by Ryan Kok

Created on: April 21, 2009

I'll admit to it. I have a problem. I get lost in my music. I'll be driving in the car, and my favorite song will start to play on the radio. Then, the next thing I know, I'll be pulled over on the side of the road with a state trooper at my window handing me a ticket for "rocking out too hard". Well either that, or speeding, but I assure you that my rocking out to AC/DC was the sole reason for me losing track of my car's speed. At least the cop didn't see me playing air guitar...

My point is that it's easy to get lost in our music, especially when we sing. Singing is so much more than just using your voice. It is an amazingly detailed combination of air flow, the vibration of your vocal chords, the shape of your mouth, and more important than anything else, your brain. It is an incredibly complex process, and because of that, we sometimes just tend to go on autopilot, temporarily forgetting everything that we have learned in favor of "just going for it". But simply put, that is not how things are done well. That's not how Tiger Woods practices golf. That's not how Warren Buffet invests his money. And that's certainly not how the great musicians go about practicing their music. Only once we have truly mastered a piece of music, can we then learn to loosen up and let the emotion flow forth. If you do that beforehand, you will simply develop a slew of bad habits, the most important of which is bad breathing technique.

Simply put, we are born with horrible breathing habits for singing. It's not your fault. In fact, if while going about your normal daily tasks you were to try to breath like a singer is supposed to, then you would most certainly illicit plenty of wonderful stares, and you'd accidentally be high on oxygen in less than a minute. Having strong air flow and using it to support your sound is certainly the most vital aspect of singing, and the breathing that is required to do this is absolutely nothing like the breathing that we do during our normal everyday routine.

Good breathing begins with good posture. There are plenty of secret strategies and techniques that people will try to employ for good posture. I have just one: Whether you are sitting or standing, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON'T SLOUCH! That is all.

Moving on...

In order to breath well, you'll need to make sure that you aren't too self-conscious about your stomach. A good breath starts low and stays low, which means that if you are doing it properly you should see and feel your

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