chest voice Teaching Breath Support

[Brax]

What are some techniques that will help a student learn how to use good breath support?

[Draven Grey]

This is a good start:

 

[Kevin Ashe]

On 12/9/2018 at 11:53 AM, Draven Grey said:

This is a good start:

 

Draven,

Super insightful instruction! I couldn't help but notice that when he described the "lean" of those he knew who chose the "sternal notch," as a target of their lean, this whole approach to the breath seems like another means to configuring the larynx for cry mode. If I think of a cry mode onset, this workflow he's described is essentially the same yet, he's placed the focus on the breath control for achieving less tension.  Seems like a potential double edged sword technique - cry configuration and effective appoggio.  If you're configuring for cry mode (when aren't you, right?), you might as well also (since you're more than 75% of the way there with cry config), release any tension from your breath support with the "lean."  Do you think I'm confusing anything with this observation?

[Draven Grey]

I agree that cry and lean work together extremely well. I'm not sure about appoggio doing anything to cause cry vocal mode or configure the larynx. I think it's a completely separate control. Appoggio in the description above is more of a way of sighing through singing. Consequently, if tension is focused, however subtle, into the sternum, the increased airflow increases resonance and perceived volume. However, you can still do the same thing without cry vocal mode, although you're more likely to push harder and cause more tension in the vocal folds than necessary.

[Jarom]

I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but ... Breath support is overrated for most modern styles of singing. Just breathe from your belly and you should be fine. The amount of focus people put into breathing and supporting the right way usually just makes it more complicated then it needs to be. Stop thinking about it basically.

[Draven Grey]

23 hours ago, Jarom said:

I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but ... Breath support is overrated for most modern styles of singing. Just breathe from your belly and you should be fine. The amount of focus people put into breathing and supporting the right way usually just makes it more complicated then it needs to be. Stop thinking about it basically.

I agree that a bit too much emphasis is put on breath support with a lot of teachers out there. I would add that good breath support does so much more than what you get from simply breathing from the belly. Balancing compression with respiration is fundamental to any type of singing. Using good appoggio for increasing resonance and therefore volume, rather than pushing harder, makes a HUGE difference, 

[Jarom]

1 minute ago, Draven Grey said:

I agree that a bit too much emphasis is put on breath support with a lot of teachers out there. I would add that good breath support does so much more than what you get from simply breathing from the belly. Balancing compression with respiration is fundamental to any type of singing. Using good appoggio for increasing resonance and therefore volume, rather than pushing harder, makes a HUGE difference, 

True but in my experience people tend to do that better naturally than when they think about it. I'm not saying we don't use proper respitory techniques I'm just saying that if you're working on your voice with different things such as levels of compression or bridging registers good breathing tends to come naturally better than if you were to force it. 

[Draven Grey]

17 minutes ago, Jarom said:

True but in my experience people tend to do that better naturally than when they think about it. I'm not saying we don't use proper respitory techniques I'm just saying that if you're working on your voice with different things such as levels of compression or bridging registers good breathing tends to come naturally better than if you were to force it. 

Interesting. I've seen the opposite in thousands of students - from little to no breath support to pushing way too hard. Very few have had great breath support naturally. I completely agree that if you overthink it while singing, or "push" or "force" it, then it gets in the way, especially in performance. At the same time, the whole reason we train anything is so that we don't have to think about it when performing - that applies to pretty much anything, especially in athletic ventures. I use specific exercises for breath support, so they don't have to think about it when doing other things in training, and they know exactly what feeling to go for when I tell them they need to support better for add volume. The above video was about great breath support from sighing through phonations, rather than pushing or forcing anything to happen.