Let's "Undo" (soft style-sighing support method)

[@mrsteve7175]

I've had various singing teachers over many decades that have all told me to breath by pushing my stomach out. Since watching your videos I've discovered that the opposite is true. Almost overnight I can take in twice as much breath and like a miracle my voice is transformed. Longer phrases, easier higher notes, more control. Just from pulling the stomach in! Thank you Michael.

[@mrsteve7175]

Hi. What I have found is that by pulling the stomach in I can get about twice as much air into my lungs which is just great for my singing. You can try it yourself by first inhaling by pushing the stomach out until you can't any get more breath in. Then pull in the abdomen and you find that you can take in a load more. @@kkiko6111

[@VIDEOHEREBOB]

Thank you. Admittedly, I'm not certain I understand the difference between Hard and the Soft. It seems the two methods overlap regarding breath support. Probably need to research more. My singing is definitely the Hard method.

[@timothyoliver8519]

Hi Mr. Trimble! Maybe you can clarify? How can you relax the breath or soft style and stay leaning on your ladder? I thought the point of all those warmups and videos on the bowl is to keep the breath from shooting up and so “relaxing the breath” in the sternum or abdomen sounds very tricky to square with maintaining the appoggio… confused a lot about soft styling. Everything else, though makes absolute perfect sense!

[@Tenoretrimble]

Hard Style means that muscles in the front of the body are used by contracting in ways that control the breath used to produce a tone. Soft Style means to use only gravity by dropping or sliding the breath downward into the pelvic floor. Birgit Nilsson and Mario Del Monaco both used the deep "dropping the breath into the perineum area' and allowed gravity to maintain the direction of the counter-emissiom of the breath (Caruso's "contrary motion kept well down toward the abdomen" described in his book.). A sigh or any relaxed method of leaning the emission must be directionally controlled and sustained in the pelvic floor or lower abdomen without flexing the muscles anywhere in the front of the body. The soft style emission of the tone depends on no action in the front of the body and a sending action from the lower back. I tried to demonstrate the directional drop of the breath at a downward angle while singing in the video. Maybe I did not make the direction clear enough in the necessary action. I hope you can get the soft style approach to work for you. You can sing all day and never feel tired ini the voice if you can sigh downward . Good luck to you. Michael t

[@carlleverund]

Hi Mr. Trimble! I have a question I hope you could help clarify. I'm practising on my back-breath, and is wondering what to do once I start singing... Should I continue to hold the breath in the lower back while sighing (or leaning)? Or do you stop focusing on it once the breath is taken? I find it easier to keep the larynx down with the hard-style as it keeps the air trapped in the lowerback diagonally against the solar plexus it seems. However, when sighing I don't automatically feel the "trapping" since there's not that muscular compression going on... so should I in that case hold the breath conciously in the lower back while sighing (soft-style)? I hope you are able to understand me.

[@tenor57]

Are you familiar of a voice teacher named Raymond Buckingham? if you are -any opinion of his technique ?

[@ARTEMIYNIK]

What about expanded and not collapse?

[@rapsodie1211]

Book can help

[@checkoffgames]

Mr Trimble: My abdomen appears to want me to push my speaking voice - I get very breathy to avoid hurting my larynx, and nobody can hear me correctly. As well, I'm always tense up in the neck and behind the shoulder - trouble standing upright. Could training correct this issue, or is this out of the scope of musical training?

[@Tenoretrimble]

It (your tension that interferes with the voice) is pure bio-mechanics and can be totally eliminated and avoided in the future. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. the tension in the upper body is a reaction to action in the lower body that is inappropriate for singing. Of course, it can be corrected with proper training and understanding. you may be one of those singers who can only sing successfully if you learn to sigh into the abdomenal area or drop the breath during a sigh into the pelvic floor. I help professional singers manage big dramatic roles by having them use gravity to maintain breath control. A muscular method only works for some singers and the activity of the muscles is limited to the lower ribs in the lower back. You may have to learn this approach if you want to be a professional singer. All the best, Michael