Question 10

Dear Mrs. Lang,
My new professor is teaching "belly squeezing." That is, I am supposed to pull in my belly to push out the air when I sing, thus making my voice louder. At first, this worked well. Now after a good year, I am getting firmer and firmer and the voice does not sound as free as before.
Could you please explain to me what you can tell from the two videos (before and after the teacher change). Maybe I just didn't understand something correctly.
I know this is not an easy question to answer. Would you have a tip for me?
Thank you very much!
Sabine*

Dear Sabine,
thank you for your inquiry and the trust you have placed in me. You are right: it is always difficult to give an assessment or even an evaluation without conscientious live anamnesis. Nevertheless, I would like to give you my impression.
There are audible differences in sound between the two recordings. The voice seems to be less free in the later recording, the high notes are reached with more difficulty and the intonation of  these high notes is mostly flat, especially in the passaggio, the vibrato has become greater and there is a clear air admixture in the sound. The question is, to what extent do the factors of recording technique, transmission or daily condition play a role? I would like to neglect these audible results for once and see what I can glean from the changes visible in the videos.
During inhalation, clear outward movements of the abdominal wall can be seen in the later video, which turn inward during singing. You are visibly taking in a lot of air. Parallel to this comes a change in laryngeal height: during inhalation, the larynx visibly lowers, only to rise again when used for singing. The abdominal wall is very active during the singing process and pushes further and further inward or gives isolated impulses, which entails a small movement of the larynx each time. In addition, tension is clearly visible in the front/side of the throat and in the lower jaw, which also entails tension in the lip and forehead area and gives the face a strained expression. Audible then is breathiness of the sung sound, which, to choose your words, does not make the voice sound free.
My assessment is this:
There are two things to separate: Support, appoggio or anchor and breath.

The main point for me seems to be that you realize that during any effort in the body, the false vocal folds do their actual job, which is to protect the airway. The task for us singers is to overcome this function of the autonomic nervous system by learning to keep the false vocal folds wide/open/retracted. This can be done by, for example, the trigger "laughter-internal laughter". There are many singers who can sing successfully this way even with active abdominal involvement. They then laugh at least internally and thus keep the airways free and enable the vocal folds to do their work: to vibrate freely and adapted to the respective required pitch. In my opinion, the larynx height should also be adapted. Lowering when inhaling and taking up a higher position again for the note to be sung seems to me to be too much effort.
Due to the high air pressure and the constriction in the larynx, one hears these rubbing noises and the excess of air is amplified. Intonation is affected and vibrato becomes greater. The increased pressure makes the reaction of the vocal folds inflexible and makes it difficult to lead the voice "slenderly" upwards.
Many professional singers have dealt with/needed to deal with breath and support/appoggio/anchor in depth during their careers and have thus found their balance. This work cannot be done by an outsider.

Breath is a very complex subject and cannot be explained in two sentences. If you look at the basics, inhalation means that the diaphragm actively lowers/contracts due to negative pressure in the lungs while the abdominal wall simultaneously relaxes. Overpressure initiates the exhalation process with passive uncoiling of the diaphragm. This autonomous breathing process, which we hardly think about in everyday life, must be adapted to the requirements of singing. A good balance is found on the one hand by adjusting the amount of air to the length of the phrase, to the pitch or register and to the character of the repertoire to be sung. Now, in this adjusting and balancing and "supporting" or anchor of voice and sound, the (head-neck-breath-assist) musculature plays a certain role. It's important to understand that you don't get the voice louder -without side effects- by "pushing" more air harder. Singing is about carrying capacity. This is achieved through optimal use of one's own body and through adapted breath management.

If I were in your place, I would talk to my professor about what her kind of approach is doing to me. Perhaps there are difficulties of understanding here. I find that it is better to name things and then look for a way together.

Questions, problems and approaches to solving them can help me understand things better and move me forward in my development. Every singer always comes to a point where he should rethink procedures and may need to change the direction of his path. That is completely normal. And habits, whether cherished or adopted out of necessity, can be changed.
I hope I have given you a starting point that will help you in your singing development.

Sincerely
Yours
Petra Lang