I first shared this infographic in May 2017 - inspired by a quote from The Voice Gym that I had seen on Twitter. Its message has to be one of the most golden statements when it comes to learning how to sing well.

But, what does it mean?

Misconceptions

When we think about breathing, everyone is usually very stressed about it as they get into their singing. It becomes a primary concern ie, will I have enough to get me through that phrase?

Will it last…?

There’s the fear that since breath is always escaping, it needs to be controlled by

• a) getting masses of it IN, and then
• b) to hold on to it, to control it for as long as possible, to nail that 4-bar phrase/that high note/the last note…

If we imagine gaining greater volume when we sing, there’s a psychological trigger that suggests to us that we must push more air to make it happen. But a greater volume achieved by pushing more air simply puts more stress on those little vocal folds (only 3-6 cells thick each) and leads to a...