Smart Breathing

Warm-up exercises to develop breathing technique.

AIM

Simple exercises for developing breathing technique, which is useful in all areas, whether it is talking, singing or even sports or relaxation. The purpose of the exercise is to improve the ability to hold the air in for as long as possible.

Description

Group members stand in a semicircle or circle.

Let’s start with an introductory exercise: the participants hold an „s” sound at the same time for as long as they can.
The goal is to make this sound as long as possible.
The winner is the one who can make the sound for the longest time with one breath.
After that, each participant is measured with a stopwatch for how many seconds the sound lasts with one breath. Participants record their own results.

Next, the facilitator introduces breathing exercises that improve the ability to extend how long we can make a sound with one breath. These are diaphragmatic breathing techniques – one of the foundations of singing with effective air emissions.
The participants stand next to each other with a healthy posture, slightly spread apart, their hands slightly above the waist to feel the breath on their abdomen.

1. Slowing down breathing, getting into a state of rest

• Set a metronome to 60 BPM
• Relax, and breathe out
• On your next breath in, inhale slowly over four counts
• Hold the air for four counts
• Breathe out for four counts
• Rest with no air for four counts
• When four counts gets easy, increase to five, and so on

2. Diaphragm exercise with consonants

• We stay at the 60 BPM tempo, the metronome can stay on, it helps guide the task
• Say the following consonants in sequence on the beats:
  „p”  „t”  „k”  „s”
• A good technique is when we feel the movement of the diaphragm with our hands when placed on the abdomen
• We practice until the participants feel this movement
• Next, we double the consonants on the beats:
  „p”„p”   „t”„t”   „k”„k”   „s”„s”
• If we’re good at it, we can say three consonants to a beat:
  „p”„p”„p”   „t”„t”„t”   „k”„k”„k”   „s”„s”„s”

At the end, perform the same game as in the introduction: the group members make an „s” sound and make this sound as long as possible and measure it with a stopwatch. We have done the exercises well when they realize that they can hold their breath longer than at the beginning of the session.

comments for facilitators

What you can add to improve the effectiveness of these exercises: lean against the back of a tall chair so that you’re making contact just below your ribs. As you breathe in, try to focus the air so your belly expands, lifting you away from the chair. Your shoulders should not rise or fall, and your neck should be as loose.