Breathing and offset- How to end a phrase smoothly?

Posted in Category Technique and Style
  • J
    Judy 3 years ago

    I tried to apply the breathing techniques instructed by Camille & Jonathan, but I am puzzled at how to end a phrase naturally and timely (i.e., with natural tail/vibrato/decrescendo, and without tension, cutting off abruptly, or singing/dagging over the time.)


    In Jonathan's tutorials 'Finding Your Breath/phrasing', he mentioned that our breath was like water in an ongoing pipe that doesn't stop flowing when we turn off the tap water. However, I don't know how to end my singing/note timely if I keep the flow/breath going. The singing/voice would go over time if I don't cut of some sort of air in some way, somehow.

    I also love how Camille always ends the phrases with a soft tail and natural vibrato. I am wondering how I can stop my notes timely and naturally like that?  Can you please tell me what we should do with our breathing (pipe/flow) or how do we 'turn off the tap water' without stopping the flow in the pipe? Thank you so much!!

  • C
    Camille van Niekerk 3 years ago

    Hi, Judy! When the sound stops, that means our air flow and phonation have also stopped. But I think the idea Jonathan is getting at is that we don't close the vocal folds completely to abruptly stop the sound. Rather, a good visualization is to release the note "up" into the air so it fades naturally, as opposed to cutting it off at our throat. In general, I like to let each note end when it "wants" to, or when it feels most natural to. If that doesn't make sense, I apologize! It's such a great question, and an interesting one to think about - but it's admittedly difficult to describe. 

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