Top of the Breath
Top of the Breath
The Top of the Breath is the end of the inhale where you make many important vocal decisions. It is important to slow your breathing in order to identify this critical and often invisible point of the breathing cycle.
The Top of the Breath is the end of the inhale.
Here, before you engage the voice, is where you make important choices. You must learn to consciously slow your inhale in order to insert specific and breathing movements.
The top of the breath is the most common place in the breathing cycle where we engage vocal tension.
Remember, your larynx doesn’t control the flow of your air. Your vocal folds must stretch and contract to vibrate the air into sound waves. But, they can’t move if they’re being pressed inward to control the breath!
However, this place passes so quickly that we may not even notice we are doing so.
You don’t need to make any special effort in the larynx at the top of the breath. Your larynx remains in its rested, neutral position.
Throat remains open, larynx relaxed at the top of your breath.
Exercise - Top of the Breath
Preparation: “Home” position
All exercises begin only after all points of the vocal core are at rest in the "Home" position.
Exercise:
- Define the sensation at the top of your inhale.
- Observe the easy inflation and deflation of the chest. How the chest silently rises and falls with the motion of the breath cycle.
- Slow your breathing pace so that you can detect the moment at the end of your inhale.
- Notice if you are closing your throat at the end of your inhale.
- Release this unnecessary tension.
- Explore how you can leave your larynx at rest at the top of the breath, the end of the inhale.