Breathing for Singing

Breathing for singing is an often misunderstood subject. After many years of vocal study on both sides of the Atlantic, scientific and historical research, and interviewing voice doctors, it became clear to me that it actually takes very little air to activate the vocal folds (vocal cords). Inhaling a lot of air before singing can actually make singing more difficult as a result. The vocal cords require a very small amount of air in order to phonate - that is, for the vocal cords to come together completely to make a sound. But it is more complicated than that. The vocal cords come together, go apart, come together, go apart, hundreds of times a second in order to sing a pitch. A440, for example (A4) is 440 cycles per second; the vocal cords actually come together, go apart, 440 times to create that pitch! If there is extra air pushing up against the vocal cords - air that they don't need - then it is much more difficult for the singer to achieve a clear tone and ease of singing. vandermeervoicestudio@gmail.com copyright July 2025 Zoe Vandermeer