outward appearance of a substantially expanded stomach.22 This expansion is advisable, though difficult for a young singer to achieve. Perhaps
this is due to societal expectations of thinness, which the expansion of the stomach
goes against directly, discouraging people from expanding the abdomen in a natural
way to avoid the appearance of being large. To help singers achieve this expansion,
David notes, “a full length mirror and the student’s hands are the best tools available.”23 Students can observe their own breathing visually with the mirror and should notice
the expansion of the abdomen as they inhale. The hands may also be placed on the abdomen,
one near the navel and the other on the natural waist, to feel the abdomen expand.
Students may also observe their abdominal breathing by lying on the ground and inhaling.
Vennard recommends supplementing this by placing a moderately heavy object on the
abdomen and giving the student the goal of raising the object with each inhale and
lowering it with each exhale.24
Of the types of breathing, costal breathing is perhaps the least noticeable, but it
is nonetheless highly useful for the singer. David argues for a fourth type of breathing,
costal-abdominal, which relies on both costal and abdominal breathing and is the most
effective type of breathing for singing.25 Costal breathing relies on the external intercostal muscles. The expansion of the
space between the ribs allows for a fuller space into which the lungs can expand,
and thus, more air which one can control upon exhalation. This sort of breathing is
closely related to abdominal breathing: As David notes, “some rib expansion is inevitable
with diaphragm contraction [inhalation from abdominal breathing].” That being said,
David notes that further expansion is advisable, saying that one can help their students
achieve this by instructing them to fill up an imaginary inner tube in their abdomen
at the waist.26
Not all teachers agree that costo-abdominal breathing is the ideal. Many have historically
believed “the rib muscles should only be used to expand the ribs and keep them in
this position making possible the most efficient operation of lower muscles, the true
motors of breathing.”27 There is some validity to this; the majority of the expiratory muscles (discussed
in a later section) are beneath the ribs in the abdomen, so they cannot control the
air that is gained from costal breathing. If not being able to control the air is
one of the primary reasons that clavicular breathing is inadvisable, it stands to
reason that costal breathing should be discouraged as well. Unlike clavicular breathing,
however, costal breathing does allow for control of exhalation through the interaction
between the external and internal intercostals.
One can thus safely follow David’s costo-abdominal breathing without sacrificing singing
quality.
Before moving on to the anatomy and process of exhalation, it is important to touch
on a few miscellaneous points about inhalation. First, it is important to note that
inhalation should be a silent process. Noise during the inspiratory process may be
a sign of issues that will seriously affect singing. Most often, a noisy inhalation
is a sign of a lowered soft palate, a too-narrow mouth opening, or a partial blocking
of the airway by the tongue resting too far back.28 These issues ought to be resolved for a good breath and a good tone.
Second, while the process of inhalation involves a great number of moving parts, the
whole process itself should be quick. Singers are often required in repertoire to
inhale enough to get through fairly long phrases, in the space of a fraction of a
second. Thus, while it is crucial to teach students how to breathe most effectively,
it is also important to help them learn to do all this in short lengths of time. The
third point makes drawing quick breaths easier, but it is important in isolation as
well: one must not inhale too much. As Davids and LaTour note,
Singers should take a full breath because a relatively high lung volume helps to maintain
a low larynx position, which in turn may help to reduce mechanical stress on the thyroarytenoids
… At the same time, avoid the temptation to take as much breath as possible.29
Particularly when approaching long phrases, it will be the instinct of a young singer
to fill the lungs completely in order to get through the full phrase. This is counterproductive.
Richard Miller argues that by doing this, the lungs are so full to bursting that it
will result in an unavoidably higher rate of exhalation. This means that the singer
is less likely to sing through the full phrase than if they had taken a breath that
was full, but not over-full.30 Finding this balance will take time, as one is not accustomed to taking deep, full
breaths in their everyday life. However, as a singer becomes more familiar with their
own voice and body, and as they learn how much breath is needed to sing a phrase of
any given length, they will become more accustomed to the feeling of an appropriately
full breath.
A good inhalation is important to the process of breathing. Such an inhalation relies
both on a good costo-abdominal breath, which expands the abdomen and spreads the ribs.
One must not, however, engage in the inefficient and harmful clavicular breath, nor
should one inhale noisily. One must take a full breath, but not too full a breath,
else they risk a too-rapid exhalation.
The Anatomy of Exhalation
Finally, we arrive at the final component process of breathing. In the typical functioning
of the human body, air is exhaled once the cardiovascular system has reached a point
of diminishing returns in gathering oxygen from the air in the lungs and replacing
it with carbon dioxide. At this point, the expiratory muscles bring the lungs back
to the position in which they began inhalation. Because the volume of the lungs is
significantly decreased from this process, Boyle’s Law works in the inverse way as
it did for inspiration. The air pressure within the lungs becomes much higher than
the air pressure of the atmosphere, leading air to escape the lungs to maintain equilibrium
between the two areas. The primary muscles used to achieve this action are more numerous
than those used in inspiration, though, like inspiration, there are more muscles which
are less involved. These muscles are the internal intercostals, the external and internal
obliques, the rectus abdominis, and the transverse abdominis. The internal intercostals
may be paired with the inspiratory external intercostals. They lie in the same place
as the external intercostals, though the fibers of the internal move in the opposite
direction than the external. Instead of pulling the ribs apart, as the external intercostals
do, the internal intercostals bring them together, collapsing the ribcage.31 The external obliques run from the fifth rib down to the top of the pelvis, with
muscle fibers that run the same direction as the external intercostals.32 The internal obliques have a similar relationship with the external obliques as the
internal intercostals have with the external intercostals, running mostly perpendicular
to their external counterparts. One way in which the two oblique muscle pairs differ
is that the internal obliques run from the pelvis only up to the last rib, wrapping
from the spine to the side of the abdomen.33 The rectus abdominis is separated into four sets of muscles going from the middle
of the rib cage down into the pelvis, reflected across the centerline of the body
to make a total of eight. These rectus abdominis muscles are at the very front of
the abdomen, with muscle fibers running perpendicular to the floor.34 Finally, the transverse abdominis sits in the front of the body, wrapping around
to the sides, and goes from the sternum down to the pelvis, with muscle fibers running
almost perpendicular to the rectus abdominis.35 Because the primary expiratory muscles are more numerous than the primary inspiratory
muscles, the work done by each individual muscle is less defined. However, as a whole,
the muscles contract the abdomen and rib cage in order to return it to the position
in which they sat before the inspiration.36 With this understanding of the expiratory anatomy, one may begin to understand the
way the expiratory process differs in singing than in normal bodily operation.
The Process of Expiration
When one exhales in typical bodily function,37 the primary goal of exhalation is to evacuate the lungs in a relaxed manner, so when
more oxygen is needed, the lungs can fill up in inspiration in the same relaxed manner
as is typical (though the relaxedness of this process may be subject to the level
of physical exertion). However, when singing, the objective is very different. The
breath is the system which propels the vocal folds to make sound, and as such, the
breath must be controlled to use it most efficiently. The amount of air required to
move the folds efficiently and most effectively is quite small relative to the amount
of air expelled at once in typical expiration. As such, one needs a system by which
to slow the amount of air leaving the body during singing.
There are a variety of systems to manage exhalation. Miller lists several, including
the “down and out” method, which encourages a focus on distending the abdomen outward.
One may perhaps equate this to a preference for the action of the inspiratory muscles.
There is also the “up and in” method, which encourages bringing the abdomen inward,
accelerating the action of the expiratory muscles.38
These systems each have flaws. The “down and out” method places far too much emphasis
on the distention of the abdomen. In the process of maintaining this distention, the
singer may be encouraged to relax their good posture in favour of the distention,
which harms the breathing process as a whole. The “up and in” method encourages a
faster expiration than is needed or optimal for good singing. This leads to an aspirate
phonation, or a phonation in which too much breath is used. The expiratory system
which seems to be most prevalent in the literature is what is known as the appoggio method.
As James Stark notes, the root word of appoggio, “appoggiare,” is an Italian term which means “to lean.” Stark argues that this means two different
things: first is the leaning of the breath on the larynx, through which the glottis
(a piece of cartilage just above the vocal folds) slows the expulsion of the air.39 There is a limit to the amount of air that can be expelled during the open phase
of the vocal fold oscillation. Provided there is a firm closure to begin with, this
“leaning” will limit the amount of air leaving the body. The second component of appoggio is the leaning of the expiratory muscles on the inspiratory ones. Stark notes that
this is often described as “a feeling of ‘bearing down’ with the diaphragm.”40 Given the complexity and difficulty of feeling the use of a single muscle, it is
difficult to scientifically justify the feeling Stark describes. But the point is
well understood. Rather than completely release the inspiratory muscles from all activity,
the singer must continue to engage these muscles in the process of singing in order
to slow the speed of the exhalation. Many authors, including Vennard and Miller, refer
to this as “muscular antagonism.” This term, while more narrow than appoggio, is perhaps more descriptive and more useful in explaining the “muscular antagonism”
aspect of the historical appoggio. The muscular antagonism is also the element which will conclude this discussion
of breathing.
How may one achieve this muscular antagonism? Unsurprisingly, there are a variety
of opinions on this subject. No one way to think about this subject is perhaps the
“best,” but instead, one may benefit from borrowing from each of them. Vennard offers
that one may feel the muscular antagonism as a feeling of “sitting on the breath.”41 Naturally, this must not be taken literally. The breath is not solid enough a thing
upon which one can sit. Instead, one may interpret this to mean that one may settle
into the sensation of the inspiration. It may help to gain comfort with this sensation
by doing as Davids and LaTour suggest and engaging in a brief suspension of the breath.42 The sensation of active inhalation is somewhat different from the sensation of keeping
these same muscles activated for muscular antagonism. By suspending the breath, a
student may become accustomed to the sensation of maintaining muscular action of the
inspiratory muscles during exhalation. This suspension is one of the aspects of the
famous Farinelli exercises, in which a singer inhales, holds the breath, then exhales
for gradually increasing counts – though Davids and LaTour seem to suggest a suspension
much more brief than Farinelli. Davids and LaTour also caution that during such suspension,
one must keep an open glottis. If one closes the glottis during this suspension of
breath, it may encourage a hard glottal onset and therefore a pressed phonation, which
is suboptimal. Miller notes that in order to maintain a good muscular antagonism,
one must also maintain a good posture. Specifically, Miller highlights relaxed shoulders
and a noble sternum, without which one cannot successfully maintain muscular antagonism.43 This is due to poor posture giving the ribs and abdomen less space to expand, which
in turn harms the inspiratory muscles’ ability to fully engage, making it difficult
for them to continue staying engaged throughout expiration.
Conclusion
Finally, one has a full picture of the process of breathing for singing. It begins
with a good posture, continues through a full, but not over-full, costal-abdominal
breath, and ends with an expiration that takes advantage of muscular antagonism to
release the air at a controlled rate that is substantially lower than the rate typical
of bodily function. With a mechanism so complex as the human body, it is little wonder
that there is such a variety of opinions on the subject of breathing – especially
in something so unnatural as classical singing. If the pedagogues have taught anything,
it is, first and foremost, that Tennyson was wrong in his assessment: There is nothing
dull about breathing.
- Alfred Lord Tennyson. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Complete, Unabridged (New York: MacMillan, 1906), 96.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 23.
- Richard Miller. On the Art of Singing (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 239.
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 27.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 19.
- Ibid.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 19.
- Vennard does acknowledge that every professional singer “learned orthodox posture
at one time, and the positions they assume on stage, apparently spontaneously, are
all such that they do not violate good technic, and they involve compensations to
make up for their unorthodoxy” (1968, p. 19).
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 13.
- Ibid.
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 16.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 19.
- Ibid.
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 17.
- James Stark. Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 91.
- As Stark notes, there is little evidence proving that it was actually Pacchierotti
who coined this. However, after a several-month-long quest to learn who actually composed
“Star Vicino” several years ago, the author of this paper realized that there is a
reason he did not pursue a degree in history, and has given up the pursuit of trying
to discover who actually said or wrote things.
- Scott McCoy. The Basics of Voice Science and Pedagogy (Gahanna, OH: Inside View Press, 2020), 29-31.
- Vennard (1967) offers some other terms for all these types of breathing. Clavicular
he also refers to as chest or shoulder breathing, costal as rib breathing, and abdominal
as diaphragmatic abdominal or belly breathing. This paper will use the three terms
first used.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 27.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 27-28.
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 26
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 29
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 26.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 29.
- Marilee David. The New Voice Pedagogy (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2002), 25.
- Ibid, 26.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 28.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 27.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 28.
- Richard Miller. The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique, (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986), 23.
- Scott McCoy. The Basics of Voice Science and Pedagogy (Gahanna, OH: Inside View Press, 2020), 32-33.
- Ibid, 35.
- Ibid, 35-36.
- Ibid, 34.
- Ibid, 34, 36.
- The ways in which each individual muscle achieves this goal are known. However, because
these muscles operate in concert one with another, it is not worth discussing these
individual operations for such a cursory discussion of the anatomy of expiration.
- Stark calls this sort of breathing “vegetative breathing,” which conjures to mind
the humorous image of a carrot in the ground hyperventilating. Because of the absurdity
of such an image, this term will be ignored.
- Richard Miller. On the Art of Singing (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 239.
- James Stark. Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 92-93.
- Ibid.
- William Vennard. Singing: The Vocal Mechanism and Technic (New York: Carl Fisher, 1968), 34.
- Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors (Long Grove: Waveland, 2012), 29.
- Richard Miller. The Structure of Singing, (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986), 23.
