Anatomy and Physiology Series: Anatomy of Forced Exhalation

As discussed earlier, expiration is mainly the result of passive forces, but during speech (and singing), expiration requires more muscular effort.  This is referred to as "forced exhalation."  I'm going to talk a lot about the physiology in the next post, but first, let's get ourselves grounded in what muscles are involved.


The first group I'll introduce are...*drum roll*...the abdominal muscles!  This should come as no surprise to the experienced singer, but let's still go over where they are and what they do.  The abdominal muscles as a group are involved with changing the vertical dimension of the thorax through affecting the movement of the diaphragm.  (It'll go lower with relaxed abdominal muscles, and higher, faster with contracted abdominal muscles on the exhale.)  If you've ever wondered what the abdominals attach to, I would recommend reading about the abdominal aponeurosis.  (I'm not going to cover that here in the interest of space.)  So here are the muscles we'll go over: The internal and external oblique abdominis, transverse abdominis, and the rectus abdominis on the anterior (front) part of the body.  The posterior (or back) ones include the quadratus lumborum iliacus and psoas major and minor.  (Some say the latissimus dorsi muscles are also involved, but there is currently some doubt to this claim, so I'm excluding it here.)  I'm going to cover these muscles in this order:  Anterior first, going from the deepest muscle (furthest in the body) to the most superficial; then, we will cover the posterior muscles.


The deepest and most powerful abdominal muscle is the transverse abdominis.

This muscle originates from the posterior abdominal wall at the vertebral column and inserts into the abdominal aponeurosis and the inner surface of ribs 6-12.  It is here, at ribs 6-12 that this muscle, here's a fancy term for ya, interdigitates (or interconnects) with the fibers of the diaphragm.  It's lowest attachment is the pubic bone.  Contraction of this muscle significantly reduces the volume of the abdomen.  (It's the "sucking in the tummy" muscle, and it's a pretty powerful one.  Not the origin of your desired "six pack," though, since it's too deep in the body to see outlined through the skin.)


Next, the internal oblique abdominis, and it's between the external oblique and the transverse abdominis.  

It's origin is from the iliac crest and it inserts into the cartilaginous portion of the lower ribs.  If you want to rotate your trunk, this muscle contracts on one side of the body, but if you contract both sides, it flexes the trunk ("curls" your back) and compresses the abdomen.  


The external obliques are the most superficial of the abdominal muscles, meaning they are the closest to your skin.  They are also the largest of the abdominal muscle group (but not the most powerful, that's still the transverse abdominis).  

Contraction of these guys can rotate the trunk as well and can compress the abdomen and vertebral column by contracting both sides.  


The rectus abdominis muscles are the "six pack abs" group.  (You can see them as the "rectangular" muscles in white in the picture above.)  Contraction results in flexing the vertebral column.


The first posterior abdominal to discuss is the quadraus lumborum pictured in red here:

These muscles originate from the iliac crest and insert into the lumbar vertebrae and rib 12.  It assists you if you move your trunk laterally (ala salsa dancing), and contraction on both sides fixes the abdominal wall in support of compression (ala my yoga instructor's directions for a good hand stand...still working on that one).  


Psoas major and minor are relatively smaller muscles hanging out around the pelvic area.  If they assist with exhalation, they are similar to the quadratus lumborum.


Other muscles of forced exhalation are mainly involved in decreasing the size of the rib cage.  These include the internal and innermost intercostals, transversus thoracis, subcostals, and serratus posterior inferior.  


The internal intercostals are deep to the external intercostals and their fibers run perpendicular to the external intercostals.  These guys depress ribs 1-11.  The innermost intercostals are actually a separate group.  There are the deepest of the intercostal muscles.  They run parallel to the internal intercostals and also depress ribs 1-11.  

The transverse thoracis originate at the sternum and insert into the inside of the rib cage.  This muscle group also depresses the rib cage...big surprise, huh?  Shown in red below (the sternum is seen on your right):

Posterior thoracic muscles include the subcostals.  These guys run similarly to the internal intercostals, but they can span more than one rib depending on the person.

The serratus posterior inferior originate from the spinous process of thoracic vertebrae #11, 12 and lumbar vertebrae 1-3.  They insert into the lower five ribs and also aid in pulling the rib cage down.

If you're still awake, congratulations!  You've now entered full-on voice-science geek status.  (just kidding).  But seriously...although I won't go so far into detail during the physiology discussion, I believe it is very important to not only understand how inhalation and exhalation work from a biological standpoint, but it is also important to know how complex the act really is.  It involves a very complex muscular coordination that, for the most part, all goes on in the "background" of a person's brain function.  It is because this process usually happens automatically for most people during speech that I believe the training of "breath support" can become an incredibly frustrating endeavor for the professional voice user, and it can be equally frustrating for a voice teacher to explain in a 60 minute lesson.  

The singing world is full of many "schools" of breath support and navigating those schools can be very frustrating for the student of pedagogy.  I believe having a more thorough knowledge of the known functionality and coordination of breathing for speech can be incredibly useful when navigating the more abstract ideas for breath support.  

So there's my soap-box for today!  Onward to physiology of exhalation!

*Re-citing:  Much of my material is coming from:  Seikel, J. A., King, D. W., & Drumright, D. G. (2010). Anatomy and physiology for speech, language, and hearing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar. 

Anatomy and Physiology Series: Physiology of inhalation

Inhalation gets pretty largely ignored in some pedagogical circles...not all, but some. Singers tend to be all about the exhalation:  How to make it longer, how to make it easier, how to make it stronger, but they very rarely take a look at inhalation. At rest, inhalation is mainly done by the contraction of the diaphragm. When breathing at rest, inhalation is about 40% of the breathing cycle, and exhalation is about 60%. When speaking, inhalation becomes about 10% of the cycle and exhalation about 90%. And, although there is no solid data on this, I would suspect during operatic singing, that gap is even wider between inhalation and exhalation. So let's go over the two main ways a person can inhale for speech and singing and their biological function so we can get a better sense of how to make that 10% of our breathing cycle the most efficient for our use.

The first, ideal inhale is the one that yields the maximum expansion of the thorax. The most effective way to do this is to maximize the descent of the diaphragm and illicit the use of the primary rib cage elevators (more than just the intercostals) during inhalation. The first part is where relaxation of the abdominal muscles come into play. If the belly relaxes out, the internal viscera (otherwise known as your guts) move out with it, creating more space for the diaphragm to descend into. The second part makes use primarily of the external intercostal muscles, the interchondral portion of the internal intercostals, levator costarum, and serratus posterior superior. These guys all work together to obtain the maximum expansion of the thorax in the most efficient way for speech. (If you take part in "chest" breathing, you're mainly only using the chest expansion without the diaphragm descent, so it just isn't as effective as it could be.)  

The accessory muscles of the neck, mentioned in the second half of my last post, come into play either when you're really needed some extra oxygen, like on the last leg of that marathon you're training for, or during clavicular breathing.  This is associated with some pretty bad medical conditions, like COPD and neuromuscular disorders like ALS, but anyone whose had an asthma attack, anxiety attack, or ever had pneumonia have done a bit of clavicular breathing themselves. This gets the accessory muscles of the neck and back involved. In fact, in extreme cases of respiratory distress, patients tend to hold onto backs of chairs to try to get the pectoralis major to expand the rib cage. (Since that is not the primary function of that muscle, it's considered a desperate move for the body to gain a little extra oxygen.) This is considered the most inefficient way for the body to breath, so why does the body do this if it's so inefficient? Well, consider what happens to folks having an asthma attack where the airflow is obstructed. If the lungs cannot properly expand, then the muscles of inhalation won't really work either, thanks to the relationship between the muscular function and the difference in air pressure.

Now the thing is, it's not just in clavicular breathing that those accessory muscles of the neck can get involved, it is any time your body needs that extra oxygen elevating the rib cage affords.  Anyone who's done any intense exercise  can tell you that the body basically uses a combination of all three of types of inhalation to get every bit of air you need.  Ever worked out in the morning and gone into the practice room in the afternoon and noticed your neck muscles were tight?  It's very likely they were working during your work out too.  But, in singing inhalation, we don't want the neck muscles to be involved, so I feel it is always a good idea to massage out those muscles after a workout before you practice to make sure they're not getting in the picture.

High chest breathing comes into play biologically when we're in a heightened state as well, such as the fight or flight response.  This is another reason a low, relaxed inhale should really be well-trained into the singer's technique.  Those performance nerves can easily cause the body to tap into the wrong muscular balance.  I'll get into that a bit later down this series, mainly when I talk more about the nervous system physiology, but I feel it warrants being mentioned here that the body has this ingrained, biological responses to certain stimuli.  Nervousness and anxiety can trigger the body to get the higher, clavicular and/or chest type of breathing involved when we don't want it to be.  It doesn't mean you have bad technique inherently, but it does mean you need to work on what triggers that response and try to counter it either with more muscular training, i.e. muscle-memory, or with relaxation techniques.  Whichever works for you!

Another thing I will get into more after going through exhalation anatomy and physiology is the laryngeal system's role in the respiratory system.  But keep in mind until we get there:  The laryngeal system is a protective system biologically.  It is primarily a valve designed to keep food out of the lungs.  If you suffer from the "noisy inhale" issue some of us face at one point in our development, try slow, low, relaxed inhales through an open throat.  There should be absolutely no sound, even to you, as you breathe this way.  It is very possible that if you use too much of the accessory neck muscles during inhalation for singing, you are triggering the valve-effect of protection while you're gasping away for air.  (I'm not sure as to why, but I suspect it could have something to do with wanting to protect you from inhaling large objects, like flying insects, into your lungs when breathing rapidly through your mouth.)  But if you know that it's a biological function, it's easier to discover how you will insight relaxed breath for yourself through a little trial-and-error in the practice room.


*Citation: Seikel, J. A., King, D. W., & Drumright, D. G. (2010). Anatomy and physiology for speech, language, and hearing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar. 

Anatomy and Physiology Series: Inhalation Anatomy

I've been reading up in my handy-dandy textbook from the previous post to try to figure out just what is the most important stuff to include for students and teachers of singing, as well as anyone making public speeches. However, I have encountered the issue of an abundance of riches: There's so much information that I think it'll be too hard to include it in just one post on inhalation and one post on exhalation as I planned. So, I'm going to split up some of these posts, where I see fit, and do inhalation anatomy as one post and some key inhalation physiology as another post before moving on to exhalation. I feel there is so much contradictory "theory" of breath support in the singing world out there that an effort to explain more scientific detail than what is usually gone over will be worth it...if I pull it off.

Inhalation can be an over-looked issue with some singers out there. I work a lot with inhalation when I get students who need the work. This is due to the ways in which a person can inhale, i.e. the many different coordinations of the musculature of the torso, thorax, and neck, and the biological function of those different coordinations.  We'll get into those functions in the next post, but for now, on to the inhalation musculature!

We have all heard, in one way or another, of the primary muscle of inhalation, the diaphragm.  This is the bowl-shaped muscle that rests under the lungs.  It flattens downward upon contraction (inhalation), and returns to it's resting bowl-shape on exhalation thanks to muscular elasticity.  It is innervated by the phrenic nerve, which originates in the cervical plexus.  It is bilaterally innervated, meaning there is nerve routes to the diaphragm on both sides of the body.  This is mainly a protective measure so that if there's damage on one side, the nerves on the other side will keep it working (a sign that it's a pretty important muscle for the body.)  It is attached to the lungs via pleural lining and the central tendon, which is the big white area on the picture below.  When you're at rest, this is the main muscle controlling inhalation.  (note, this is an inferior view, basically looking up through the abdomen.  The central tendon, however, is on the superior (top) of the diaphragm, so they have it here just to show it.  In fact, the heart is above the central tendon.)

These other muscles of inspiration are considered accessory muscles.  They are considered such because if you're knocked unconscious, this muscles aren't really used for inspiration at rest.  (Physics and elasticity from the last post does the work there.)  So these guys help mostly in what we call "forced inspiration," like what we do when we speak, sing, exercise, etc.  The external intercostals are included in this category (although they do play a role in resting inhalation as well, we could breathe at rest just fine without them...so they're considered accessory as well.)  These guys run between the ribs, are "external" to the internal intercostals (expiration muscles) and do not attach all the way around the ribs, stopping short of the sternum because attaching there would not do any good in elevating the ribcage, which is what they do.  You can see them labeled between the first and second rib show in this picture.  (That large, flat muscle shown here is one of the internal oblique abdominals...we'll get too on expiration.)

The other accessory muscles of inspiration, like the intercostals above, have to do with elevating and expanding the ribcage in some way.  These include the levator costarum, located at the back of the ribs near the spine.  There are 12 pairs of these muscles for each of the 12 ribs.  (They're the little red guys in the image below.)

The serratus posterior superior are paired muscles that originate from the spinous process (part of the vertebrae that sticks out) and inserts into the upper borders of the 2nd through the 5th ribs.  I'm having a heck of a time finding a good image that I trust won't carry some virus or something (been burned by that before!), so I'll just link to an image I like here:  They're the group labeled #1.  

There are other accessory muscles I have deemed less important for the singing/teacher/speaker to know, but I'll list them along with a link if you want to know more:  erector spinae, lateral bundle, and intermediate bundle.  These guys are more involved in spinal and rib cage stabilization than respiration directly.  (The last two in that list are on the first link.)

But, we're not done yet!  If you're not totally asleep by now, (and if you are, I don't blame you, anatomy without good physiology to back it up is pretty darn dry!), I'm gonna add in some of the accessory neck muscles to respiration.  These are primarily the sternocleitomastoid and the scalenes.  (If you've taken a pedagogy class before, you've probably heard of at least one of those, huh?)

The sternocleitomastoid is a strong muscle of the neck.  It originates from the mastoid process (the bump you feel right behind your ear) and has two points of insertion, the sternum and the clavicle (put all three together, and you've got it's name).  If just one side of this muscle is contracted, it results in rotating your neck towards the contracted side.  If both sides are contracted, it results in the sternum and clavicle (and by association the upper rib cage) being elevated.  But I like to think this muscle is the most happy when it's busy rotating your neck instead of aiding in respiration.

The scalenes (anterior, middle, and posterior) is a group of three muscles that, biologically speaking, help to stabilize the head and help out in neck rotation as well.  But, since they also insert into the 1st (for the anterior and middle scalenes) and 2nd (for the posterior) ribs, they can also elevate the upper rib cage.  (In the image below, you can see the anterior and middle scalene under the sternocleitomastoid.  The posterior one is being "hidden" by some muscles that go over it.)

Are we done yet?  (That's what I'm thinking right now, but no, I'm not done yet...I suppose you could be, though, since this is a blog entry after all.)  There are muscles of the arm and shoulder that aid in forced inhalation as well.  I think I'm just going to link to some of them, cause some are known pretty well in pop culture thanks to some hollywood hotties out there.  Pectoralis major and minor both elevate the sternum, which ends up increasing the rib cage in transverse (or side-ways) motion.  Serratus anterior help to elevate ribs 1-9.  Levator scapulae, which is actually what's hiding the posterior scalene in the image above, is a neck stabilizer, but it can elevate the rib cage as well.  

I'm going to include these next guys here because I feel they are key players in proper breathing posture for operatic singing (but, keeping this entry strictly dry, boring, and all about the anatomy).  Rhomboideus major and minor are often included in inspiration since their main function is to stabilize the shoulder girdle.  The trapezius is also often included.  This guy is a pretty big, strong muscle.  It supports arm movements, moves (and can stabilize) the scapulae (i.e. shoulder blade), elongates the neck, and helps to control head movement.  (You might have found yourself working this one out in the gym, along with pectoralis major.)  

So what do you have to look forward to with inhalation physiology?  The difference between diaphragmatic breathing and clavicular breathing, biological functions of both of these, and which of these muscles we just went over are our friends and which ones are our enemies when it comes to singing...duh, duh, duuuuuuuhhhh!!  (That's my poor attempt at suspenseful-sting music there...yeah, it's time to go.)




*Citation: Seikel, J. A., King, D. W., & Drumright, D. G. (2010). Anatomy and physiology for speech, language, and hearing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.  

Anatomy and Physiology Series: Respiratory physiology at rest and during speech (or singing)

Most A&P classes typically start off with anatomy, but I feel that some introduction into physiology at the start can be a big help bringing the "big picture" together as you learn. So here we go! 

Now, the very most basic biological function of respiration is pretty obvious to most of us today: It takes in oxygen and diffuses it to the blood stream while getting rid of carbon dioxide during the gas exchange in the lungs. So how does the gas get into the lungs to begin with? Physics, of course!...okay, there's some muscular effort that takes place too, but we'll get to that later...

The lungs are a very spongy tissue that would deflate if they weren't attached to the surrounding tissue in some way. The lungs, inner thorax*, and the diaphragm are all covered in pleural (connective tissue) lining, but the lining around the lungs maintains a strong negative pressure, called intrapleural pressure, which sort of "suction cups" the lungs to the tissue. This pressure is always negative...which is a good thing. If it ever changes, you end up with a collapsed lung, and, as anyone who's watched House one too many times knows, a collapsed lung ain't a very good thing to have. 

*Quick anatomy side-note, if you didn't click the link: The thorax is the name given the space between our head and our abdomen, minus the neck...so basically our chest. See? It's that "name something fancy for specificity's sake" coming back to bite us!

Thanks to this intrapleural pressure, the lungs both expand when the thorax expands and decrease in size as the thorax decreases. That is very convenient for us, because it means we can take in air during our resting state relatively easily. How do we do that? (Warning: You're about to be physics-ed...um, yeah.) In a state of rest, inhalation is where we exert force, i.e. muscular effort, to overcome the effects of gravity on pulling our chest down. So we've got to contract something to expand our thorax (hint: This is where the diaphragm and external intercostals come into play). Expiration, while at rest, utilizes the principles of elasticity and gravity which make it a passive act. (Elasticity is also a principle from physics where a material put under strain or stress will return to it's original state after the stress is removed. We'll come back to it when we talk about the physics of sound in the future. But what's most important for now is to understand that your muscles are put under strain by your nervous system when they are told to contract, and they will return to their original resting state once active contraction ceases.) 

The fancy-pants name for the principle governing the intake of air into the lungs is called Boyle's law, which states that as the as the volume of a chamber (for us, the lungs) increases, the pressure inside the chamber will decrease. So when you expand your thorax through use of your diaphragm and external intercostal muscles (among others), the volume of the lungs increases, air pressure inside the lungs decrease and becomes more negative than atmospheric pressure. Air will always move from areas of high pressure to areas of lower pressure, and so, when negative (less) pressure is created in the lungs, air rushes in. This is inhalation at work when you're just sitting and hanging out on your couch, like I am. Exhalation, in my current state, involves the relaxation of my diaphragm and external intercostal muscles, which, due to gravity, decreases the volume of my lungs by decreasing their size. This causes air pressure in my lungs to increase and become more positive than atmospheric pressure, which then causes the air molecules to rush out to freedom!(...or where ever those air molecules like to go on a Saturday night. I'm not judging.) The key to this: Air will always move from an area of higher pressure (smaller cavity) to an area of lower pressure (larger cavity). Might want to remember that for later, cause pressure is a big deal when we get to laryngeal physiology too.

Big farting deal, right? What the heck does this have to do with breathing for singing or speech, or whichever it is I do on a daily basis? Well, it does have a good amount to do with how we want to use our muscles, and which muscles we want to use while we sing. Here's a fun little exercise from my A&P textbook I sighted below*: "Close your eyes and breathe in as deeply as you can and hold it for a few seconds. Feel how much pressure you are fighting to hold your chest in that position. Next, take a quiet breath (interjection: Like me sitting on the couch) and hold it: Do you feel the difference in pressure?" Yes. Yes I do. Thank you Drs. Seikel, King, and Drumright!

So why does that happen? Well, the forces that restore your thorax to it's resting position, elasticity and gravity, generate their own pressure on the situation, much like when your manager's manager shows up at your crummy day job. The recoil that happens on exhalation obeys those forces rather well when left alone, but if you want to extend that exhalation, you've got to exert more effort. Like my lovely little text book says here, "The greater you distend or distort the material, the greater is the force required to hold it in that position and the greater is the force with which it returns to rest." So the more you want to hold back your exhale, the more muscular effort you will need to hold it back, and if you want to keep it at a steady flow while extending it, you've got to exert a great deal of flexible yet strong control, since what your body really wants is to give in to elasticity and gravity and let out a fast, big "sigh" of breath (much like what I was doing in my my-teacher-is-in-such-great-shape-that-she-has-no-idea-how-much-she-is-kicking-our-butts yoga class earlier today). 

This is why "breath support" is such a HUGE deal in the singing world. This, and little bit of the relationship between the abdomen and the larynx that we'll go over later, is the key basis of any excellent vocal technique. 

*And if you guys would love to have this material in the oh-so-user-friendly format of a $100+ textbook, here it is: Seikel, J. A., King, D. W., & Drumright, D. G. (2010). Anatomy and physiology for speech, language, and hearing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.

--But all joking aside, this is a fantastic book that I highly recommend to any serious voice-user and/or teacher of voice. I'm not ever selling my copy to anyone...unless I'm just upgrading to the next edition when they come out with it.

Anatomy and Physiology Series: Anatomy and Physiology Terminology and orientation

Hello all!  It has been a little too long since I posted something of significant substance, at least for me.  So I will now begin on my first blog series on the anatomy and physiology of our respiratory, laryngeal, pharyngeal, and articulatory systems.  It might be a bit of a long haul, but I feel this information can never be over-emphasized to the singing world, and indeed, to all professional voice-users out there (that includes you too school teachers, and God bless ya for doing what you do!).  Why from the bottom up?  Well, things actually get more complicated the further up you go, so it's a nice way to "ease" into this series, before I whomp you with too much A&P terminology. Also, I will be including an overlay of what the biological function of these systems are for us, because sometimes, that biological function runs counter to what we want when we sing (mainly thinking of the pharyngeal systems here).  


Speaking of terminology, a little anatomy/physiology orientation might be in order.  We're going to be talking about a lot of muscles, and I might include some innervation as well (nerves that run to muscles), so here's some background into names of muscles.  Muscles are named either for function (i.e. anything with "levator" in it's name would elevate something, "depressor" would lower something, etc.), for point of origin and insertion (which would correspond to similarly-named parts of the skeletal structure), for how the fibers run ("oblique" muscles run at an angle to the midline of the body, "rectus" runs with or parallel to the midline, etc.), and/or for the size of the muscle (i.e. "maximus" would be a large muscle, "brevis" would be a short muscle, etc.).  So the names don't always make a lot of sense unless you know what it's being named for.  (Here's a little test:  What would you think the "levator veli palatini" is named for?  Well, the "levator" part is elevation, the "veli" has to do with the "velum," or soft palate, and the "palatini" comes from the palatine bone.  So this guy is the muscle that elevates the soft palate.  Pretty cool, huh?)


Spinal nerves (the guys mostly responsible for respiration) are named and numbered according to which vertebrae they exit from (we'll go vertebrae numbers/names further down this entry).  Cranial nerves are much more confusing, (thanks past A&P research scientists!), having some named for function, some for where they coarse in the body ("vagus" meanings "wandering," and it travels far and wide to it's destination points in the body), and some for how many parts they have ("trigeminal" comes from having three branches...kinda saw that one coming, didn't ya?).  Cranial nerves are all numbered (thankfully!) from one to twelve from the origin at the front of the brain (#1:  Olfactory, in charge of your sense of smell) to the back (#12:  Hypoglossal, in charge of most tongue movement).  Why cranial and not spinal?  Well, cranial nerves all branch off of some area above the foramen magnum, which literally means "giant hole," at the base of your skull.  Anything above this puppy is considered a part of your brain stem (all the way up to your frontal cortex), and what comes out below it is considered your spine.  

A little bone orientation:  A foramen is an opening (or hole), processes are projections in the bone (usually a point of attachment for a muscle or another bone), and "articulation" (when talking about bones) is a point where bones connect...so it's bascally a joint.  (Why not just call it a joint?  Well, a point of articulation usually a little more specific, like just the skeletal structure, since "joints" properly consist of connective tissue like ligaments and tendons.  When you don't want to talk about that silly connective tissue, you use "point of articulation" instead.)


Vertebrae:  These guys are classified by name and number.  Anyone who's ever had back trouble have probably heard of their names.  There are seven cervical vertebrae (with #1 and #2 being your "Atlas" and "Axis" respectively), twelve thoracic vertebrae (these guys articulate with the ribs), five lumbar vertebrae, five sacral vertebrae (they're in the back of your pelvic region), and 3-5 (usually five) coccygeal vertebrae which are fused together (this is your "tail bone.")  So when I get to rib movement and/or start throwing out spinal nerves at ya, you'll know where to refer to (and I'll probably link it anyway if you're like me and forget).  


For next time:
Important respiratory skeletal structures:  The spine, the 12 paired ribs (24 total, and yes, the number is the same for women as for men), the sternum with it's three parts (top-down: Manubrium, body, and xiphoid process), the clavicle (or "collar bone"), pelvis, and the scapula (as a point of muscular attachment for some respiratory muscles.)  

Singing after a break: Why getting back into the game sucks

Time for some honesty:  I didn't sing much this semester.  It's a little hard for the voice majors I know to understand since they sing all the time at school, but when you're in a non-music major, music starts to take a back-seat to your studies.  I sang a couple of concerts back in March and April, and since then...nada.  So I decided this week to get myself back in the game.  


If there is ever a time when you get reminded of all your bad vocal habits, it's when you start singing again after a break.  I think in part it's because you think you can just jump back in where you were, but the truth is, you've got to ease back in, at least for a couple of days, before you can sing like you used to.  If we think about this in terms of daily workouts, I think most people know that if they stop jogging, weight lifting, or fitness classes for a few weeks and do absolutely nothing that the first day back will hurt!  Your muscles will be weaker and your stamina just won't be there like it was before.  Don't know why I always forget it's the same with my voice, since it is muscle after all!


So here's what I've figured out as a recuperating singer/voice teacher:  First, allow the laryngeal muscles to balance out again and the resonance will come shortly after, with some work.  (Or, to follow the South Park model:  Step 1:  Balance laryngeal musculature, Step 2: ?, Step 3:  Perfect singing!...maybe that's just what it feels like to me sometimes.)


Here's another confession:  I've always had easy high notes.  I'm one of those freakish sopranos with the easy high notes that drives the rest of the folks trying to get high notes insane.  (Sorry about that.)  When I come back from a break, however, while I still have the high notes, the stamina is just not there at all!  I can't sing up there for very long before I feel tired.  So I've learned to just not do that to myself.  I go back to practicing really short bursts of time and that's it, until I feel I can go longer without tiring myself.  


However, the very first practice session back in the game:  I always, always wear myself out!  Singing just usually feels so good after a break.  I find myself enjoying it so much that I just don't stop until I can't sing anymore.  This is like my little "bowl of ice cream" I allow myself that one day.  I just allow myself to enjoy the heck out of it, even if it's not perfect by any means.  By allowing myself this moment of "singing for singing's sake", I gain so much motivation to go back and practice again the next day.  I give myself the motivation to do those short, intentional practice sessions that aren't that much fun.  I remind myself of how great singing is in general, and I'm reminded of how great it is when my voice is really in shape by struggling a little through what was easy a few weeks ago.  (Now, I do always allow myself a good 20 minutes or so of vocal rest, along with laryngeal massages, at the end to curb the fatigue a little for the day.)


Does it take long for my muscular balance to come back?  No.  Takes about 2-3 days of intentional practicing at most.  (Just like it takes your body about 2-3 workouts before you're back in that fitness class for real.)  Is that time going to increase as I get older?  Absolutely.  Heck, it used to only be one day before I was back when I was in my 20's, so the amount of time has already extended a little.  (And these are breaks of a few weeks, not a few years.)  But hitting that grind stone again after I've reminded myself why I need to hit it is worth my one day of vocal extravagance.  


My best advice for those coming back after a break:  Just enjoy singing a couple of times before you really hit the grind stone, cause the grind stone alone sorta sucks.




Next up:  The bad vocal habits I always, always have to work through every time I come back to singing.  Fun times. 

The science and responsibility of vocal training

"Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense." --Carl Sagan


As many of you may be realizing based on my past posts, I am training to be a scientist.  Through this lovely process, I am learning that being "scientific" about things really is more about a thought process than anything else.  Until I'm big enough to conduct my own studies, being scientific about the studies I read involves thinking critically about the quality of the study, the reliability of the results, and the decision whether or not to put those results into my practice.  To put it another way, I am training to be hyper-critical of the evidence that either supports or contradicts any hypothesis I might think of.  Where there is no evidence, I let my hypothesis remain just solely that and I don't hesitate to change what I think is right as soon as quality evidence is presented to contradict it.  This all leads me to wonder:  Why is this training not part of every pedagogy class in music, at least to some degree?


In the SLP field, there is a huge push for something called evidence-based practice.  This is a practice put in place in the other medical therapies, like physical and occupational, and the field of education, just to name a few.  The reason for a big push is there is relatively little evidence for the SLP field.  Part of this could be how far-reaching the field is as a whole.  I mean, you could be recuperating injured voices, working with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson disease, improving children's language skills, working on speech problems like stuttering or apraxia, working with aphasia, or treating cases of dysphagia.  It is a really broad field!  At the end of the master's degree in SLP, you test for your ASHA license which tests your proficiency in the field as a whole.  After that, you've got to log in a certain number of training hours every year with ASHA to maintain your license.  If you specialize in voice, it would be logical for your training to be in that area and vice versa for any other area your specialize in.  Being able to discern quality evidence for your treatment plan from the body of evidence available is rather critical for your choice in on-going training in the field and for your responsibility to provide the best treatment you can for your clients.


This has led me to wonder why we don't train voice teachers to discern quality evidence from techniques lacking evidence, even if it's based on expert opinion and experience and not randomized control studies or meta-analyses.  Heck, a fair number of voice teachers aren't even trained up on the physiological intricacies of the vocal, pharyngeal, and articulatory systems well enough to understand current studies being published on those topics.  (Obviously, the excellent and well-educated teachers out there are the exception to this.)


Perhaps it is being in an artistic field that we tend to think of the best voice teachers as people who have the talent to teach.  We think of teaching as something that's ingrained, not taught.  While I do agree that the passion and desire for teaching can be based in innate talent, I would argue that what great teachers do instinctually can be taught, to some degree.  If students in SLP can be taught to think critically about the evidence for their treatments, then I believe music students can be taught that as well.  Obviously, this is not a field in which licensure demands you keep up on the current studies (which makes me wonder why don't we require ongoing education on voice/vocal technique at least from our university professors...), but the sense of responsibility to use the best techniques at your disposal to aid your students should be emphasized.  We like to think that so much responsibility lies on the student, and they do bear a great deal, but when it comes to what they are being taught and putting into practice, that lies with the teacher.


Perhaps there is an assumption that students are lazy if what you teach them doesn't work, but I think that is an irresponsible assumption to make.  When my voice was partially paralyzed, I'll be honest, I did stop "practicing" technique at a certain point in my path.  I didn't stop because I was lazy, I stopped because I wasn't making any progress no matter how much I practiced.  I stopped because it was frustrating and disheartening, and it was equally frustrating and dis hearting to have my (at that time) voice teacher to assume my laziness and not think to ask why I had just given up like that.  Was it my laziness or his/hers?  


Here's the other problem:  There are probably a lot of voice teachers still all aflutter over what some great voice scientist discovered twenty + years ago and basing much of their pedagogical ideals on that study.  In the SLP field, there is some great, great stuff from 20 + years ago that is still in practice because it works, there is a much larger body of evidence from 20 + years ago that has been disproven, that has never been recreated in another study (meaning that study lacks test-retest reliability), and/or has been proven not to generalize to the client's daily life.  If you're still practicing something that's been disproven or that was initially based in grand assumption then you're being irresponsible to your clients (in SLP).  I believe the same thing happens in our field as well.  


We assume things about our students and we assume things about vocal science that might not be totally reliable, and then we put a lid on it and don't think of changing our assumptions.  Or, because we didn't think the old studies from the 70's served any reliable purpose in the training of our voice or our students, we throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume voice science has nothing to offer operatic training.  I propose that those tendencies to make broad assumptions should be what gets trained out (or we at least attempt to train-out) of all of those thousands of voice students that go out into the world and teach to some degree.  We should feel enough love and respect for our field to make that effort, shouldn't we?