It is important having sufficient breath support to sing. If you have practised the abdominal breathing, you should have sufficient breath to sing. However, if you do not have good control of the expiratory volume, it is probably that you would still be out of breath before finishing to sing a phrase. That is why I hereby would teach you an exercise which most of the professional singers would do it as a vocal warm up. It trains you to control the expiratory volume.
【Video Version】
【Text Version】
1） Sound wave creation process/Importance to control expiratory volume
This full-blown balloon is similar to our lungs which are filled up with air. The 2 fingers are similar to our vocal folds. Sound waves are created by exhaling air to our vocal folds causing them to vibrate.
We need to control the expiratory volume when we sing. If you cannot control the expiratory volume and the vocal folds are not sufficiently closed, air breathed in will all be breathed out very quickly. That means there is air leaking, you will run out of breath before finishing even one musical phrase.
2） G.E.M./Celine Dion/Sam Smith～Lip trill done by the Professional Singers～Control of Expiratory Volume
The exercise they are doing is called "lip trill". It is a kind of Semi-occluded vocal tract (S.O.V.T.) exercise. Vocal tract is a "tunnel" between our vocal folds and lips. Purpose in doing S.O.V.T. exercise is to increase the air pressure above the vocal folds. Back pressure reflected at lips will then cancel out the pressure from our lungs. Making easier vibration of vocal folds which create sound. It reduces too much pressure on our vocal folds.
3） How to do the Lip Trill ？
While doing lip trill, lips, neck and tongue should be relax. Using your fingers to slightly lift up the muscles around the corner of your mouth. You can put 2 thumbs under your inner part of jaw to make sure there's no tongue and neck tension. Then make a "UH" sound. Exhale air from our lungs to the vocal folds. Making vocal folds, lips and tongue to vibrate simultaneously. You can use the following scales by accessing the links. You can also adjust the tempo at your preference.
Male 1.5 Octave Scale
Female 1.5 Octave Scale
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