Breath support when singing songs ?

Hi !

First of all, thanks for the lessons : they're very clear and effective.

I've always stuggled with breath support but I feel like I'm improving : I can feel I'm using breath support during most of the exercises showed in the videos. I still struggle sometimes when I have to take quicker breaths (like in the Cord compression exercice in "Mastering Vibrato" for example). But the worst is when I have to breath when I'm singing a song. I feel like I can sing the first phrase/sentence while supporting it, but the rest of the song I can't and I feel an itching in my throat.

Do you have any advice ? Thank you !

Glad you're enjoying them, Elise!

I know what you mean. Within songs, we typically have less time to breathe, and the spots where we can breathe are somewhat irregular.

The first thing I'd do is plan your breaths out. Print the lyrics out and mark the places where you could take a breath if you needed one (between sentences or phrases, or any spot where there would be some sort of pause or punctuation if the lyrics were written as prose). Most of the time, that'll be the fix! We often forget to breathe, or don't take breaths where we could. 

The next thing to pay attention to is your posture. Once your shoulders begin to roll forward and/or your ribcage starts to collapse, your breath support is essentially a lost cause! Maintain that tall singer's posture at all times. 

And finally, you can train short but efficient "catch breaths". For example, sing a pattern like "1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1", with a quick catch breath between each pitch. Your belly should move for every breath you take, and this will train your diaphragm to drop for quick but full breaths when you need them.