Unfiltered Thoughts

2023.04.15 – 0835 – “Why Do I Run Out Of Breath?” Running out of breath before the end of a sentence could be the effect of poor support (you did not take in enough to start with), or poor writing (the sentence was simply too long to be read in a single comfortable breath). Or it may be because of poor control (you leaked air as you spoke, wasting it in perhaps a breathy voice, caused by inefficient closure of your vocal folds), a breathy voice also dehydrating your vocal folds.  Without enough air, your voice will sound weak and lack colour and you’ll have trouble getting attention. It won’t travel as far. You will sound strained at the end of sentences, leading to a drop in volume or resonance, or causing a vocal fry.  Squeezing out sentences without enough air support can cause a tightness in your throat and neck from the effort. Remember: if your message is important, so are the end of your sentences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.14 – 0834 – The Breath Control Process
Breath control (or ‘supportive breathing’) ensures that your vocal folds are getting just the amount of air based on what it is you want to say.[1]1. Your brain has a thought and sends a message to your ribs and diaphragm muscles that you will need air to vocalise that thought.2. Your ribcage expands and that leads your diaphragm to drop, which in turn creates room in your chest cavity for your lungs to expand. Aristotle coined the phrase “nature abhors a vacuum”, and that’s what’s happening here: the lungs expand into the space by taking in oxygen.This process of breathing in is called ‘inspiration’. 3. Then your stomach muscles are activated, moving in, which lets the diaphragm move slowly up, and the ribs slowly close. That process squeezes a variable amount of air out of your lungs as you talk, your brain calculating just the right amount of air that’s needed to fuel your thought.The muscles being used here are:the transversus abdominis – sometimes called the ‘beach muscle’, which wraps around your lower torso. It’s one of the core muscles, stabilising the ribcage and the pelvis when you do things like lift heavy objects. It’s the muscle that keeps your belly tucked in so you look good on the beach, hence its nickname.internal oblique muscles and the external oblique muscles (‘the twisters’) are diagonal, connecting the ribcage and the pelvis and help you to twist, turn and bend, hence their nickname. The process is called ‘breath support’ because these three muscles help compress the abdominal wall, pushing the belly in, and supporting the stability of the diaphragm by helping it stay low and move up slowly. In ‘normal’ breathing when we are silent, the airflow is still and silent. But we need some ‘push’ behind the airflow when we talk, and we get that by regulating the contraction of the stomach muscles. Think about it: in repose watching the tv and not talking, we barely notice the belly moving in; when we talk, we can sense a slight tightness as we control its movement to supply just the right amount of air-power; now imagine yourself yelling a cry of support to your sports team and you’ll notice the swift and strong movement of the ‘belly’s breathing muscles’ to push more air out more quickly, to create that loud sound.4. The air moves up to the larynx where it is vibrated by the vocal folds to create the initial soundwaves. It’s by controlling these muscles (the transversus abdominis and internal and the external oblique muscles), that you can adjust the airstream leaving the lungs, the volume and velocity, to create the right amount of sub-glottal pressure to vibrate your folds to create a basic sound5. The sound moves up into spaces in your throat, mouth and nose, where they get amplified6. And finally your speech muscles shape the sounds into words. [3]
[1] Adapted from the “Voice What Matters” podcast 3/7/2019[2] https://anouska-taylor.com/ [3] Adapted from https://tips.how2improvesinging.com/anatomy-of-breathing/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.13 – 0833 – Breath Support and Breath Control 
 Breath Support and Breath ControlThese two terms are often used interchangeably (I do so myself), but there is a specific difference. Breath SupportIs maximizing the air capacity available to you for speaking, through best posture and best use of the diaphragm, lung health and so on.  Fitness of the diaphragm is key because when you speak the diaphragm is constantly relaxing and stretching. (A quick reminder: your diaphragm is the ‘elastic’ dome-shaped muscle that, when you breath in, drops down, tenses and flattens as the lungs inflate… and then, when you breathe out and the lungs empty, relaxes back into its dome shape.) Breath ControlThis is the regulation of the amount of air that you push past your folds, the amount and pace of the release depending on the need of the sentence or situation.  This is the way we control the airflow from the lungs to the folds, to power the voice. How we use muscles and our mind to increase or decrease the intensity of the flow, depending on the vocal power that we need in that moment. To control your voice well you have to control the breath you power it with.
Think of your lungs as a ‘bagpipe bladder of air’, or the boiler of a house. A small or un-serviced pump unit in a large house with lots of radiators on full, will struggle to cope to keep heat to them all. In a similar way, poorly performing lungs caused by an untrained diaphragm won’t be able to maintain the flow of air to deliver an effective message. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.12 – 0832 – Passive and Active Breathing

A quick reminder that air is what fuels and carries your voice and that you invariably speak on the outbreath, when your stomach is coming in, a bit like an accordion.[1] Breathe through the nose where you can (but don’t sniff) to warm and filter the air, although when talking, short sound-less snatches are taken instead.
Keep topping up your air supply as you talk, rather than speaking until you’ve used every last drop of air … like a waiter in a top restaurant keeps topping up your wine.
Passive BreathingPassive breathing is what you do naturally when still, and about 24,000 times a day. An in-breath and an out-breath are about the same length, we don’t control them and literally do it in our sleep.
Active BreathingThis is controlled and we do it when we’re talking. The in-breath is shorter and the out-breath is longer as it needs to power the words with the vocal folds interrupting the airflow.
You use a bit more air if you are highlighting or emphasising a word and some consonants use more air (like “ssssh” or “aahhhhh” and “ffff”). Other consonants like ‘b’ and ‘t’ interrupt the flow of air for a split second, so we have to be really adaptable in our breathing system.
[1] Humans can speak while inhaling, but we don't do it naturally, very often in English. Having said that, ingressive sounds occur in many languages (often Scandinavian) and dialects (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingressive_sound ). The nearest we get to it in English is when we do rapid counting to maintain a steady airflow, when surprised (the gasping "huh!" sound) or when expressing empathy (the inward hiss "Sss”).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.11 – 0831 – The Key Thing of BreathingBREATHINGWe’ve looked before at the importance of proper breathing, not just to give you life (!) but to give your voice enough support so your words are heard and you have enough fuel to feed your voice to the end of a thought. Additionally, your voice will sound ‘fuller’ (not ‘louder’ or ‘deeper’ but with more ‘colour’ and ‘resonance’), with more range, and your articulation will be more agile. What you say will sound more inviting and compelling:
“That gives you more ways to express yourself and gives the listener more variety,which keeps the sound of the story interesting and engaging.”Jessica Hansen, NPR Voice Coach[1] Respiratory issues can also affect how you sound – perhaps unsurprisingly as ‘breathing is the key thing’ when it comes to a better voice. That could be:·        high-breath inhalations·        poor tonal quality·        vocal fatigue·        dryness in the mouth and vocal folds·        a loss of range·        snatching or gasping for air·        running out of breath and bulging neck veins.
Your voice is breath.
[1] https://training.npr.org/2017/06/19/aerobics-for-your-voice-3-tips-for-sounding-better-on-air/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.10 – 0830 – Lion YawnsHave a large, lion-like yawn to focus on getting the blood flowing into your throat and face.·        Then move all the muscles of the face individually·        Screw up your face and make the smallest face you can: close your eyes, purse your lips, frown. ·        Now try and make it as large, wide, open and expressive as you can. Eyes and mouth wide open. ·        Repeat this a couple of times and allow the tension to melt away.
Then roll your shoulders, slowly shake and nod your head (see the instructions, above) before shaking all over.
Finally, you need to allow your vocal folds to relax out of their over-used speaking range that they have been in during the course of the day.
Gently set a pitch a little higher than your talking-pitch and gently glide down in a hum, to and beyond the pitch you’ve been using.
Now, give yourself the ‘rag doll’ shake-down ·        Give yourself a shake all over including your arms, legs and hands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.09 – 0829 – Cooling Down After Voice Work
Cooling down after voice workMost people know the importance of warming up the voice, even if not sure exactly how. But cooling down the voice? Not so much.
But the truth is that if you have a high vocal demand, cooling down with give you more stamina, reducing fatigue and enabling better functioning. As we saw earlier, a “high vocal demand” could be:·        Lots of talking in general conversation·        Lots of ‘presentation’ talking with a mic, perhaps as a talk-radio presenter or recording lots of podcasts ·        Lots of ‘presentation’ talking without a mic, maybe as a school teacher, where more volume might be thought necessary·        Talking over background noise, perhaps as a sports commentator, in a noisy classroom, as a club DJ … ·        and so on, especially if it goes on for several hours or over several days.
A cool-down helps get you ‘out of character’, trains your brain to come out of its ‘presentation state’ and the muscles to relax out of their ‘work ready’ holding tension. You’re resetting and relaxing your voice mechanism.
Close your eyes and ‘scan’ your body from head to toe, deliberately thinking about any tension you are holding in any place, and turning it ‘off’. Are your shoulders being held high? How is your jaw and tongue? Loose or lifted? Consider your breathing: short and snatched or low and slow?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.08 – 0828 – Yoga For Your Voice
Yoga for your voiceTraditional yoga is an ancient form of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. The main components of yoga are postures and breathing.
As we saw earlier, one of the seven chakras, or energy centres, of the body, is the Throat Chakra. It is believed that a blocked throat chakra can impact your ability to communicate, and an open and balanced throat chakra enables you to express clearly, and honestly.
The yoga poses which involve balance of the Throat Chakra: child’s, anahata, cat, cow, cobra, bow, fish, camel, reverse plank, camat-karasana, sarvanga-sana, sava-sana.
‘Mudras’ are hand gestures to help create the energy flow from the fingers to the rest of the body. The Throat Chakra Mudra is done with the interlocking of the fingers inside the palm, with the tips of the thumbs pressed against each other. When done for a minimum of 10 minutes a day, it is said to bring balance in the Throat Chakra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.07 – 0827 – Stretching Cats and Wobbly BabiesTense and release·        Actively applying tension to parts of the body and releasing and relaxing·        (need more examples) The cat arch·        Onto your hands and knees and stretch your spine like a cat arching and wriggling around. The wobbly baby·        Onto you back·        Lift your arms and legs up, keeping your elbows and knees slightly bent·        Shake them quickly and strongly·        Don’t hold your breath! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.06 – 0826 – The Forward FlopForward flop·        Stand with your feet hip-width apart. ·        Inhale and as you do so, raise your arms to the sky·        Then slowly bend at your waist on the exhale and take your hands toward the ground. It doesn’t matter how far you can drop·        Stay here for a couple of breaths·        Then on an inhale slowly go back up to a standing position·        Now drop down again, and as you do so move through your vocal pitch range with an “ahhhhh” sound, so when you are standing tall your pitch is high in your range and as you bend your pitch lowers.·        When you are bent over, reverse the process back to standing.·        Repeat this with “eeee” and “ooooh” sounds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.