[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 121, Issue 30

[diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Thanks for clarifying that Richard. 

I was trying to gather my thoughts and type while my wife kept coming in the office trying to have a conversation and show me stuff she just finished making in her shop. I rushed through the last part so I could pay her some attention. 

Mike 


Message: 5 
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:39:55 -0400 (GMT-04:00) 
From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: 2 naked Tones 1 cup :) 
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Message-ID: 
<15580750.1379025595970.JavaMail.root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

Assuming the position of an opera singer is a good idea, but expanding the chest muscles is not tops. The real action is in the diaphragm, which is below the chest. When you breathe from the diaphragm, your stomach expands on an in breath, and contracts on the out breath. In other words, the diaphragm acts as a bellows, pulling air in and pushing it out. This creates a column of air nearly the length of the upper torso, which in turn creates a sound that is both deep and very personal (because it's the sound of your own body resonating). 

Expanding the chest does a few bad things: 
1) The shoulders tend to go up as the chest expands, creating tension in the upper body that leads to weak tone. I always tell my students to watch themselves in a mirror: if the shoulders are going up on in breaths and down on out breaths, the breathing is coming from the wrong place. 
2) The chest muscles stiffen as the chest expands, cutting off the column of air. 

There's a piece on breathing technique, with exercises, on my site here: 
http://www.hunterharp.com/breathex1/ 

Also check out this nifty video from Steve Baker on tone: 
http://www.hunterharp.com/video-of-the-day-12-march-2013-steve-baker-talks-tone/ 

Thanks, Richard Hunter