Making Time for Fundamentals
Friday, November 18, 2022 by Billy Roberts | Singing
This month’s blog focus is on singing, but these thoughts actually started with reflections on horn playing, head posture and breathing. Three concepts have formed the core of how I approach tone with both voice and the horn, but they are confusing and can be difficult to teach without misguiding students, so I will look at each briefly and then come to the main idea of this essay, which is that fundamentals should form the core of a daily practice routine, even if that means there are days that you do not get to the music.
The first concept is that your head should be relatively level, but this does not mean that it should be held rigidly. It’s ok for your head to move up or down a little as you sing as long as it does not constrict the breath. We’re not shooting for perfect head posture. Many heads sit a little further forward than ideal, due to technology and other issues, but you just want to make sure that your head is not stuck out too far forward or bent too far down when you sing. This will allow your lower register to come out naturally. On the flip-side, if your head is tilted too far back you may have trouble finding the right vocal balance as you ascend into the upper part of your range. Although looking in a mirror can be a useful starting point, the best way to tell if your head is positioned well is simply to be aware of a balanced, relaxed posture between the head, neck, and shoulders.
The second concept often misunderstood is that of a relaxed throat. While we want the throat to be open, the oft-heard advice to open your mouth wide can create unnecessary tension in the pharynx and even in the muscles at the back of the neck if taken too literally. For some it may be helpful to think in terms of dropping the jaw instead of raising the head, as one idea implies relaxing a muscle while the other implies engaging a muscle that really shouldn’t be at work. However, even this can be confusing, so more importantly we should think in terms of comfort, questions such as: Is there tension where the head and neck join? Are the shoulders relaxed? Is the torso free to expand? Being aware of excess tension in the body can help you identify whether your head posture is helpful or detrimental to creating a naturally open space in the throat.
This leads to the third concept, which is that of having a balanced nasal component to your singing. This is something you will have to find through daily practice with long tones and arpeggios. Ultimately, there seems to be no way to describe the correct sensations without stating something that would be confusing to someone, but perhaps the best questions to ask are simply related to range. Your lower register will not have the same timbre as your upper register, but is there a fullness to the sound that you are happy with? Can you navigate between the upper and lower registers easily? As you ascend, is the shift gradual enough that there is a good blend between the notes and no abrupt register change? Although you shouldn’t skimp on air, your voice should never be pushed or forced. If your posture and breathing are aligned correctly, you’ll find that balanced singing is as easy as natural breathing.
The best way to maintain healthy singing habits in the long term is to make a daily routine that allows you to slow down and make sure that these fundamentals are working correctly before you move on to repertoire. My go-tos are the Lütgen daily exercises and the Sieber vocalises, but for assessing fundamentals it’s important not to go through too many exercises quickly. If you only have thirty minutes to practice, two or three short exercises per day can suffice. In the introduction to the Lütgen exercises, it is suggested to sing a few long tones first. I would suggest this and also incorporating some slurs that gradually increase in range. You really don’t want to move on to music if you aren’t comfortably accessing most of your range, which may only be an octave if you are just learning how to sing. It’s ok to spend twenty minutes on fundamentals and only ten minutes on music. Practicing for 30 minutes 5 times per week is a good goal for most beginning and intermediate singers. When you’re doing well with no strain, an hour is reasonable, but don’t push the pace. Listen to your body.
In summary, good posture promotes good breathing. Good breathing promotes good head and neck posture, which promotes good overall body posture. This in turn promotes good breathing. When everything is working together, you may not even be conscious of your breathing, but a daily routine to stay in touch with fundamentals will help to ensure that your body continues to function well and that you don’t find yourself off-track someday wondering what is going wrong. Ultimately, you don’t want to overthink breathing. Although it may take conscious thought to undo poor breathing habits, if your singing doesn’t become a natural process then some adjustment needs to be made.
