Singers Focus Inside to Master the Voice
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The voice is mastered inside the body, your vocal instrument. The result of that mastery is resonates outside the instrument, to the audience.
This is not traditional vocal training. Sing Like You Speak™ is based on the fact that the body is a perfect musical instrument and is rooted in the latest vocal, medical and acoustical research. It is the only fully codified contemporary vocal method complete with Workbook, practice CDs, online training in the method as well as a certification program for voice teachers.
The following is a chapter from my book, Sing Like You Speak™: Morganix Method. You will also find an mp3 of a breathing exercise. Enjoy!
Chapter 3 Meditative Breathing
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ~ Aldous Huxley
Years of teaching experience have taught me that students come into the studio for a lesson carrying all the trials and travails of their lives…the fight they just had with a cab driver, the ex-spouse who dumped them, or maybe the stress of an upcoming audition. Their focus was generally outside the body not inside the instrument where singing is mastered. Inside the body was full of inhibiting tension. Precious lesson time was wasted until the student was able to give full attention to the internal process. Thus, the beauty of Meditative Breathing Exercises.
The fear produced by walking into a voice studio and allowing yourself to make sounds you would rather no one else hear is real for many people. Entering into meditative breathing gives you time to shift your attitude from fear to non-judgmental exploration. You will hear soothing background music as my voice guides you on a journey through your vocal instrument. Think of it as snorkeling through your airways or a peaceful Disney ride touring your vocal apparatus.
Doing a meditation at the beginning of a practice session, voice lesson, coaching or before a gig ensures a calm and open mind and body, allowing you to concentrate on communicating with your audience.
One of the exercises asks you to choose a color for your breath. The color breath illuminates the breathing path and shows you where there may be an obstruction in the breath path; where you may be gripping crucial muscles and causing tension. With practice the color breath becomes a trigger to open and calm the vocal instrument just by thinking of the color breath moving through your body.
Spinal awareness is crucial to body alignment, which is, in turn, fundamental to good singing. Meditative Breathing helps you to know your spine, and over time, teaches you how to make the necessary adjustments for good posture. Aligning your body straight and tall is most effective when you go down in the body and then allow core muscle to build your posture up.
Pay particular attention to the moment you switch from inhale to exhale. Notice if you are adding tension at that moment. Try going further down into the body to ensure no muscular stiffness is added to your process.
Meditation is a practice. Daily practice ensures that the focus of each meditation lives in your body and mind. You will be able to call on the calm and open instrument any time you need. Just imagine having the ability to shift focus from, “Oh, no! They’re all looking at me, waiting for me to screw up!” to, “Open my instrument, speak through the space.” What a relief! Speakers will want to utilize meditative breathing for the same benefits.
Grounded, centered, calm, cool and collected. Whatever idiom you choose, grounding makes a visible and audible difference. No one wants to watch a terrified performer. Even when you do not feel as calm, cool and collected as you want to look, send your roots into the ground and fool them all! Perception trumps reality.
Give this Meditative Breathing Exercise – Color Breath a try. Follow the exercise with your practice session and observe the difference!
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