Ask Dr. LJ: Singing.

[saxikath]

So, I'm doing this solo with a bell piece that we're playing in late February. And wow, am I out of practice. The piece is slow, with looooong breath lines. (At least long for me.) Breath line was never my strongest suit, even when I was in better vocal condition, and now -- ouch.

So the question is, for you singers out there: what exercises do you recommend for working on breath line?

In related news, there is a distinct shortage of me-accessible musical theater this spring. Foo. Princess Ida is still an option, though I'm not all that wild about Blanche and can't imagine they'd actually cast me as Psyche. But I want to sing somewhere! (Brigadoon isn't happening in Belmont after all.)

(And yes, I went swimming again yesterday. And am going again tonight. I'm a quarter of the way across the Hellespont at its widest. Rawr!)

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

One of the vocal books I have recommends the following (I can photocopy that page for you if you'd like):

Take a measured breath in (I can't remember the count).
Say the alphabet. When you run out of breath take a catch breath and continue.
The goal is to say it three times in one breath.

Another exercise that my conductors often lead:

Breathe in on a count of 2 (although I think we should sometimes do a count of 4 because always doing 2 trains us to breathe late.)
Hiss out for a count of 8
Repeat with a 12 count hiss, and then a 16 count hiss, then a 20 count hiss.
The goal is to be completely out of air at the end of the hiss without having a big explosion of air at the end. (I try to achieve this by conserving until the halfway mark.)

And my vocal instructor used to have me buzz my lips (hmm, I'm not sure I'm explaining well. It sounds like a motor; the lips really get flapping) while doing certain vocal warmups, which was also for placement, but is a great breath exercise because it takes so much air to keep the lips flapping.

Yay swimming! Be sure to remember to stretch since you're doing all sorts of new things to your shoulders.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Those are lip trills. mister_nick, being a trumpet player as well as a singer, is really good with lip trills and might be able to recommend some related exercises.

[saxikath]

Gah, I suck at lip trills. Always have. Probably related to aforementioned lack of breath line. :)

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

I had the hardest time with lip trills until I realized that you have to be totally relaxed. If I think about how ridiculous I look, I start to laugh and it all goes to hell. :)