Breathing and relaxation should go hand in hand and are the foundation of vocal production. We will start with relaxation, then go on to breathing. This section applies for speakers as well as singers. Singing is speaking on pitch. The principles cross over into both areas.

RELAXATION

First of all, all the muscles in your face, tongue, jaw, chin, throat, and neck must be relaxed or your singing will be muscle-bound. I'll outline a couple of great excercises here. If your outer muscles of your throat are relaxed, your inner muscles will take care of themselves. So let's go step by step with some excercises.

EXCERCISES

1. Massage with index and 3rd fingers from your hairline to your throat. (If your hairline is receding, from your temples!) Let your face fall limp, jaw henging slack.
2. Let your tongue fall out over lower lip.
3. Take your chin between your thumb and forefinger and lightly move up and down.
4. To relax swallowing muscles, gently press one side, then the other on the soft part of your throat between your chin and adams apple.
5. Move you head up and down.

After moving through these steps, focus on your posture. Shoulders should be relaxed and chest out. Tuck hips in without changing upper body position.

Spend time on this section as we seldom take time to relax before speaking or singing. This will minimize strain and will help us do the next section correctly.

BREATHING

Normal inhaling occurs when your brain signals a need for oxygen. Exhaling occurs when your brain wants to get rid of carbon dioxide. We don't even have to think about this process. But as soon as we open our mouth for singing, a different kind of breathing than the norm should begin.

When we breathe in before singing, we take in 3-4x as much air as for passive breathing. And it will no longer be rhythmic because we exhale slower than we inhale. We will be focusing on the diaphragm (the large dome-shaped muscle that separates your chest and stomach cavities) and the ribcage.

The Diaphragm, though elastic, is very powerful. At rest, it looks like an inverted bowl and with a deep breath, it flattens. As we breathe in, our waist should get larger. Put your hands on your shoulders and breathe in. Your shoulders should not go up at all, but your mid-waist area should expand.

Your ribcage is flexible. There are 12 pairs of ribs (for most of us!) joined to the backbone and connected to the breastbone by cartilages, except for 2 at the bottom. As our diaphragm flattens out, our ribs should be lifted and kept in position while expending air.

EXCERCISES

1. For your abdomen: Breathe in and out, standing erect, shoulders down. Put hands on shoulders and feel your mid-waist expand. Then lie flat on your back and do the same thing. You should see your diaphragm go out and in.
2. For ribcage: Stand erect, breathe in and out placing hands on lower ribs, not allowing lower ribcage to fall.

If you maintain goo posture when you sing and are careful not to let your chest "collapse" as you exhale, your diaphragm is able to move freely and be regulated by your abdominal muscles automatically. There is no need for tension in these muscles.

Many of us performers get into bad habits. We dont' take time to properly warm up or breathe. Over time, this may damage for our vocal instrument. For some it is time, for some it is patience to go through the steps. If you have to be your own vocal coach, take the time to go through some of these excercises to begin your warmup.