Every singer, especially the ones that are studying to be a singer, NEEDS to see this. This is the perfect visual representation of working the diaphragm out. It is an essential muscle that needs to be strong in order to support the sound. Without it, you will end up singing from the neck up and that will never end well. Foundations people! The most important part of the correct technique, taught by a Queen who KNOWS what she is talking about!!!
translation: Caballé says that many singers with beautiful, promising voices are having very short careers nowadays (5,6,7 year careers) all over the world because of the lack of knowledge and practice of the correct intake of breath and sustaining the sound on the breath. Her teacher, at the beginning, asked her: “When you go to the bathroom, where do you feel the pressure? High in the chest? or lower?” Caballé said: “Lower”(meaning the area between the waist and the pelvis, all the way to the back). Her teacher told her to put some heavy books on top of that area (between her pelvis and waist) and breathe. If the books went up, it meant she was breathing correctly and low. Caballé proceeds to do the same with the students, making them place objects (since there were no books around) on that part of their bodies and having them breathe through their mouths (never through their nose, which she insists tenses the muscles on either side of the neck) bringing the books up quickly, then holding them up for a moment and then bringing them down by exhaling. That is the constant mechanism of the intake/outtake of air. She insists on the following: 1-Intake of breath must be low. No raising of the shoulders when breathing in. 2-Big, low breath through the mouth only, but not gasping either. Gently. 3-Soft onset of the sound, no violent attacks 4-As the note or phrase progresses, the diaphragm goes up with the higher notes and down with the lower notes 5-In other videos where she teaches other students, she insists on sending the breath up, by pushing IN, BEFORE making the sound, NOT AT THE SAME TIME. You can see her teaching this after minute 21:24 here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y96vqyPEF0I.htmlsi=AyszBYgb3cA4mPSO
Ok she says welcome to every one at the start etc etc ...she says its very important to learn the musculature of the body for breathing etc ...and she says there are a lot of people who are young starting out who learn to sing who have good voices but after about 5 /6 yrs still in their teens their voices disappear because they have no breathing technique it happens all over europe and in the US with young singers. Its all in the patience of learning and knowing to sustain the sound without force without fail. Its important to connect the mind with what you feel (physically) ( as in muscle memory) she says many years ago when she was being taught by her teacher as a girl ...he says you don't have an issue knowing it in your head ...is you have a issue knowing it and supporting from lower down ..I don't know how to explain this but her teacher basically told her it feels like when you need to go to the toilet ...he asked do you feel and squeeze it in your rib cage or lower ..she said lower ...and he said THAT is where you feel your support and breath from ( muscularly ) . So he put her on the ground put books on her abdomin .placed between her pelvis and waist ..and said breath in a way that the books rise up with you breath up and go down when you exhale you sustain this in a controlled way (the way the books rise up and down partic when they come down) She says this might seem primitive ..but its important . When they start lying on the floor she is saying things like ..oh place that book up a bit or down a bit .and other stuff that is not important. ..then she says ok we breath through our mouth (when we do this ) only never through the nose because breathing through the nose would work against the muscles we want to use. breath through the mouth and it automatically gets deep down into the lungs etc. we want to breath into the bottom ..etc she counts asking them to sustain a breath for 3 ..inhaling (She switches to english) ..she says hold it ...on inhalation ..then exhale ..and you must exhale REALLY slowly (ok this is just from me ...the idea is this is the HARDEST things to do it takes a lot of power to STOP the air escaping too fast and its against your natural urges to let it all out fast but it has to be slow because having air expands the diaphragm and THAT is what gives support but you will want to let it out fast but its the opposite of sports ) ..and then she gets them to hold a note then on the expiration 11.16 (and that is the basis of classical singing :P congrats if you made it this far!) the breath is the note the expiration is the note. also when they inhale at around 12.00 she says it has to be quick my teacher told me it had to be like you were BOUNCING the muscle out ..because in a song ..you don't have time to inhale slowly and it has to be powerful or you wont get it deeply enough and it will hurt. she says in spanish when you sing you need the air for the aria ( she doesn't say this but i am saying it and you will need it fast plus also you need the support from having the air ..in you?? ) 14.30 she says we are going to do something standing ...vocalizing in a tone. She says to the pianist to play the notes of palatization. its going to be a vocalization so she tells him to play it ..and in the center (of the range of the piano and singers) there is a range of singers and voices ..so the center might be hard for them ..so she tells the singers with the deeper voices or those for whom its not going to be in the center of their voice to just do what they can (these are notes that work the muscle of the palate by like erm ...using vowel sounds or consanants and when you might switch like from e to a to hold the tone you need to work those muscles she going to tell them to do that breathing exercise ...holding a tone on expiration doing these exercises the vocalization and palatization exercise ) (these exercises are generally done in the center of the voice at the beginning then you try in all parts of the voice ) she tells the guy to come forward ..she says you have to breath lower ...you have to fill this ( taps his stomach with her fist) laughs says sorry ...then she says the first thing that has to be said is that you have to stop breathing through the nose (as it can happen with your mouth open you can be breathing with both and you need to cut off air into the nose and only breath through mouth) she says if you breath through your nose those muscles will be pulled tight. (muscles we dont' want tight) tells him to make a giant breath..she says she doesn't want to hear what kind of voice he has but how he uses it. She asks him if he finds it a strain to do this or not. asks him if he notices this ..like the difference ..he says yes ..she asks what he notices he tells interpreter ..I don't hear what interpreter says but something like ..its about the point it comes from ...caballe says yes that is right. She then says even when you breathe through your mouth ..you can gasp and tense the muscles ( he did that before ) ..so basically don't do that breath well. then she says asi no like this no when he has his shoulders up ...indicating they should be relaxed and down. then video finishes.
It's been a while since I viewed this clip on RU-vid. Despite not knowing the language it's obvious that Caballe is attempting to teach these three to breathe from the diaphragm , meaning when they take a breath it should go to the area of their belly, not the chest where their lungs are. It would seem to me that this is the most basic of lessons and I'm surprised that these students have seemingly not yet learned it. As a child I played a brass instrument (euphonium, or baritone) and it became obvious to me from the very start that I had to take a very deep breath (to the diaphragm) if I wanted to sustain a note longer than 3 bars. In fact the band director once conducted a competition to see who would be the last to run out of breath on a single note -- I won. Another thing I think that helped was that I enjoyed swimming and used to challenge myself about how far I could swim under water before surfacing for a breath. It seemed instinctive, rather than something that needed to be taught.
Ole Nielsen, you hit the nail in the head. I read the only biography of her life called. Casta Diva. In the book she explains how she learned about breath control and all the breathing techniques from one of her teachers where she got her early training. The woman was an Olympic swimmer from Hungary who had experience as an opera singer. This woman had them do specific exercises to achieve all this. She credits her for everything she learned in this area and said she employed these techniques her entire career. This is why she could hold those notes and float them over the orchestra like she did. I don’t think these techniques were taught everywhere. She was lucky to have learned them from this teacher.
i mean when u hear all the great tenors teach, they often recommend a higher breathing place, too much stomach breathing can collapse the chest more often than not. I bet she just naturally had a barrel chest and never had to worry about the expanded rib cage where the actual lungs are.
No, it was all In the training she had from a teacher at the conservatory where she trained. The woman’s name was Ms. Kemmeny from Hungary who had been an Olympic swimmer with a brief career as a singer. It’s in the biography called Casta Diva. She taught them specific breathing techniques which Montserrat said she employed her entire career.
i have heard that i tried it ..its like where the gap in your ribs is before the sternum i think its called the intercostal space ...i ended up singing from there any time i had my period ...(not something tenors have to deal with lol)
The translation doesn't sound a lot different from Caballe's original comments. Pity that the sound quality isn't better - it's a bit echoey. She is one of my absolute most favourite divas ever!! No one could float a note pianissimo over the orchestra like she could! It's also a pity that there is no English translation so that this could reach a vastly huger audience - so many would love to profit from her experience and wisdom.
Un buen cantante debe dominar la respiración abdominal. Apoyar la voz en la musculatura de la glotis empaña el sonido y a la larga perjudica las cuerdas. En cambio modular la voz con los músculos abdominales y diafragma libera de tensiones la garganta que es donde se encuentra la parte "fina" del instrumento, permitiendo a las cuerdas vocales vibrar con soltura y matices.
Por que si los musculos del cuello se ponen tensos aprietan la traquea y por ende la laringe y el paso del aire se obstruye haciendo muy incomodo cantar ya que los musculos altos del cuerpo se empiezan a apretar (cuello, nuca y pecho) y la posicion del sonido se cae y ya no es comodo cantar de esa manera ademas de no ser nada saludable.
This was a mess, international things in tv and all that get lost in translation. Can you tell me if she tells him not to breathe through the nose, that will get stiff in the neck? thanks for sharing
thanks, i figured and it's true. Though it's one of those things not all agree, i only do it sometimes, if you dont have any stiffness it's fine i guess. Thank you merry christmas lol
Dadacomero Not in all ocasions. But yeah most treatises i've read specify starting exercises with breathing through the nose. But it's true if you breath through the nose you feel some tension in the lower portion of the neck. For me helps elevate the palate and the attack.
Joao Aurelio well... l've never really felt any tension in the neck by breathing through the nose. Anyway in a performance you breath through your mouth of course
