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STEVEN FLAM

Every Day Music

​If A Violin Or Wine Improves With Age, Why Doesn’t My Voice?

6/21/2016

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Dear Breath Support Master:

I am a 45 year old man and I remember vividly when my voice changed as an adolescent but who expected to yet again have to worry about my voice changing as I turned middle aged? I seem to have already lost some vocal power, endurance and some pitch control.

Signed,
Getting older every day

Dear Getting Older:

Some think that the voice is like the violin or wine, improving with age. If the violin is stored correctly and played, and the wine is kept in a climate controlled environment, they will improve with age. Likewise, our voices may sound completely different yet improve if we train it correctly, separating the diaphragm from the voice training as we age. And age can give your voice a quality that you could not achieve as a younger singer, especially if you do diaphragm training.

We have taught 70 year old singers and seen significant improvement over a brief time as they incorporated diaphragm training into their daily routine. Another benefit of this type of practice is that older singers regain vocal power, endurance and flexibility.

Diaphragm training is like restorative yoga for the voice. Here is one seated position diaphragm training exercise to prove my theory. Try it 5 times (consecutive breaths) each morning for a week and see if you feel and sound different when you sing.
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1. Sit in a hard chair so you can feel your “sit bones” against the chair.

2. Position your knees at 90 degrees and feet shoulder width apart.

3. Place your hands, one across lower abdomen, one under the collar bone on upper chest.

4. Open your mouth so your breath and let your breath happen without intention.

5. Let your head hang forward taking the rest of your upper body in a forward rolldown.

6. As you roll down, let your voice connect with the air coming out in a gentle way using an “ahhhh” vowel. 

7. Try to roll back up in a relaxed manner, letting the head up last and notice your body will naturally bring the breath back into your lungs.

Steven Flam has perfected the training of your diaphragm for vocal power.
GET YOUR FREE ‘FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD OF BREATHINGRX’ EBOOK NOW.
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The Holy Trinity of Your Articulators

6/12/2016

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In some religions, it is the trinity that makes things work out.  Typically one is earthly, one is spiritual, and the third is the creator.  When they fight, and don’t agree, really bad things happen.  Floods, Plagues, crucifixions, and other nasty destructive things come into play.

Likewise, your articulators must work in concert or you could be crucifying your voice.  You can control your own trinity.  It includes:  YOUR JAW, YOUR TONGUE, and YOUR LIPS.  When they are working together, the rainbow appears, showing a myriad of colors and lightening up the sky.
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To get the body trinity to work together we recommend the following daily exercises:

Jaw Traction:  Repeat 3 times with 2 minute breaks (light chewing) in between
  1. Sit or stand with balanced body alignment in front of a mirror
  2. Hook the pads of your thumbs behind your jaw and under your ears
  3. Rest your hands on your cheeks
  4. Open your mouth so your teeth are one inch apart
  5. Keep your mouth open and push your lower jaw straight forward as far as you can comfortably
  6. Keep your mouth open one inch still and pull your jaw straight forward further, using your thumbs
  7. Hold the traction for 45 seconds until it feels comfortable
Tongue Thrusts
  1. Sit or stand with balanced body alignment in front of a mirror
  2. Envision your tongue at the back of your throat
  3. Thrust your tongue forward from the place that you have envisioned
  4. Hold it for three seconds and release
  5. Thrust harder for 3 seconds and release
  6. Thrust it one more time even harder, and release
  7. When you get an impulse to cough or your jaw wants to lock up before the 3 repetitions, you have completed this exercise.
Lip Trills
  1.  Let your lips touch lightly
  2. Breathe out through your lips --- saying an elongated 'bbbbbbbb'
  3. Vary the pitch sliding it up and down
  4. Practice until you can keep the lips with a consistent buzz throughout the pitch variation
 
Steven Flam is the developer of the groundbreaking teaching technique called BreathingRx For Singers which includes diaphragm target training. For more information or to debate the content of this article please contact him at info@breathingrx.com or check out our website at:  www.breathingrx.com
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​Diaphragm Training as Religion

6/4/2016

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In the 80’s, the fastest runner of the 50 yard dash could do it in 5.24 seconds, yet in 2013, the fastest runner made it in 4.35 seconds. That is a direct result of the coaches’ understanding the body and training their athletes better. Likewise, voice “coaches” can speed the learning curve of their students.

In the beginning singers were focused on the external muscles of vocal support. Back in the 30’s and 40’s teachers of the voice believed that if you trained abdominal, chest, back and intercostal muscles that your vocal support would be enhanced.

THEN- the prophet appeared! Doing studies with emphysema patients in military hospitals in the 50’s and 60’s Carl Stough changed our belief system FROM focus on the external muscles TO focus on the internal membrane of the diaphragm. Carl was an award winning choral director when he was asked by a pulmonologist to do this research. This seemingly small discovery changes what is possible for vocal development and achievement.
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Every religion has ritual, and once the singing community embraced Stough’s work, then the rituals around training the vocal support and technique also changed. Training the diaphragm with specific exercises is now isolated from the act of singing itself.

Singers have less body tension and vocal stress when training of the diaphragm is isolated. As a result, they can learn more quickly and safely and reduce the chance of injury. Today, disciples of Carl Stough are only beginning to see the positive effects of our new belief system.

While we are still a growing congregation, if you are interested in incorporating these beliefs into your teaching practice, try teaching your students to add just one exercise to their daily routine and see what the results are. Here is the most basic exercise one can do for diaphragm training.
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a. Lie down with pillows under your head and knees – placing one hand on your lower abdomen and one hand on your upper chest. Make sure that your chest and abdomen are completely relaxed.

b. Breathe through your open mouth – 10-20 breaths and notice that there is no tension in chest and abdomen restricting your organic breathing pattern.

c. For 5 breaths, use your exhale to passively produce a “la la la” sound.

d. Do the exercise again, breathe for 10-20, and la la la for 5-10. Then, get out of bed and go to work!

Steven Flam has perfected the training of your diaphragm for vocal power.
GET YOUR FREE ‘FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD OF BREATHINGRX’ EBOOK NOW
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    Steven Flam

    Founder of BreathingRx and vocal coach extraordinaire.

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