Dispelling Vocal Myths. Part 1: "Sing from Your Diaphragm!"

Abstract

THE PREVALENCE OF VOCAL MYTHS IN MY EIGHTEEN YEARS OF treating singers with voice disorders in a voice specialty clinic, hundreds of them have presented with some kind of problem with their singing technique. These technical problems might be a primary cause of their disorder, or may have developed as compensation for that disorder. It could even be a long-standing and otherwise unrelated problem with technique that gets in the way when we're trying to address the voice disorder. Over the years, I have come to realize that many of these problems develop because these singers are operating under misconceptions about vocal technique, or about their vocal mechanism. Of course, they're not aware of their own misconceptions; when given explanations of the true anatomy and physiology, they generally find it much easier to correct their technical problems, to address their voice disorders, and to sing in general. I call these misconceptions myths, because it seems that many have been handed down from generation to generation with no question about their veracity. Most often they weren't learned explicitly, in books or coursework, or even from their teachers, but rather acquired implicitly from sources the singer had no reason to mistrust. As teachers of singing, it is important for us to recognize that are neither the first nor only source of information for our students; by the time they are in high school, they already may have acquired a wealth of information and misinformation about their voices. They may not be able to act on our technical guidance if it is at odds with some myth they harbor beneath the level of consciousness. The purpose of this series of articles is to relate the myths I see most commonly in the clinic, and to provide facts that can clarify them and thus help to improve technique. These facts can be found in many excellent books and articles about the anatomic and physiologic basis for singing; I'll suggest some along the way. I present them here as simple tidbits of information that can be used to dispel a myth quickly within the context of a singing lesson. BREATHING MYTHS We begin with some of the most common breathing myths. Several decades of research by Dr. Thomas Hixon and his colleagues have demonstrated that many singers, including highly trained, successful performers, do not actually breathe in the way that they perceive.1 In the clinic, I see many singers unaware of how much excess energy they are expending on breathing. When asked about their understanding of breathing for singing, they parrot phrases they have heard (e.g., we should breathe with our diaphragm), but admit to confusion about the actual mechanics of breathing. INHALATION MYTHS Inhalation Myth #1: We need to feel the One of the technical problems I see most commonly is found in singers who take a low, relaxed, abdominal breath, and then, right before phonation, lift their chests with a little gasp, contract their neck muscles, and hold their breath for a tiny moment just before they sing. This maneuver seems to create laryngeal tension and excessive valving of the air stream, thus reducing the ease of production and freedom of tone. Also, the little gasp means the vocal folds have been drawn together slightly, which increases the velocity of the inhaled air (remember the Bernoulli principle), and dries the vocal fold mucosa. When I redirect them to allow a relaxed inhalation, and simply initiate phonation without the prephonatory gasp, they say, But I'm not getting any air. It seems they've learned to interpret this sensation as getting air in; they believe they need to feel it. Despite the fact that they recognize the greater ease of production and freedom of tone when they initiate phonation without this gasp, the sensation seems to be quite gratifying. Singers like feedback; that is, they like to feel their own vocal mechanism at work. We will cover sensory reception of the entire vocal mechanism in a future column. …