...so i've been slowly building my voice and making progress, but in the rehearsal room i often find myself out of breath, and even when i take a breath before a relatively short passage, i feel like my lungs can't hold enough air to carry it through.
i can usually sing the 'proper' way (breathing-wise) when i really focus, but when i'm with my band or on stage, i don't always have the time to mentally prepare for each note.
so anyway, i guess i'm asking if anyone has any tips or techniques for getting around this...that is, getting enough air and maintaining it. Is it in the posture? or am i simply trying too hard?
MERCI!!
Its hard to say but my guess is that you are thinking about it too much.
There is one exercise I have seen where you place you hand on about where your belly button is, maybe a little higher and you take a deep breath in filling up that area. You should feel your hand rise. Then, with you teeth close you slowly release that air making sort of the same sound that a leaky tire would make until all the air is out of your lungs. Each time you do this, time yourself and keep track. You should be able to build up a better lung capacity.
Good luck
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Do your shoulders rise when you take a breath? If they do your breathing wrong. You should feel your whole torso expand when you breath.
Tim Madsen
Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.
"What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away you keep forever." -Axel Munthe
What you wanna do is take in a good breath, it should NOT be the most air you can possibly hold, just a lot. This should last you until there is some break that lets you breath. If you can't make it to breaks your probably letting a little too much air out, try to imagine your focusing your voice like its a laser. Singing with a very breathy voice can have a nice effect when you do it right though, you wanna get control of it then use it. Controlling the amount of air is an important part of singing. You can really effect your volume and resonance by controlling air flow.
And if you get really out of breath let yourself recover for a minute, it happens to me sometimes too, but itll happen less and less the more you sing. Just keep it up!
"And above all, respond to all questions regarding a given song's tonal orientation in the following manner: Hell, it don't matter just kick it off!"
-Chris Thile
It sounds like your "pushing out too much air".
A good test (or exercise) is to practice with your hand about 2" in front of your mouth.
If you are getting air on your hand, you're breathing too hard.
Also, slow breathes inhaled at the end of a line or two.
"Silent breathing" is a technique you need to discover.
