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Singing is essentially an exercise in managing ariflow: how we use the air we breath in to make certain pitches, sounds, and colors. The body, when singing, is actually a large wind instrument. No wonder that any voice lesson is almost always centered on how to use one's airflow to make a more powerful, free sound.
Trying to describe proper use of airflow in singing (known as breath support or management) is hard to describe online. Breath support has a LOT of components to it, but the basics boil down to this: is your voice balanced sufficiently supported to make a pitch without it sounding 'forced', 'strained', or 'pinched?' I personally believe this is the most important responsibility of a voice teacher because good breath support not only makes a nice sound, it makes singing an enjoyable physical activity. Once a voice is freed up with proper support, singers often feel real physical release and pleasure from a well-supported sound. Singing should never FEEL hard. It may require lots of concentration, but a well-supported sound feels physically easy to produce. DWS Singing is unlike all other musical disciplines in that our instrument is our own body. This has tremendous ramifications for how singers must take care of their body, or else they cannot sing to their full potential. Stories abound of professional singers avoiding dairy products, communicating only by text messages and emails in order to avoid talking, and wrapping themselves in warm scarfs to protect their vocal folds from the cold, dry air.
I do not suggest to my voice students that they take these extraordinary steps; BUT there are a few things every singers must do. 1) Get adequate sleep - 6 to 8 hours a day. It is almost impossible to sound excellent if your body is tired, let alone act well with lots of energy. 2) Figure out what foods and drinks that dry you out or make you produce excess mucus that would inhibit you from singing well. Many singers avoid dairy products because their bodies produce too much mucus and make it difficult to sing. For me personally, milk products are not a problem but I have to stay away from caffeinated drinks and orange juice. 3) Don't scream/yell. If you have to scream, use proper support that you learned in lessons! 4) Don't eat heavily before singing, as it inhibits breathing deeply. DWS Many have remarked on how critical a film's soundtrack is to a movie's success. It would be impossible to make a scary movie without sudden shocks and bangs, a romantic film without beautiful strings, or a comedy without a zany, light orchestral score. Nothing better illustrates this than the last Academy Award winner for best movie, The Artist.
I saw The Artist last weekend, and while it is a tad highbrow, it is a GREAT movie. For most of the film, the movie is a silent film like those movies before 'talkies' came out in the late 1920s. I thought I would be bored, but I was shocked by how engaging the film was WITHOUT a single line of dialogue. While credit must be given to the actors, the real reason for the movie's success is the incredible film score. The music literally becomes the driver of the plot, and you simply do not need a word to be spoken - the music fills that role perfectly. When people worry about going to an opera in a foreign language, The Artist is a great example of how music can tell the audience what is going and how the actor's are feeling. If the acting is excellent and the music well-written, you simply do not need dialogue to create a film, or for that matter, musical or opera. DWS |
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