Practice Drive

I know you're supposed to only practice when you do nothing but practice. I know. And I know you're supposed to make the time in your day to do so. But too bad. I can't always do that, and I'm not a professional, so I have to bend these "rules" to fit my lifestyle.

I sing in the car all the time, and yes, I practice there too. To me, the difference between practicing and singing is, when I sing I just sing, but when I practice I focus on incorporating or improving particular aspects of singing.

Today on my way to work it was all about the breath.

A few weeks ago I made a CD of the piano accompaniment of the songs I've learned so far. Some of these are from when I first started my lessons. So today I was going through the CD and singing some of the early songs while focusing on my breath. Or more accurately, on the support. Like in that Pearl Fishers video, I was actively pushing out my abs and then pulling them in in a controlled manner for each measure of the particular song I was singing. Controlled being the important word in that sentence... I'm getting much better at controlling it so I can hit the higher notes without sounding like I'm blurting them out. And one thing about sitting to do this is that I can really focus on the abs while the seat supports the rest of me. I mean, I relax into the seat and really concentrate on what my belly is doing while I'm singing. Or should I say, what I'm doing with it. And when I'm really controlling the outgoing air, I'm then able to focus on relaxing my throat to really open it up. Bit by bit, little by little, I feel the layers adding up.

And one other positive aspect is, it makes the commute (ok it's just 10-15 minutes) fly by!

The Breath is on the Wall

Breath on the wall? What the heck does that mean?

I know that one thing that I keep forgetting to do, or am still learning, that I need to practice to do consistently is to use my breath deeper in my body, to really use the low breath to support the notes. That and of course open open open my mouth more, but that's for another post.

Keeping the breath low. People keep telling me, but what does it mean? Should I feel like I've done an ab workout at the end of a song?

One thing I've mentioned before is that when my teacher had me "sit on the wall" I produced a much fuller sound, and I could feel that the breath was coming from deeper down. Sitting on the wall is simply pressing your back to a wall and sinking down as if there were a chair under you. You form 90 degree angles at your hips and knees, so your thighs are parallel to the floor. Relax the shoulders. Then, sing. It's a great quad workout too. It's extra challenging because we have hardwood floors everywhere and I'm usually in socks.

So in theory, all I have to do is practice singing on the wall for a bit, and then maintain the breathing when I'm standing. In theory... I'll post again with results.