An actor was in her lesson with me yesterday. We were exploring how much or how little breath she needed to speak and sing and how to deliver that breath steadily. Allowing arm movements to reflect breath movement, we discovered that she started every phrase with a "push" of air. She shared that she has an image in her mind of having to "throw" her air with a lot of force for it to go far enough to make it to the end of the phrase, like throwing a ball. The effect, of course, is the opposite: if you release the bulk of your breath at the beginning of a phrase, you have less for the end of the phrase. As soon as she verbalized the image, she realized the ineffectiveness of it. So, we went on a search for a new image for her: starting the sound like setting a top spinning, controlling the release of breath like a bellows (closing the handles quickly or slowly). She's going to do some more searching this week for an image that really makes sense to her.
It's a good illustration of how the singer's perception influences their production (almost 100%). When I hear an ineffective approach to singing being used consistantly, then I ask "How are you thinking of that?" Sometimes, the thought is under the surface, but asking gives permission for the singer to take a look and, after a bit, the current image comes bubbling to the surface. Sometimes, I also ask if the production is beautifully done. One singer I had several years ago had the most beautiful onset of sound I had heard in a long time. I asked her how she thought of her sound. She said she started her sound like an airplane gently touching down.
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