All musical instruments require a means of generating sound. A violin’s strings are set vibrating by the movement of a bow, a piano’s strings respond to hammer strikes initiated by fingers, and a singer’s vocal folds are activated by the breath. For any instrument, an effective generator provides for consistency, stamina, and variable intensity of sound production. Singers must therefore cultivate the ability to control and vary airflow and subglottal breath pressure with great specificity. Because our breath is limited by our lung capacity, it is a resource that must be deployed economically and then skillfully renewed upon depletion.
Breathing for singing can be broken down into four distinct but related skills, each of which must be mastered for the breath to serve as an effective generator:
-Taking a full breath
-Releasing the breath freely
-Optimizing and managing subglottal breath pressure
-Consuming oxygen efficiently
The first three of these skills depend upon the ability to dynamically stabilize the scapulae, or shoulder blades.
Taking a Full Breath
The shoulders normally elevate during inhalation and settle during exhalation—but singers must cultivate the ability to allow the shoulders to remain low during inhalation rather than elevating them.
Elevating the shoulders engages the upper trapezius. This tightens the neck and shoulder muscles in the back and on both sides and draws the shoulders up and in toward the neck, potentially causing problems for laryngeal mobility and stability.
The scapular retraction exercise described below helps stabilize the shoulders and improve awareness of and control over the upper trapezius.
Releasing the Breath Freely
Releasing the breath freely requires the ability to maintain good alignment of the shoulders and sternum rather than allowing them to collapse. Factors that can impede the ability to release the breath include allowing the sternum and/or shoulders to collapse due to weakness in the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius.
Optimizing and Managing Subglottal Breath Pressure
Enhancing subglottal breath pressure means exercising control over the degree of concentration, or compression, of the air molecules inside your lungs. Most muscles in the torso are capable of playing either a primarily inspiratory or primarily expiratory role. Muscles that play an expiratory role accelerate the rate at which breath exits our lungs, while muscles that play an inspiratory role decelerate the rate of release. To influence the air compression inside our lungs, we must harness and skillfully balance these forces of acceleration and deceleration.
Forces that decelerate breath release include anything that can hold the air back, such as continuing to engage the muscles of inspiration, including the intercostal muscles. Engaging the rhomboids and lower and middle trapezius to stabilize the shoulders and elevate the sternum assists with continued engagement of the intercostals.
The scapular retraction exercise described below helps strengthen a number of the muscles capable of decelerating breath release by enabling the shoulders, sternum, and thoracic spine to sustain an inspiratory position.
Exercise: Scapular Retraction
The rhomboids and middle and lower trapezius stabilize the shoulders by retracting the scapulae. Sustaining this retracted position is beneficial for singing because it helps maintain an elevated sternum while inhibiting the upper trapezius from elevating the shoulders. Here is a procedure for improving awareness and coordination in this crucial area.
- Warm up your shoulders with the following exercises.
Self-Myofascial Release for the Shoulders: Middle and Lower Trapezius, Rhomboids, and Intercostals
Self-myofascial release (SMR) is a technique to provide deep tissue massage for tight muscles using a firm foam roller. SMR enhances the impact of subsequent flexibility and strength-training exercises.
Sit on a mat with a foam roller behind your hips. Bring your knees up and place your feet flat on the floor. Lie back on the foam roller, positioning your lower ribs on top of it. Using your hands to support your head and neck, lean back and raise your hips off the floor so that most of your weight is on the roller.
Slowly walk your feet forward so that the roller moves from your lower ribs up toward your neck, allowing your head and shoulders to descend toward the floor. Continue until you feel the roller at the top of your shoulders, then reverse direction until the roller is once again at your lower ribs.
If you find a point of particular tenderness or tightness along your back or shoulders, pause in that position and continue breathing until the sensation subsides.
Massage for the Upper Trapezius
The upper trapezius elevates the shoulders, so tightness in this muscle is a common component of neck tension. It is therefore particularly important for singers to relax this area. I recommend using massage, either with your hand or an electric massager.
Focus on the area just to the side of your neck, squeezing it with the thumb and fingers of the opposite arm or holding a massager firmly to the spot. Allow your arm to dangle by your side with the elbow extended, then slowly elevate the shoulder, roll it around to the back, and then lower it to the starting position. Repeat this cyclical movement several times, taking care not to rotate the shoulder forward. Repeat on the other side.
Half-Angel Stretch for the Shoulders
Lie on your back on a mat with your arms extended over your head. Bring your knees up and place your feet flat on the floor. Slowly bend your elbows and draw your arms down toward your sides until your elbows are level with your shoulders, keeping both wrists and elbows on the mat or as close to it as possible throughout. Reverse the movement, slowly extending your arms over your head and returning to the starting position, again keeping wrists and elbows on or near the mat. Repeat the movement four to six times.
- Explore the impact of your shoulder muscles on your alignment.
Stand with good alignment.
Slouch by allowing your chest to collapse and your shoulders to slump forward.
Slowly draw yourself back into a position of good alignment.
Repeat several times, noting where you sensed the effort. The muscles that restore you to good alignment include the muscles between your shoulder blades: the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius. When these muscles are weak or lengthened, the result is a slouch.
- Practice scapular retraction.
Sit upright on a padded workout bench, massage table, or other firm upholstered surface.
Make fists with your hands and place them beside your hips, knuckles against the surface you are seated upon.
Maintaining good upper body alignment with your sternum elevated, raise your hips off the surface by pushing yourself up onto your fists. This will cause your scapulae to retract.
Keep your weight on your fists for two to four seconds, continuing to breathe; then lower yourself and return to a seated position.
Repeat four to six times.
Integrate scapular retraction into the lat pulldown exercise that follows.
- Perform lat pulldowns.
Performing lat pulldowns with good form not only helps to resolve common upper-body posture imbalances but also establishes the shoulder stability singers need for breath management. This exercise targets the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, middle and lower trapezius, and biceps.
Sit on a stability ball facing a cable machine with arms positioned at ten o’clock and two o’clock and set the weight at a moderately challenging level to ensure good form. Set up your starting position with care.
Grasp the handles and sit tall with elbows fully extended, being sure to draw your shoulder blades together and down. With palms continuing to face forward, draw your elbows in toward your sides as far as you can without rotating your shoulders forward.
As you extend your elbows to return to the starting position, continue to keep your shoulder blades retracted so that your shoulders do not elevate. Perform this movement slowly, about four seconds in each direction, with smooth transitions between lifting and lowering. Exhale as you pull the cables down and inhale as you return to the starting position. Aim for two to three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
The purpose of this sequence of exercises is to permanently strengthen the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius to promote good alignment, as well as to habituate dynamic shoulder stabilization during singing. Remember to keep your shoulders loose and available for movement—the point of these exercises is never the promotion of a rigid or held position but rather the development of balanced strength and flexibility throughout the musculoskeletal system.
