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5:53 am
September 2, 2014
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Interesting topic on belly breathing.
http://vocalwisdom.com/belly-breathing/
The comments also have some interesting stuff as well.
I'll post some quotes when I get home tomorrow night, currently on my phone.
6:16 am
September 2, 2014
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Nice read, thanks for posting! 
Phil has always stressed the importance of the chest expanding along with the diaphragm; if I'm understanding correctly, it's the intercostal expansion that we want, not the clavicular. Not that I'm doing anything intentional or unnatural to avoid the clavicular expansion, it's just sort of a byproduct of the breathing/postural technique.
"There is still a future with music, because people want music." - MJK
8:03 pm
August 19, 2014
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Yep, just belly breathing by itself is not proper breathing, in fact it's only half of a breath. I got really good at making my belly go fat years ago, yet I still felt my breath was incomplete and "stuck". I have met many singers wtih the same problem. The chest needs to expand with the breath, that is a full breath. If your chest collapses (when I say that I mean that you have allowed all the air to leave your lungs, hence deflating or "collapsing" the chest") you have nothing to support, no air to compress.
"The real problem with this, just the same as high-chest breathing, is that it is breathing done in just one area. Free, natural breathing is done over a large area. I am reminded of a statement from Lamperti, “breath a little over a large area rather than a lot in a small area”. That is what I’m talking about. It is more efficient, but is also simply easier."
Absolutely agree
Most people have a spot where they feel the breath gets "stuck". Usually because teachers wll say that ONLY the belly can move... This is why I started teaching the idea of keeping the lower back flat. That posture when done right will prevent you from holding tension in the wrong areas and drop it into the feet. When you do that you will experience a complete breath. It is easiest to get a feel of it when lying down.
I got sick of holding back information that appears "weird" or "controbersial" when I know it truly works.
http://www.grow-the-voice.com/.....nging.html
When you get good at full body breathing, the belly won't even come out that much because it will be distributed around the sides and back.
The question you gotta ask yourself always is "was my breath satisfying?"
@PhilMoufarrege
Online Vocal Coach, Singer/Songwriter
Grow-The-Voice.com | PHILMOUFARREGE.com
2:29 am
August 17, 2014
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Interesting article. It's good to see in the comments they mention the importance of the lower abs, sides, transversus, etc., in addition to the natural reflexes like vomiting and sneezing that engage these muscles. My teacher actually instructed me on the vomit technique and it helps tremendously in keeping the throat open (correctly) while keeping the support engaged. Kills two birds with one stone.
There is one thing he said that I disagree with, though. Michael wrote:
Collapsing the chest will never improve breathing, regardless what the purpose.
Collapsing the chest isn't always a bad thing. I sometimes practice collapsing the chest to learn how not to hold tension in the upper body. It makes you more efficient. If you collapse your chest, it forces your UPPER BACK to have to expand more. This is what I demonstrate in my video on the balloon squat. By having your body in that position with the spine a bit rounded (which means your chest is collapsed), the only way the breath can expand is by expanding in your BACK! When you sing with very strong support, your back muscles come into play very strongly. Honestly, when supporting strongly, my back (lower back) is the thing that fatigues LONG before my abs ever do. And when I say lower back, I'm talking about around the kidney area. Exactly which muscles are being used for this, I can't quite say, but I suspect either the psoas or the quadratus lumborum (or maybe both).
2:35 am
August 17, 2014
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Phil Moufarrege said
When you get good at full body breathing, the belly won't even come out that much because it will be distributed around the sides and back.
100% accurate! The belly should not expand outwards no more than about an inch, if even that much. The expansion should go all around, 360 degrees, into your sides (love handles), lower back, UPPER back (the back of the rib cage), sides of the rib cage under the armpits, and even the chest a bit (chest expands OUTWARDS).
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