Sigma Alpha Iota

MUSIC MEDLEY Phonate Forever: Breathing, Posture, and Good Habits By Ginny Johnson Past National President N ow that summer is over and the new teaching year has begun, one needs to think about how to preserve the precious mechanism for phonating. As one matures, the vocal folds do not reproduce new cells to replace injured ones. Once a person nears the age of 45, the vocal folds have completed their growth. Take good care of them and you will be able to talk and sing for the rest of your life. The following vocal health requirements for singers are essential not only for singing but also for speaking. Have fun fulfilling them! KEEP BODY PHYSICALLY FIT Phonating is a physical activity. Proper breath support for both speaking and singing requires a lot of energy. The abdominal muscles must be strong to regulate how much air you need to phonate. I recommend you pant evenly for at least 20 to 25 seconds several times a day. This will connect the left side of the brain to the abdominal muscles, telling them what to do. This mind-body coordination is very important! Do not depend on your body to do what it should. It needs to be told. Doing staccato exercises also helps the body respond to what the left side of the brain is telling the abdominal muscles to do. Then when a legato line is sung after pants and staccatos, the abdominal muscles will continue to support the sound. One can strengthen the whole body, including the abdominal muscles, by sit-ups and other exercises, including walking or running. Having too much weight on your body requires more labor for the breathing mechanism, so watch the diet. And, do not smoke! Smoking dries out mucous membrane linings of the nose and throat and irritates the lungs. This irritation causes coughing which is abusive to the vocal folds. KEEP BODY IN PROPER ALIGNMENT The whole body is needed to produce a full vocal sound. The vocal tract must be unobstructed so that air can flow easily into the resonating area, resulting in the best possible sound. The throat muscles must always remain relaxed. Proper alignment, using the Primary Movement at all times, keeps tension out of the body. The Primary Movement is part of The Alexander Technique, a way to use the body efficiently for a lifetime without divide your body weight in half. physical tension. Work toward Use that number as the ounces these points: you should drink. Example: if Always elongate your body you weigh 150 pounds, you need (the Primary Movement). Think to drink 75 ounces of liquid. of being pulled upward at the Water is the preferred liquid. No top of your head. Stand with carbonation, alcohol, or caffeine. your arms stretched upward. One way to monitor if you are (Figure 1) Lower you arms and hydrated or not is to check the do not change the position of your color of your urine. The saying ribs. Your shoulders should relax is, "Pee pale". If your urine has no and with the ribs up, the sternum color and no scent, you are properly will be in its correct position. Keep hydrated. Get used to carrying the ribs in this position at all times… around a water bottle. If your throat walking, talking, sitting, and singing. feels tired or tight, you probably (An added plus — you will always need more water look as if you are secure and in charge The required amount of of the situation.) And, with the ribs up liquid is needed not only to keep the and out, you will be able to use your membranes moist but to properly abdominal muscles properly for breath lubricate the vocal folds. The mucus support. the body produces needs to be Spread the back of your neck diluted so that it will go evenly over outward to the sides. This will keep your the vocal folds. Clearing the throat to chin down and your neck elongating. remove a mucous mass is very hard We have a very small area in the back of on the folds. We need to have this thin our neck that is part of the resonating mucus lubrication on the vocal folds, tract. If your head is scrunched down so do not try to dry up the mucus by in the back, you are eliminating this taking antihistamines. If you have a small place that is so essential in the lot of drainage, take a decongestant. phonation of tones. If the area Humidity in the home needs to Figure 1 is blocked, your vocal folds will be at least 40%. Upper respiratory try to keep your sound normal (muscles have infections are more likely to occur if the memories), causing tension in your larynx. This membranes are dry. A saline solution nose spray harmful tension can cause pitch problems as well is recommended to keep nasal passages moist. as very scratchy sounds. Do not lock your knees! Locked knees will AVOID CAFFEINE AND ALCOHOL cause tension all the way up to the vocal folds. Drinking liquids that have caffeine or Try this; just stand and lock your knees. Do you alcohol in them dehydrates a person. Both feel the tension in the larynx? If you normally caffeine and alcohol are a diuretic. Caffeine is lock your knees, you probably will not feel the in colas, coffee, tea (including iced tea) and muscles pull. After all, muscles have memories chocolate. Limit yourself to one mug of coffee and they repeat what they have been doing. If in the morning of a teaching or performance you do lock your knees, you need to use mindday. And, if you love iced tea, make it from body coordination to free the knees. Locked decaffeinated tea. knees will produce flat tones! To obtain unlocked knees, stand with one foot in front of the other. FOCUS THE SPEAKING Put the weight of your body on the balls of your AND SINGING VOICE feet. Then rock back on your heels. Your knees To optimize the resonance of vocal sounds, should then be slightly bent. Unlocked knees are the words or musical tones should be directed to a must in all phonating situations! (Figure 2) the area where one feels humming vibrations. To experience this area, hum and then say, "Hello." The "hello" needs to go right where the "hum" KEEP THE MUCOUS was. The tongue should remain relaxed in the MEMBRANES MOIST To be hydrated, you must drink adequate fluids daily. To determine the fluid you need, PHONATE continued on page 4 sai-national.org SPRING 2012 PAN PIPES 3

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