Add this entry to Your Favorites | [0] Favorites [0] Comments

Please wait...

Well it is time again to talk more about proper vocal technique to use in order to make your voice last longer both while you are singing and more years during your life. Before I get into talking about the specific technique of proper breathing, which I started talking about in July, I want to tell you about one of my experiences this month. As I mentioned in my very first column, I taught vocal technique at the Charles Novell School of Gospel Music for over 30 years and retired from that, at least I thought I had retired, when I turned 65. However, I recently found out that I can never fully retire from being involved with music teaching and performing. I have recently became a full time singer again, as well as have started back to teaching again. On Sunday morning July 8th, 2007 I received a call from Barbara Novell telling me that one of their regular teachers at The Charles Novell School of Gospel Music, Brother Phil Summerford, had suffered a light stroke a day or two before that, and they would not have enough staff to teach their students this year. She wanted to know if I could help them out, I immediately checked my calendar and found that I had the dates Monday, July 9 through Thursday July 12 open. I told her I could help on those days if I was needed. She immediately said I was needed. My wife, Dorcas and I begin to pack what we needed for our stay at Regents Hall, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky for the four days that we would be there. As soon as we finished packing, we hit the road from Nashville for the 2 1/2 hour drive. We arrived at The Charles Novell School of Gospel Music around 2:30 P.M. on Sunday afternoon and prepared for my classes for the following four days. I had not realized how much I missed teaching until I got back into it that week. I had some wonderful, eager, students who wanted to learn more about taking care of their voices, in order to minister, for our precious Savior, in song.

By the way, Charles, Barbara and their son Robbie are some of the finest Christian people I know as well as being some of the most talented people I know. What a pleasure it was for me to be with them and to be able to be face to face with students again who wanted to learn all they could about singing properly. I happen to be one who believes that what I do for the Lord should be better than what I do anywhere else, and I should prepare myself to make the utmost of the talent that the Lord has endowed me with, in order that I can minister for Him. Jesus gave his all for me, therefore I should give all that I am, or ever hope to be, and make myself the very best I can be to offer myself for His service. To summarize this experience, It was a wonderful time for me. I was very sorry to hear of the physical problems that my good friend Phil Summerford had. However, I now understand that he is well on his road to recovery and we all are praying for God's richest blessings to be with Brother Phil. I believe, from what I have been told that Phil is recovering quite well from his light stroke and will be able to return very soon to his schedule of ministry. God Bless you Bro. Phil, we are praying for your speedy recovery and return to ministry. For Phil's students that I taught for those four days, I know that I was not Phil, but I pray that God used me some way to help you along in your ministry.

If you would like to learn more about Southern Gospel Music,there are several schools that have summer camps to teach more about our music, and they are very good schools. I taught for over 30 years at this particular one, and am very proud to have been associated with The Charles Novell School of Gospel Music.

I know I have taken up quite a bit of space telling you about my experience in early July, but I believe that it was the right thing to do.

Now to more about proper breathing technique for singing. Proper breathing technique has a direct correlation with good quality of tone and sound produced by one's voice.

I would like to mention another exercise or two for building the resistance ability of the diaphragm before going to kinds of breathing technique. One exercise is to inhale deeply, then to exhale in short gusts using the syllable HA to exercise the diaphragm. If you will do this while touching , with your fingers, your diaphragm just below your rib cage, you will feel and notice that your diaphragm moves in a way that it seems to be going in and out. This exercise will help strengthen your diaphragm muscle if you will repeat it several times then relax, then later on in the day repeat this exercise. You can repeat it several times during the day. If you notice the diaphragm getting a little sore. Then wait until the next day and repeat the exercise. If you will start a routine of this and keep it up it will build up the strength of your diaphragm. As I mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, tonal quality is enhanced by the proper usage of the diaphragm(regulator) during exhalation. As I have said before, good tonal quality comes from the smooth flow of air over the vocal cords and proper placement, of the tones made, in the resonation chanbers all of which is controlled and enhanced by proper diaphragm usage. The inverse of this is also true. When our tone quality is poor, it generally comes from lack of proper air flow over the vocal cords. There is another area that affects tone control, which I will cover later, called resonation that also comes into play in producing good quality tones.

The second exercise to work on to aid in strengthening the diaphragm is while you are walking around inhale deeply, press on your diaphragm with your fingers to make sure that it is firm, then exhale slowly until your fingers feel that your diaphragm has relaxed under them. Repeat this exercise several times. Stop,then later on when you are walking again do the same thing again. You can do this during your daily walk, if you take one. If you don't take a daily walk, you can do it just while you are walking around in your home.

Another little note. If you are a swimmer and can hold your breath under water while swimming, you will find that it will help to strengthen your diaphragm. Plus any exercise that you can do to build up your muscles in the abdominal area will help in proper breathing, since all of these muscles come into play during exhalation.

Next month I will be talking about the two different kinds of breathing that we use during singing:
1. The Normal Breath
2. The Catch Breath

Thanks for reading the column. It is a blessing for me to get to write it. Remember that Psalm 118:6 says: "The Lord is on my side" that means the He is on your side too.

In Christian Love,

Bill Baize

Reader Comments

Add Comments

If you are seeing this form you are not a Member or have not logged in. Why not consider becoming a Member?

Membership allows you to have a prepared signature of your choice applied to every comment you make, as well as the ability to choose an avatar to display next to your name to help identify your posts. Members are also given opportunity to vote weekly in our Weekly Chart as well as special Members Only contests, polls and giveaways during the year. If you are already a member, login here, otherwise please register here.

**Note: Forums membership is a seperate membership.

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:
Comment:
	Remember my personal information
	Notify me of follow-up comments?
Please enter the word you see in the image below: