How to sing better: breathing, support, posture and resonance basics

TUREFF• •0

Most people who want to sing better are not missing talent. They are missing a few physical basics that trained singers practise every day: how to breathe, how to stand, how to keep the air flowing steadily and how to let the sound ring. None of this needs a special voice to start.

Posture: set up the instrument

Your whole body is the instrument, so how you stand affects the sound.

Stand with feet roughly hip-width apart, weight balanced, knees soft rather than locked.
Let your spine lengthen and your chest stay comfortably open, without puffing it up.
Keep shoulders relaxed and down, not raised towards your ears.
Keep your head balanced on top of your neck. Pushing the chin forward or up to reach a note tightens the throat.
If you sit, sit towards the front of the chair with both feet on the floor.

Posture should feel tall and free, not rigid. A rigid body makes a rigid sound.

Breathing: low and relaxed

Singers aim for a low breath, where the belly, sides and lower back expand as you inhale, rather than a high breath where the shoulders and upper chest rise.

Put one hand on your stomach and one on your upper chest.
Breathe in slowly through your nose. The lower hand should move first and most.
Breathe out on a long "sss" sound and notice the gentle inward movement of your belly.

The aim is not to take in as much air as possible. Overfilling leads to tension. A comfortable, low breath is enough for most phrases.

Support: controlling the outflow

"Support" is one of the most used and least clearly defined words in singing. In simple terms it means controlling how the air leaves your body so the sound stays steady, rather than letting it rush out at the start of a phrase.

The "sss" exercise: breathe in low, then hiss out evenly for as long as you comfortably can, keeping the sound steady. Try to keep the ribs feeling open as you breathe out.
Sustained notes: sing a comfortable note on "ah" and keep the volume and pitch even until near the end of the breath.
Lip trills: blowing air through loosely closed lips so they flutter while you slide up and down in pitch. They make steady airflow obvious, because the trill stops if the air stops.

Support should never mean squeezing your stomach or throat hard. If your neck is tense, you are pushing too much.

Resonance: letting the sound ring

The vocal folds make the sound; the spaces above them, the throat, mouth and nose, shape and amplify it. This is resonance.

Humming: hum on a comfortable note with lips gently closed and feel the buzz around your lips and nose. That buzzing sensation is a useful guide to a forward, ringing tone.
Hum to vowel: hum, then open into "mah" or "nah", trying to keep the same buzz.
Space in the mouth: a relaxed jaw and a little space at the back of the mouth, as at the start of a yawn, tends to give a fuller sound. Do not force a huge yawn shape, which can muffle it.

A ten-minute daily routine

Two minutes of posture check and low breathing.
Two minutes of "sss" and lip trills.
Two minutes of humming and slides through a comfortable range.
Four minutes singing a simple song you know, focusing on one thing at a time.

Stay in a comfortable range at first. Singing should not hurt; if your throat feels sore or scratchy, stop and rest.

Listen back

Record yourself regularly. The voice sounds different inside your head than it does to everyone else, and recordings are the most honest teacher you have between lessons. What is your biggest singing challenge right now: breath, tone, range or nerves? Share it, or the exercise that helped you most, in the comments.