Breathing Not So Deeply

Today I had my first lesson with my new singing teacher.  I found her through the National Association of Teachers of Singing.  I chose her in part because, among other things, she has lectured on the health and care of the singing voice at the university level, and I wanted a teacher who could help me sing despite and through my asthma issues.

When my asthma is really bad, taking a deep breath sets off a coughing spell.  In the past, I have been told to fill up with as much air as possible before singing.  Unfortunately, filling up with as much air as possible sometimes precludes singing at all, so I was thrilled when my new teacher explained that she teaches the bel canto style of singing, in which the goal is only to take as much breath as you need to get through the next phrase of the music.  She spent much of the lesson telling me not to consciously breathe in before the next exercise.

This will take some getting used to, as will the facial expressions needed to sing pure Italian vowels. I guess I will spend the next week practicing singing in front of a mirror and trying not to crack up at the fish face that goes with "oooo."

"...the overall concept of bel canto started ... with a consensus among opera enthusiasts that there was nothing more ravishing than a beautiful voice singing a beautiful melodic line beautifully ...." ~Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times, Nov. 28, 2008