Learning to Sing: Breath Management

Learning how to sing or play your horn can be fun and easy if you take your time to learn how to practice properly.  Common vocal mistakes like inner hearing issues, breath management and physical tension can add to anyone’s frustration. Not to mention that persistent errors or off-key notes can be bothersome and hurt your confidence. 

Breath Management 
Breath management is a common mistake that vocalist’s and instrumentalists alike seem to overlook.

Pay close attention to your breathing as you sing or play your phrase.  Monitor you breath, if you are squeezing out the end of the phrase with the last bit of air you have than you are going to have a difficult time hitting the right note. 

There is no more difficult way to sing or play a note properly than with the last bit of breath you have.  Those notes are typically instable and what is worst is they force you to take that big breath putting you in a bad rhythmic position. 

Plan your breaths during your practice time so that when you are in the excitement of the performance you don’t find yourself gasping for breath, off key and out of phase rhythmically.  Knowing your breath points and hitting them will easy your tension and give you some confidence.  If you miss one, you only have to get to the next spot until you are perfect again.

Take your time in practice to get your breathing down.  When you first sit in with a band your perception will change and even the most familiar melody can sound foreign.   Make sure you are comfortable with your melody, lyrics, rhythm and message that you want. 

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