Breathing is one of the most important parts of your job as an opera singer because you are not only breathing for yourself, you are breathing for the audience. Breathing is contagious. When you take a deep breath, the audience will breathe along with you; when you release it freely, so will they. For the duration of your performance, they will breathe much more deeply and frequently than they would otherwise be inclined to. Our audiences love beautiful music and stories with heightened emotional plot arcs, but I believe one of the biggest reasons people love opera is simply that it makes them breathe fully for a few hours. Afterwards they feel wonderful, and they probably have no idea why.
Many singers do not breathe as deeply, frequently, and intentionally as they should, however. They diligently perform the breathing exercises they are assigned and they prepare the breathing mechanism well when vocalizing and practicing individual phrases in a song or aria. But when it comes time to sing a song or aria start to finish, the way they breathe in between phrases is often quite different—shallower and more audible—making it difficult or even impossible to execute long phrases that they can perform easily out of context.
In this column I will present the reasons why singers often do not permit themselves a full inhalation even when there is no physiological impediment, discuss the physiological issues that can interfere with full breathing, and offer solutions and encouragement.
Let’s begin by considering the most common reasons that singers do not inhale adequately.
The Desire to Start the Next Phrase “on Time”
When a singer who has developed excellent breathing technique takes a late, noisy, high breath, it’s usually out of an instinctive urge to come in on time.
Timing your onsets correctly and breathing expansively are not mutually exclusive. However, it will seem as though they are unless you repeatedly practice coordinating the timing of your onsets with the requirements of a full breath.
A well-executed phrase is the result of a well-prepared onset. That preparation includes the mechanics of inhalation and vocal preparation, which take time. But what do you do when the composer does not offer you so much as a sixteenth-note rest in between phrases in order to meet these needs?
You take the time you need. You redefine “on time” to mean “on your time.”
This does not mean that you should disregard the composer’s intentions or allow the flow of the music to be distorted by your breathing. It means that breathing takes time. The composer, your pianist or conductor, and everyone listening knows that breathing takes time. It is up to you to build the breath you need into the overall flow of musical expression so that it feels organic.
One of the things I observe frequently in my studio is singers taking a catch breath an eighth or quarter note before their entrance even when they have a full measure or two to prepare for the next phrase. The reason for this is that the singers are treating the breath as a rhythmic event. Under nearly all circumstances while singing, however, breathing should be completely arrhythmic. Unless you have a break of more than two seconds, while you are performing you are always either singing or inhaling. That means that your inhalation will usually occur over the entire duration between phrases (you must never stop and hold your breath) and that sometimes you must carve out time to breathe when there is little or none allotted.
This will not happen automatically, so you must consciously plan and choreograph all of your breaths and then practice them. If there are no rests, or only short ones, between phrases, exercise good judgment and shorten the last note of the previous phrase so that you have the time you need to prepare well and come in on time when the next one is set to begin.
It merits repeating: you must consciously plan and choreograph all of your breaths and then practice them. It is just as important to practice the transition between phrases as it is to practice the phrases themselves. If you do not practice these transitions, all the work you have invested in singing the phrases well will be in vain, because without the right breath and preparation, you won’t be able to sing the phrases the way you practiced them.
Breathing for Technique Rather than Expression
Consider how you rarely run out of breath in conversation, sometimes even in the midst of a highly charged emotional confrontation. This is thanks to the efficiency of your nervous system. When you formulate a thought you wish to communicate, it sets a physical process in motion that begins with a breath perfectly suited to the comfortable vocal delivery of what you have decided to say.
Compared with conversational speech, a sung phrase does require augmented mental and physical preparation. But you can still access your nervous system’s remarkable ability to coordinate your breath to respond to the demands of expressive intent. This is why it is so important that your vocal technique be hardwired to respond to communicative intent rather than a mechanistic agenda.
Establishing dramatic context and motivation is of primary importance for learning repertoire. For an opera aria, this means not only creating and internalizing an excellent word-for-word translation of the text but also understanding the character, their journey, and their reasons for uttering these lines. You must also consider the composer’s intentions for musically setting each phrase in the precise way they did—why did it have to be these exact pitches, these note values and, when applicable, these flights of coloratura? Your approach to the musical setting must also be rich with emotional and dramatic subtext.
If instead you begin by analyzing how much breath to take in, where to place each vowel, how to modulate your support system, etc., and then layering in dramatic intent only after you are satisfied with your execution of the phrase, you may still be able to sing the phrase beautifully, skillfully, and even with strong dramatic impact. But no mechanistic approach to breathing can begin to compare with the fundamental efficiency of your nervous system. You bypass the crucial step of linking up your preparation with dramatic intent at your peril—because when it comes time to sing the phrase in context, you very well may not have enough time to take the breath that you had planned.
Even with meticulous dramatic preparation and stellar technique, you may find that there are some phrases that you simply can’t negotiate effectively on a single breath. In this case, you should take another breath—and provide strong dramatic justification for it. Here are a couple of examples from the standard repertoire.
Most sopranos cannot sing this phrase from “Mi chiamano Mimì” on one breath:
Truthfully, I do not feel it even worth attempting, because to me it is much more dramatically interesting to imagine opening the window of my tiny garret, feel that “primo bacio dell’aprile” warm my face, breathe it in luxuriously, and then exhale expansively on “è mio!”
Like everyone else, I would love to be able to sing this phrase from “Dich, teure Halle” on one breath, and sometimes I can:
By the time I’m halfway through it I know whether or not it’s going to happen. If it’s not, I breathe before “der Frieden” with the subtext that I have lost all of my joy along with the breath.
Trust me on this: rather than criticize you for taking an extra breath, audition panels and audiences will either be struck by your creative and committed phrasing or fail to notice anything other than your compelling delivery. While not all phrase interruptions are as easily justifiable as these, anyone with a well-developed imagination can invent a fantastic dramatic subtext for taking a breath.
Concern that Full Breathing Distorts Your Appearance
Some years ago, a highly accomplished, professional singer acquaintance noticed he was experiencing some breathing difficulty in auditions and realized it was due to feelings of self-consciousness. In spite of his tall, slim build, he felt that taking a full breath made him look like a blowfish.
He adopted a habit of mentally reminding himself to “let them see you breathe” periodically throughout the audition, and it resolved the problem. I have since shared his story with many singers, and the unconscious concern that full breathing might distort their appearance resonated with a surprising majority.
Because breathing regulates the flow of emotion, the nervousness that often arises when you walk into an audition room can make you instinctively scale back on your breathing, just at the moment when you need your breath as expansively as possible. Breathing does make you feel like you are taking up more space. Taking up more space is a highly audacious thing to do—a very good thing for auditions, as you not only want to have enough breath to fuel your singing but to also present as confident and graciously larger than life.
Let them see you breathe!
These are some of the reasons that singers who are capable of taking a timely, full breath sometimes do not. If, however, you find it difficult to inhale as fully and swiftly as you would like, it’s important to determine why.
Take a moment to check in with your breathing. Inhale and exhale slowly, noticing any attendant sounds or sensations.
• Are your inhalations silent?
• Do you feel a relaxed expansion in both your abdomen and rib cage?
• Is there smooth coordination between movement in your abdomen and your rib cage?
• Does it feel like the breath gets “stuck” anywhere?
Here are some common issues that can impede your ability to take a full, swift breath.
Throat Tension
Noisy, aspirate inhalations are the result of tension in the throat. The airway is narrowed by muscular activity in the constrictors, the cricoarytenoids, the base of the tongue, or the muscles that elevate the shoulders.
As it is highly unlikely that you experience any of these tensions during normal breathing (as opposed to inhaling for singing), you can begin to resolve them by making some careful observations. Establish a regular, relaxed breathing pattern. Then compare it with an attempt to take a slow, silent breath in preparation to sing a phrase. Notice any new tensions that develop in your neck, shoulders, or tongue, as well as any sound.
It is essential that you cultivate the ability to take silent breaths. An audible breath interferes with free singing on at least four fronts:
• It dries out your throat and vocal folds.
• It creates unwanted tension that will impact your voice when you resume singing.
• It narrows the airway so that you cannot take in as much air as you would wish.
• The sound itself distracts from your artistry.
If your nonsinging breathing is silent and relaxed, you can relieve any throat tension you experience on inhalation. Practice inhaling mindfully and silently when performing vocal exercises and learning repertoire. Keep track of tensions that arise, take the time to relax them, and gradually learn to inhibit them.
Chronic Abdominal Holding
Many of us grew up with the admonishment to keep our stomachs sucked in at all times. Whether for the purpose of improving posture or looking slimmer, it’s a bad call for singers because a relaxed belly is necessary for full breathing. While it is true that maintaining dynamic tension in some of your core muscles can support good alignment, most of the muscles that you use to suck in your gut limit range of motion for your ribs and diaphragm.
Try this exercise. Sit with good alignment, relax your belly—just let it hang—and take several deep, slow breaths. Then see if you can relax your belly even further and repeat the process. Once your belly is as relaxed as possible, rise to your feet and establish good neutral alignment. Continue to breathe, noticing any impulse to engage your abs.
Notice your breathing throughout the day and encourage your belly to release any noticeable tension. While your abdomen naturally expands on inhalation and moves in on exhalation, try to not mobilize your abdominal muscles to assist with the natural expansion and contraction of your abdomen.
A “Closed” Rib Cage
Many dancers and singers are taught to keep the rib cage closed. Dancers are taught this in order to support good alignment and to keep their ribs from elevating and splaying in the front. Singers are sometimes admonished to inhibit rib expansion in order to develop or emphasize diaphragmatic/abdominal breathing.
A full breath requires that you have access to full range of motion through your rib cage. While you don’t need to max out breathing capacity with every breath you take, you should develop the ability to expand your ribs as fully as possible.
This stretch with a foam roller promotes greater range of motion of the rib cage in the front:
Lying on top of a stability ball while breathing encourages greater expansion of the ribs in the back:
Do You Really Need More Breath?
If you feel you do not have enough breath to make it through long phrases, there is a physiological phenomenon that may account for that—and it has nothing to do with your ability to take an adequate breath swiftly.
Vocal stamina requires the ability to make efficient use of oxygen, so oxygen consumption is a topic that I have addressed a number of times in this column. But even with outstanding cardiorespiratory fitness, the unusual length of phrases that classical singers are frequently called upon to perform can send your body into panic mode.
Pay attention to the signals that your body is sending you. If you sense an encroaching necessity to take a breath when you’re in the middle of a long phrase, try greeting that signal with skepticism and see if you can finish the phrase. It’s possible that your air supply is actually nowhere near depletion.
Rather, it may be that your oxygen supply is running low. It is the lack of oxygen, not low air volume, which creates the urge to inhale. You will experience some momentary discomfort, but that will pass. While repressing the urge to inhale due to low oxygen can create momentary discomfort, with practice you will get used to this phenomenon and it will become less unpleasant.
Bear in mind that this advice applies only to the occasional exceptionally long phrase. If you’re depleting your oxygen supply before completing phrases of average length, you should engage in an exercise regimen to improve your overall cardiorespiratory fitness (which will improve a lot more than just your singing).
Breathing is every singer’s most significant superpower. Breathe often, deeply, and generously. Breathe on your own time. Let everyone see you breathe.
Remember that in performance, when you breathe, your listeners breathe along with you. It helps them metabolize nutrients, integrate emotions, and experience a greater sense of well-being. This is just as true for audition panels as it is for opera audiences. Give your audition panel not only a fantastic musical experience but also a greater overall sense of well-being, and they’ll remember you for it—even if they have no idea how you did it.
