Breath Control for Singing -

Your Voice is

An Instrument

Breath Control For Singing

🎤 A Beginners Guide

Estimated Time: 7 minutes
Level: Beginner

🌟 What You’ll Learn

In this lesson, you will:

Understand what Breath Control is
Become aware of how you currently breathe

Learn how to release air gently and steadily

Practise simple exercises to support your voice

💡 Why This Matters

To introduce beginners to basic breath control by developing awareness of breathing, learning how to release air steadily and using the breath to support clear and comfortable speech or singing.

Breath control is the ability to manage how your breath flows while you speak or sing.

🧠 What Is Breath Control?

For beginners, this simply means learning how to breathe calmly and use the breath without tension or effort. Good breath control helps you:

Avoid running out of breath

Speak or sing more clearly
Feel more relaxed and confident

At this stage, breath control should feel gentle, natural and not forced.

🎯 Understanding the Breath

When breathing correctly, the air moves into the lungs and causes the stomach area to gently expand. The shoulders should stay relaxed and still. This type of breathing helps support the voice and reduces strain.

The goal is not to take in a large amount of air, but to release the breath slowly and evenly.

Bad:Not finishing the end of a line of a song.

Better:

Breath into the diaphragm, thus having enough air to flow out with the sound.

With proper intake of breath after the second line, you control your song delivery, finishing each line effortlessly.

🧪 Exercise 1: Breathing Awareness

Purpose: To notice how you currently breathe.

Sit or stand comfortably.
Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach.
Breathe in gently through your pursed lips. (Figure 1)
Allow your ribs to move upwards and outward.
Notice which hand moves more.

👉 Try not to change anything yet. This exercise is only about awareness.

🧪 Exercise 2: Gentle Inhale and Exhale

Purpose: To practise relaxed breathing.

Breathe in through your pursed lips for 3 counts. (Figure 1)
Allow your stomach to gently expand when your bring your ribs upward and outwards.
Exhale and allow your abdomen area, from your stomach downwards, to contract down and inwards.
Do this for 4 counts.
Keep the shoulders and your chest relaxed and relatively still.

Figure 1

Repeat: 5 times. Relaxing in between each one.

🧪 Exercise 3: Controlling the Breath Out

Purpose: To learn how to release air steadily.

Take a gentle breath in.
Breathe out while making a soft ‘Haaaaa’ sound.
Keep the sound even and quiet, as if relieved.
Stop if you feel tense.

Repeat: 3–4 times.

🧪 Exercise 4: Breath and Simple Phrases

Purpose: To use breath when vocalising.

Choose one line of a song.
Breath a controlled breath out as you start to sing.
The breath is to last the length of the line.
One breath per line of the song.
Sing the verse smoothly from start to finish.
Make sure that while singing you have air before the sound by allowing air to swirl over your palate. Liken it to cooling a hot potato in your mouth.
Rest, then repeat.

Focus on finishing the sentence clearly.

Repeat: As many times as needed to master ‘air before sound’.

⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do not lift the shoulders when breathing in
Do not hold the breath before speaking
Keep the body relaxed
Stop and reset if you feel tense
No sharp intake of breath on the first line of the song

📅 Practice Guidance

Practise for 5–10 minutes at a time.
Keep sessions short and consistent
Focus on quality over effort

🔁 Lesson Recap

In this lesson, you learned:

That breath control begins with calm, relaxed breathing.
By becoming aware of your breath and practising steady airflow, you are building the foundation for clear speech and healthy voice use.
These skills will support all future vocal lessons.

✍️ Key Takeaway

It cannot be stressed enough that air before sound is essential. With regular, short practise sessions, you will learn vocal habits that strengthen your vocals and sound.