The continuation of the discussion on relaxed singing begun in yesterday's video. Everything said here is still relevant today!

The first of several videos I recorded a couple of years ago on cultivating a relaxed but focused mindset when performing. Share your own experiences of this or your own tips that you've found work for you.

Act like the singer you're becoming. Identity can make consistent action easier: singers train their voices. TRY THIS: Complete one small action today that your future, more capable singer-self would do. Remember, you can get the entirety of "Empower Your Voice" for free at: https://app.jtmusicconsulting.com/sp/ba97bd1cbf3

HABIT-STACK YOUR WARM-UP. Attach practice to something that already happens. TRY THIS: Use: “After ________, I will do my five-minute vocal warm-up.” Remember, you can get the entire "Empower Your Voice" guide for free at: https://app.jtmusicconsulting.com/sp/c693fca0610

In an upcoming video (which the attached pic is from) I'll be talking about effective breathing for singing. Today I just want to clarify one way of framing breathing in your mind that is more helpful than what many people tend to do. 𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁. Most people think of breathing as a two-phase process: inhaling and exhaling. In order to have proper breath support for singing long musical lines, 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 or we end up running out of air and making the music sound choppy/gaspy/etc. So when we work on breathing for singing, we work on this management process which involves retaining some of the air and not letting it all out at once. Where the mindset mistake comes in is when we think of that as 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 our breath. That mental image can immediately put our brain into a mode of 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 and our physiology (the vocal folds, lungs, diaphragm, jaw, mouth) tends to tighten up as a result. A much better approach is to work on *𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴* the breath...having neither air go in nor out but it just sits statically within our breathing mechnism. Through my singing experience, teaching experience and others' experiences, it's clear to me that this approach produces a more relaxed breathing and vocal mechanism. So get out there and try it!! And leave some comments to let me know how it went and whether or not this content is speaking to you!