Introduction:
My lack of previous knowledge around breath was highlighted to me in holistic classes where I was instructed to breathe into my belly, expand my ribs and observe where my breath went. Early into the semester I realized I had very little grasp on what those instructions meant, so I would panic and try different things, often running out of air prematurely or holding my breath almost subconsciously to control it. Now having researched breath in voice from anatomical and holistic perspectives, I can see through my confusion and have been able to tailor my vocal practice to reflect what I now know about the mechanics of the body. In her book ‘Singing and Teaching Singing’, Janice Chapman refers to the process of vocal study to be unique in the sense that you are ‘building your instrument’ and learning how to play it simultaneously (Chapman, 2017:9). The exercises I decided to incorporate into my warm-ups were exercises I felt that when done little and often within a practice routine would contribute to the building of a strong mechanism of breath support that acts instinctively instead of artificially.
The Ribs, Diaphragm and Appoggio:
I began my exploration with a look into the biological side of the story. I discovered that the movement of air in and out of the body is a somewhat passive; air is not pushed but naturally flows into and out of the lungs as the chest cavity expands and reduces in size. (Dimon, 2018:1). There are two key players involved in this movement – both crucial to be aware of when singing: the ribs and diaphragm. In his book ‘Anatomy of the voice’, Theodore Dimon likens the movement of the ribs to that of a ‘pail handle’, on inhalation they rotate upwards and slightly forward increasing the width of the chest cavity (Dimon, 2018:6). The diaphragm on the other hand contracts downwards and flattens, increasing the size of the lower part of the chest cavity. These movements happen simultaneously and facilitate more room for lung expansion.
Investigation into the role of the ribs and diaphragm play in breath control inevitably led me to Appoggio, a 19th century classical technique made famous by Italian pedagogue Francesco Lamperti. Appoggio comes from the Italian word ‘appoggiare’ meaning ‘to lean’, a metaphor of ‘leaning on the voice’ (Stark, 2008:93) which admittedly sounds very vague. The internet is cluttered with different definitions of appoggio, in ‘Bel Canto – A History of Vocal Pedagogy’ James Stark writes that Lamperti himself had a flexible definition of it: ‘appoggio was a broad term that referred to not only the balance of inspiratory and expiratory muscles, but also to vocal onset and glottal closure, position of the vocal tract, airflow and breath pressure’ etc. Most commonly, the term appoggio is used in reference to the widening of the ribs and the slow ascension of the diaphragm to prolong access to breath when singing. It has at times been described as a technique driven by the force of the ribs outwards, though Chapman has criticized this idea, suggesting that it has caused voice students to be ‘subjected to an unnatural form of breath management that … leads to a locking of the airflow’ (Chapman, 2017:43). I must agree, that resisting the natural flow of the body in such a harsh manner would lead to unnecessary tension and effort, too much emphasis on raising the ribcage could cause singers to solely breathe with a ‘belly in’ position which restricts lung capacity. This is because the diaphragm relies on the elasticity of the abdominal muscles for its descent, “If the abdominal muscles contract, the viscera cannot move outward and the diaphragm is restricted in its downward movement” (Dimon, 2018:13). Restricting the descent of the diaphragm is ultimately restricting lung capacity. Appoggio perhaps viewed within a modern context revolves more around the diaphragmic movement, and the rotation and widening of the ribcage not artificially but as a natural byproduct of this. By gently resisting the rising of the diaphragm, the singer can control the release of air more effectively and keep the ribcage raised for longer too.
3 Step Physical Warm Up:
My physical warm up begins with a ‘Pilates roll-down’, a slow roll down to the floor with feet hip width apart and knees unlocked, followed by a slow roll back up, consciously stacking each vertebrae on top of each other and bringing the head up last (Chapman, 2017:34). The objective of this exercise is to align the body and center the mind. Efficient breathing is dependent on good posture, our ribs not only attach to our back, but upon inhalation they move from the point where they articulate with the vertebrae: “This rotation raises the sides of the ribs, which increases the lateral dimension of the thorax” (Dimon, 2018:6). Therefore, alignment of the back is directly correlated to lung capacity and it is useful to iron out any inefficient postural tendencies that have been subconsciously gained throughout the day before vocal practice. Furthermore, as well as centering the body, this exercise serves to engage and focus the mind – providing the opportunity to scan your body for any tensions or pains and relaxing by letting your upper body go as heavy as possible when in forward standing position.
The second exercise – also yoga informed is ‘shoulder clocks.’ This involved imagining your shoulders are the hands of a clock and slowly rolling them backwards and forwards in synchronicity with inhales and exhales. Shoulder rolls are a very simple exercise to ‘mobilize the shoulder girdle’ and it ‘releases shoulder, chest and upper body musculature’ (YMTPP, 2020). It’s very common for people to hold tension in their shoulders and for them to hike up subconsciously during breathing exercises and scales so I incorporated this exercise to make the learner aware of the tension they are walking into the room with, release it right before the breathing exercise and also make it an easy thing to refer back to if the shoulders start to creep back up during exercises or singing.
The final step involves box breathing; this is where I incorporate what I learned of the appoggio breathing technique. First I place my hand on my abdomen and gently cough to remind myself of what the engagement of the abdominal muscles feels like. The exercise goes as follows: breathing in for 4, hold for 4, breathing out for 4, hold for 4 and then gradually increase the counts until we reach 9. When doing this exercise, it is often useful to put one hand around the side of the ribcage and another on the belly, so that you can make sure you are taking advantage of both movements. Breathing out on a fricative such as ‘sh’ ‘s’ ‘v’ applies resistance to the release of air which then activates the same muscles I identified with the gentle cough at the beginning of the exercise. Similarly to the first two steps, box breathing has a long history of being good for the mind as well as the body. Diaphragmic breathing has the ability to calm the body and mind by ‘activating your vagus nerve’ and reducing stress ‘by decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity (which carries our “fight or flight” response)’ (Hwang, 2024). Furthermore, the descent of the diaphragm is dependent on how deep the inhalation is: during ‘vegetative’ breathing the diaphragm descends ‘about 1.5 centimeters’ but can descend up to 7 centimeters during heavy breathing (Dimon, 2018:12). So the deeper we inhale, the more relaxed we will be and the more lung capacity we will have to power and support our voice. The ribs are also essential to increased lung capacity, researcher Ronald Baken writes “when both parts of the chest wall are functioning, each contributes to a total change in lung volume…both parts of the system are necessary for meaningful statements to be made” (Baken 1980, 10). This is where appoggio is useful, because it revolves around the conscious simultaneous activity of the ribs and diaphragm.
I would adapt these exercises for children by describing them metaphorically, to aid vizualisation. The roll down I would describe as rolling down like a scarecrow, imagining you have no bones and going floppy, then standing tall like a king or a warrior. The shoulder clocks I would describe as the wheels of a bus and the box breathing would be described as the inflation of a balloon in the belly.
Melodic warm up:
For my melodic warm up I decided to do an exercise in which I explored the vowels, breath support and range. It involves singing the first 5 notes of the major scale ascending and descending and repeating that with each contemporary vowel: Ee, eh, Ah, oh, oo. The aim is to be able to support yourself to sing through every vowel without taking a breath. It’s a useful exercise for tracking progress with breath control as it works in a routine as a progression of box breathing, introducing voice but maintaining the mechanisms already being exercised. It can highlight which vowels you are more comfortable singing, where in your mouth you have a tendency to place them, if there is any jaw tension. I would adapt this exercise for children by shortening the exercise and singing just the interval of the fifth up and down smoothly. Then as they grew more confident I would slowly introduce the scalic element of the exercise, breaking the vowels into chunks and then finally combining them into the full exercise with no rush – just when they were ready.
Word count: 1590
References
Chapman, J.L. (2017). Singing and teaching singing: a holistic approach to classical voice. San Diego, Ca: Plural Publishing.
Dimon, T. and G David Brown (2018). Anatomy of the voice: an illustrated guide for singers, vocal coaches, and speech therapists. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books.
Stark, J.A. (2008). Bel canto : a history of vocal pedagogy. Toronto, Buffalo: University Of Toronto Press.
Baken, R.J. and Orlikoff, R.F. (2000). Clinical measurement of speech and voice. United States: Delmar, Cengage Learning.
Hwang, R. (2024). Box Breathing: How to Do It And Why It’s Amazing For Stress. [online] Science of People. Available at: https://www.scienceofpeople.com/how-box-breathing/. [Accessed 7th Jan 2026].
YMTPP (2020). YMTPP.org. [online] YMTPP.org. Available at: https://www.ymtpp.org/shoulder-rolls [Accessed 7th Jan 2026].
Reference videos for warm-ups – Total length 10.05
