Karen, This video helped me so so much. Breath support was so confusing that it became difficult, and sometimes painful, to speak. After implementing appogio I immediately notice less tension when I speak. Now I am attempting to implement it into my speaking without thinking hard about it. Is this 'normal'? Another note: you do NOT owe it to us to post videos. Life happens. Your videos are a gift. We appreciate it when you post when it is convenient for you. Thank you for your generosity and enthusiasm
I'm so glad that these videos have been helpful! I don't see any reason why the same principles of appoggio can't be applied to speech, especially when speech is hyperfunctional, pressed, etc. or the speaker has muscle tension dysphonia. (Yes, I know that I'm not obliged to post these videos, but when I make promises or commitments, I like to follow through with them. I hate disappointing others. But thank you for your 'note.' I appreciate that very much.)
Thank you Karyn. This information is SO useful for every musician. I am not a singer but I appreciate and learn a lot from every video class of yours. Sharing your knowledge is a huge gift for everyone who's watching. Thank you!
When starting out to sing I was totally overwhelmed by all the info in your videos and didn't really get it, either. Now that I have a few years of experience and really get what you mean, I enjoyed every single video I've seen so far. Thanks a lot!
thanks sooo much for doing shorter videos! as much as I got excited whenever I saw a new 20+ minute video from you, it would be a lot to 'digest' all at once. you have so much helpful and insightful information to give the 'bite sized' chunks seem to be the best way to offer them. thanks!!!
I know that most of my videos are too long. They're fine for those who are already following this channel, but most people don't have the time or patience to be watching 15 or 20 minute videos. I'm working on trying to tackle topics in smaller chunks, but I always want to be thorough and share everything that I can.
Karyn, you have such a gift to explane complexe things and break them down into praxis. It is amazing! Congratulations, expressed by a singer and physician as well!
I liked the content very much. Just by reading the breath support article on your website and watching the first two videos, I already feel a change in the way I sing, this I'm very excited to watch more and start the practices u suggest. Thanks a lot for this great content 🙏🏻
Amazing stuff. Delicate concepts explained in plain language, with clear terminology, which is never easy when attempting to describe what singing implies in terms of physical involvement! Knowledge is power; thank you mam! 🙏🏻
the end is too funny! Thanks for taking time to do this. I just had a cyst removed from my vocal cord and relearning everything. your videos have been helpful. thanks again!
It will help to see actual demonstration rather than just theory throughout the whole video. Some practical demonstration with your own voice showing the difference between the various types of support and their effect on the sound will be much more helpful.
This is such a great video and your explanatios are so clean and technically based! I have a question about the dynamics of the appoggio when reaching the end of the phrase if you may allow me to post. Basically, we start with the deep inhalation that, in a well aligned and tension free body, opens up the vocal tract and also the ribs (so far, this would be an automatic action). Thus creating a low breathing condition ideal for singing. We then consiously keep this expansion at the laterals and back by using our support muscles while singing our phrase but, and here goes my question : when we are almost using up our tank of air because we are reaching the two thirds of our phrase , do we adjust the ideal subglottal pressure by letting the ribs and muscles go back in to the initial position, or do we REINFORCE and open EVEN MORE this area? (ribs and muscles firmness). Thanks!
Yes. Once lung volume (the amount of air inside the lungs) drops below a certain point, we can no longer maintain the same subglottal pressures with elastic recoil and contraction of the lower abdominals alone. We can't continue to assume the exact same inspiratory posture. Once lung volume reaches that threshold, we then have to start contracting the expiratory muscles more and allow the ribs (but not the sternum) to lower ('muscle driven rib descent') and the diaphragm to rise in order to continue compressing the air enough to ensure that the subglottal pressure doesn't drop. Again, breath support is flexible and dynamic, so the degree to which our ribs are expanded and our abdominal muscles are contracted is going to vary throughout the song. I hope to address this coordination more fully in a video that I'll post next week. (I have one more breath management video already recorded and ready for editing first.) Hope this helps!
Liked this not even half way through! This was a wonderful explanation. You have been showing me more and more how to release my vocal tension throughout my learning journey. Take as long as you need to post any video! :)
I have seen so many voice lesson videos that ask to inhale to the belly and even into "the balls." not mentioning ribs muscles and I only got more acid into mu stomach from that diaphragm workout:) These instructions make more sense to me and match some of the other trained vocal coaches.
Hail and blessing, Karyn. it is laudable what you do and how you do it; but I want to know more about the subglottic pressure. I guess, for the same pitches, different singers need different SP level, depending on their voice type, don't they? So, my questions are: 1. What is the minimal SP needed in chest, middle, and head register? And what is he minimal SP needed for speaking voice production? 2. What is the maximal rate of SP allowing low pitches production? 3. What is the maximal SP the "operatic" low larynx can stand without rising? Thanks!
Good video topic suggestions! To answer your first question briefly here: I'm not sure that it's 'voice type,' per se that determines these differences, (although a dramatic voice, with naturally thicker - heavier - vocal folds, might generate slightly higher subglottal pressures when the folds are approximated). Instead, differing subglottal pressure levels might have more to do with phonation frequency, vocal effort, vocal fold vibratory pattern (register), amplitude, closed quotient, etc.. I'll have to dig into the research on this topic.
Hi Karyn, the "outtakes" are funny. They let us get to know you as a person... I think they certainly add to your approach-ability and show a sense of humor and openness. To make them even more awesome maybe you could "announce" them in some way so we know what's coming and we can anticipate it. Also, about a minute and half outtakes in an about 11 minutes video (little over 10%) might be a bit too long. Maybe you can show just a few (in the same theme, like cut together all the ones where the lamp is falling, or all those together with your cute daughter... etc) and show only those in one "topic" in one video... (and then show the next "topic" at the end of another of your videos) I love your videos because they are very informative and they helped me understand a lot about my own singing. I know you are also putting in extra energy to make your videos even more enjoyable and I just thought maybe my comments can help you with that. It is very generous of you to offer all your knowledge to all of us! Thanks! :)
Thanks for the suggestions and the feedback and compliments. Yes, I know the outtakes section was long, and I had considered cutting them down - I thought about it for a quite a while, in fact - but in the end decided that I liked the flow of the edits. And since I probably won't show my outtakes again, at least not for a long time, I made an executive/creative decision to keep them intact. There's always a risk in doing so. I figured that if someone wasn't interested in watching the extra minute and a half of footage, at least they could stop watching and will have heard all the main/actual teaching content of the video. (I did announce at the beginning of the video that if the viewer stuck around to the end, he/she would get a bit of a glimpse into my world that might explain why I've had such difficulty getting these videos out. I probably could have made that announcement again at the end.) Sadly, all those outtakes and bloopers were actually from my earlier attempts at recording the same video (on the same topic). But yes, I'm actively trying to get the length of my videos down and avoid trying to tell the viewer EVERYTHING that I know about the given topic. I can certainly babble on, but I'm learning to share less and leave even more on the cutting room floor. Being succinct is apparently not a gift of mine! I know the videos are far too long for the average viewer's patience, but I'm trying! Thanks again for the tips.
I follow RAISE YOUR VOICE by jaime vendera....and i was a bit confused from the start...that book helped me a lot...but your explanations..my god...since your techniques are also similar to jaime's techniques...its helping me a lot :)))
Karyn, love all your lessons. This is piggybacking off of what somebody said below, but it's still an area of confusion for me: You talk of, after initially maintaining the rib expansion/appoggio, once it reaches diminishing returns, letting them naturally collapse (while keeping sternum up). This feels right and natural to me. But don't some others seem to teach that that expansion is constantly kept up? I thought i'd seen that other places. Thanks for your time, and wisdom! Shaw
Hi, George. I love your plays! ;-) Yes, there are varying techniques and strategies taught by teachers. I know this can make it so overwhelming and confusing to learn how to manage our breath effectively. The reason why I don't teach expansion from start to end of the phrase is because it's scientifically illogical, not to mention impractical for long phrases. That movement completely contradicts the body's design and I think it can prevent the vocal folds from finding balance because we're not moving enough air through the glottis. With the briefly maintained expansion at the beginning of the phrase, all we're trying to do is ensure that we're not blasting and overwhelming our vocal folds with excessively high breath pressures. From there, how we manage our breath depends somewhat on what we're singing, how long the vocal phrase is, the dynamics, tessitura, style, etc.. I don't take a 'one size fits all' approach to breath management, but I do believe that some initial maintenance of the rib expansion is beneficial and effective for pretty much everyone in nearly all singing situations. Thanks for the question.
LMFAO! Love the blooper reel at the end haha.. (though, now I gotta potty as well). Such a helpful video in this series. Wish I found these years ago. Thx for putting these out there!
Hi Karyn! Could you clarify in your next video on what part of the ribs to expand and how to make sure you're engaging the right part? All of my voice teachers and choir directors really emphasized round ribs and now that I've been studying on my own I realized I have been locking them. I used to get headaches and dizziness from trying so hard to keep my ribs round. I was reading on the David Jones studio page about how a forward swing of the ribs is overengaging and locking the ribs and that we should try to expand up into our armpits. One person even said imagine holding large boards under the armpits. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this means. thank you!
Yes, I plan to cover more of the specific physiology in one of the next videos about breath management. I'll move the camera back a bit so that you see the areas of the body that I'm referring to.
just a (hopefully helpful) request. would it be possible for you to have a picture or a chart that highlights which parts of the body your referring to at any given moment. usually I can keep up but with the specific names of the lower body muscles, ( around the ribs and pelvis) I can get them a little confused. I know that this would take more time to do as far as editing the videos, so I understand if you don't have time.
I love trying to learn to improve singing but how do each of these apply to a song I’d love to see a set of videos going through a lesson plan that results in singing a song that by following each section of these lessons what then changes. And by the end we should have a great song to sing. Something like I will always love you given it’s multi genre or anything with some sense of what the heck it sounds and does and to have what should be an awesome performance.
I'm sorry to hear that. Let me know what is confusing you, and I'll try to explain it in a different way. And I will be posting the next video on this topic really soon, in which I hope to get into the more 'how to' of this breath management strategy. Hopefully that will clear things up for you a bit.
I've gone ahead and labeled the teachings on this topic 'Lessons 1-5.' They should appear in order in my Playlist (Breath Management). If not, let me know.
Karen, thank you so much, since your approach is really suitable for me everything seems so much make sense now. but talking and practicing about breathing technique, i still feel a tension around my neck especially the area below "subglotic" after inhaling. what should i do, and how could i feel this sensation? really wish that you could help me to improve.
I think I got the "theory" from your explanation BUT I still don't get "how" exactly are we supposed to do it when we are singing. Please explain. Thank you in advance!
but wait if I'm trying to hold the position of inspiration doesn't that mean I'm trying to hold my breath and if so then isn't that backing off the sound? underengaging
You're not holding your breath. The breath absolutely needs to move through the glottis! We have elastic recoil forces (e.g., of the diaphragm, lungs, ribs, viscera, etc.) that help to generate some subglottal pressure, and we are still engaging the expiratory musculature to generate the rest of the subglottal pressure that we need for the given singing task. We're simply keeping the sternum elevated and the lower ribs somewhat expanded for a bit longer during the phrase or sustained tone to help prevent the subglottal pressures from becoming too high/overly compressed. (And, at some point, the lower ribs and diaphragm do need to resume their pre-expanded positions in preparation for the next inhale.) This frees of up the vocal folds and prevents things like pressed phonation. Pressed phonation typically results from unrestrained, overly high subglottal pressures that aren't managed (held back/lowerd a bit) lower in the body, so the glottal closure mechanism is forced to firmly 'press' the vocal folds together in order to hold back the air. That's exactly what the appoggio is attempting to prevent. I'll definitely talk more about how this differs from holding one's breath in the next video.
Thanks for the suggestion. This video was recorded in response to someone's question requesting some clarification of the previous video and I had already planned another video in which I would provide demonstrations/exercises. If you go to my playlists, you'll find all the breath management lessons there, hopefully in sequential order. I probably have three or four more videos yet to come in this series in which I'll be trying to build upon this concept further and providing a more complete understanding of all that breath support entails. I'll try to show the practical aspects of the teachings as much as possible.