Unit 1 Contents

Unit 2 Contents

Unit 3 Contents

Unit 4 Contents

Unit 5 Contents

Unit 6 Contents

2.4. Better breathing: The Better Voice approach

The voice exercises in the course will automatically help your breath control, because the head-focused voice they develop requires less air, and effort, than a throat-based voice.

Unlike some vocal techniques there are no complicated explanations of how to use certain muscles when breathing, just encouragement to allow your body to breathe in a natural, healthy way. 

Exercise 7: The candle test 

The candle test is an easy visual demonstration of how much breath your voice is using: the more the flame flickers, the more breath you’re expelling.

  • Hold a lighted candle about 20 centimetres (8 inches) in front of you, the flame level with your face.
  • Sing a phrase quite loudly and note how much the flame flickers.
  • As your Better Voice technique develops, the flickering should eventually reduce to almost nothing, even when you’re singing (or speaking) loudly.
  • You could get friends and family to try the test, to give you some more comparisons.

Exercise 8: Natural breathing – or not?

This exercise will show you whether your normal breathing is natural breathing.

  • Sit comfortably upright and place the palm of one hand on your abdomen (over your navel) and the other on your chest (just under your collarbone).
  • As you breathe in and out notice which hand moves, or moves more. If neither hand seems to move, breathe a little more deeply until you sense some movement.

Diaphragmatic versus chest breathing image

If the hand on your abdomen was moving, congratulations. You are using the diaphragmatic breath. This simply means that your diaphragm, the sheet of muscle between your chest cavity and your abdomen, is moving up and down as it should to maximise the air going into and out of your lungs. It is the natural way to breathe at rest.

Watch a baby or small child asleep. They haven’t had time to develop bad breathing habits so they do it as nature intended: their abdomen rises with the in-breath and falls with the out-breath.

For many people, though, it’s not their abdomen that moves but the top of their chest around the collarbone. This is partly a natural tendency with ageing, but is exacerbated by stress, a tight waistband, or holding the stomach in so as to look as slim as possible.

Unfortunately this shallow breathing not only is less efficient at getting oxygen into the lungs, it also doesn’t make you feel good. The exercise in the next section will encourage you to switch your breathing back to a natural diaphragmatic breath.


Unit 1 Contents

Unit 2 Contents

Unit 3 Contents

Unit 4 Contents

Unit 5 Contents

Unit 6 Contents

2.4. Better breathing: The Better Voice approach

The voice exercises in the course will automatically help your breath control, because the head-focused voice they develop requires less air, and effort, than a throat-based voice.

Unlike some vocal techniques there are no complicated explanations of how to use certain muscles when breathing, just encouragement to allow your body to breathe in a natural, healthy way. 

Exercise 7: The candle test 

The candle test is an easy visual demonstration of how much breath your voice is using: the more the flame flickers, the more breath you’re expelling.

  • Hold a lighted candle about 20 centimetres (8 inches) in front of you, the flame level with your face.
  • Sing a phrase quite loudly and note how much the flame flickers.
  • As your Better Voice technique develops, the flickering should eventually reduce to almost nothing, even when you’re singing (or speaking) loudly.
  • You could get friends and family to try the test, to give you some more comparisons.

Exercise 8: Natural breathing – or not?

This exercise will show you whether your normal breathing is natural breathing.

  • Sit comfortably upright and place the palm of one hand on your abdomen (over your navel) and the other on your chest (just under your collarbone).
  • As you breathe in and out notice which hand moves, or moves more. If neither hand seems to move, breathe a little more deeply until you sense some movement.

Diaphragmatic versus chest breathing image

If the hand on your abdomen was moving, congratulations. You are using the diaphragmatic breath. This simply means that your diaphragm, the sheet of muscle between your chest cavity and your abdomen, is moving up and down as it should to maximise the air going into and out of your lungs. It is the natural way to breathe at rest.

Watch a baby or small child asleep. They haven’t had time to develop bad breathing habits so they do it as nature intended: their abdomen rises with the in-breath and falls with the out-breath.

For many people, though, it’s not their abdomen that moves but the top of their chest around the collarbone. This is partly a natural tendency with ageing, but is exacerbated by stress, a tight waistband, or holding the stomach in so as to look as slim as possible.

Unfortunately this shallow breathing not only is less efficient at getting oxygen into the lungs, it also doesn’t make you feel good. The exercise in the next section will encourage you to switch your breathing back to a natural diaphragmatic breath.