Tonight,
we breathe….
and listen to many words from Moshe as he shares a lot of wisdom in his discoveries of the breath, and ways to let the human body simply breathe - technique free. Then we choose for ourselves which option works best for us - at whatever moment in time according to the situations that are presented to us… or, we cause our selves to be in (whichever way you want to see it).
There’s quite a bit of talking as he gives directions then shares insights about opera singers and they way many move the diaphragm through song… and conversation.
Amongst other pearls of wisdom, at one point during the lesson he says:
“It is important for singing and speaking that air goes out slowly and with great finesse. Those who scream while singing let too much air out.
The taking out of air is not just that the singing is not good,
that it is a scream, but rather that it also destroys the "capillaries of the voice."
All singers, who lose their voice while singing this way,
are suddenly not able to sing at all. It is as if they do not know how to breathe.
Their breathing is completed during the singing
and they start with a big attack on the vocal capillaries.
They could watch over their health so they vocal capillaries will not be ripped.
It is necessary that they effort very powerfully; and then,
comes a constant hoarseness for their whole life.
Nothing will help this,
not a doctor,
not blisters or calluses,
not operations,
not treatments,
and not inhalations.
There are singers for whom this is their course in life
and all they needed to learn is how to begin to sing
without pushing powerfully and the opposite.
This is not done by itself.
It must be learned and maybe it is unusual.
It is done by itself.
If you paid attention to how much a baby is able to scream
or to how a child is able to raise its voice and scream for hours
without becoming hoarse,
you find children learned from nature to do it this way.
Nature taught them to organise such that the breathing,
the vocal capillaries,
work in a way such that they do not hurt one another.
This is just with children who are not musical.
Those who disturb this development lose this connection
between the breathing and the voice afterwards.
Then, it is a whole business when they want to learn it at an older age.
Very few teachers know how to create peace
between the vocal capillaries and the breathing
because in voice and in singing
the necessary differences in the length of the inhalation
and the exhalation needs to be in the ratio of one to thirty, one to forty.
For some actors the length of one inhalation is such
that when they quote Shakespeare the length is such that they can do forty times
that length without inhaling again; and, of course,
this is not to say that they take in so much air.
They are inhaling with intention before they begin to speak.
This is one of the asthmatic ways of speaking and,
you can particularly feel this in a microphone.
A person does "brrrrrrr; errrer."
Also, when on the stage, this disturbs everyone
and it disturbs the person doing it more than anyone else.
He feels that everyone hears his inhale.
Correct this quite easily
and you will start allowing your body to do what it is able to do
without forcing unusual strange forms of breathing on it.”
Vita, and Asanga, I think you’ll like this one!
“This lesson underscores that breathing and vocal habits
that can be learned and improved, at ANY stage in life,
challenging narratives of fixed limitations.
This perspective encourages individuals to approach challenges
with patience and optimism,
trusting in their capacity for growth and adaptation.”
Enjoy learning more WITH your Self during these movements:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to MySelf.Study to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.