Breathing Excercises You Can Do At Home

The pillars of good singing are proper breathing, relaxation, good diction and expressiveness.

Proper breathing is done with an open throat. When you inhale, keep the shoulders down and let the abdomen expand. Relaxation is important in the whole body, but especially in the neck, throat, jaw and tongue. Diction can be improved by awareness of how vowels and consonants are formed. Expressiveness comes from keeping the breath going, and from singing the words with meaning, as if you were talking to someone.

For proper breathing:
Sit on a straight chair with your feet flat on the floor. Lean forward until your elbows are resting comfortably on your knees. Your abdomen may be in contact with your legs in this posture. Now breathe, and observe your breathing. Your abdomen should be expanding with each inhalation, and contracting with each exhalation. This is the best type of breath for singing, as it allows for maximum expansion of the lungs, and maximum relaxation of the breathing mechanism. When you are clear about how this feels, stand up, and observe your breathing. Is your abdomen still moving with each breath? I like to use this exercise right before a concert, because it also relaxes my mind.

For an open throat:
Yawn. Do you feel a stretch in the back of your throat? Now yawn again, inhaling at the same time, and then say or sing "ah". Keep your throat in the open stretched yawn position as you say or sing the "ah". Try this on high notes and low notes, and see how it feels throughout your range. You may find that some notes sound very good this way, and others don't sound right. Try doing it with only the first half of a yawn. Experiment, and see what feels good to you.