On Learning to Breathe, Learning to Sing

I mean speaking of those

It is fundamentally

—the syntax of existence—

it is about breathing

can’t sing or speak without

many processes occurring

we

learn

that perhaps we’re not breathing in the right way

that

when we fill the lungs

the diaphragm

moves from a

dome shape

to a kind of

plate

with the lungs full of air

sitting right on top

and counter

to the ways that we breathe

sort of as adults

in a

maybe

perhaps

disconnected

world

increasingly

sort of

collapsed into screens

and gadgets

the breathing

the breathing that

is optimal for singing

is also optimal for life

in the truest sense

so

when that diaphragm becomes a plate

and the lungs are sitting on top

full of air

the belly is also

free

it is firm

but it is extended

in an ordinary

way of breathing—

that lacks

a kind of mindfulness about

our lower extremities and our trunk

and our

diaphragm

we inhale

—and everything is pulled in

tightly

this isn’t recommended

we can bring our minds to that

process of breathing

the inhalation

the filling of the lungs

and the flattening of the diaphragm

and the

free

extension of the belly

on the inhale

and we are breathing more like children

like yogis

like

swimmers

like opera singers

like a trumpet player

We move our mind to that area

there’s a profound sense of relaxation

Some people when they’re learning how to breathe this way for singing

I find they
hyper-ventilate a little bit

there’s always some tension in their neck or back

This is largely to do with largely to do with

how we are holding ourselves tensely

→

and not breathing

to our fullest capacity

so we say

Respiration 

resonation

and phonation