The ways in which we live in our bodies in our day-to-day lives affects how our bodies will respond when we sing. It is essential to become aware of our day-to-day physical habits because undoing them can have a profound and positive effect on our singing.
By way of example, if my comfortable physical habit (meaning where I live in my body most of the time) is to have my sternum concave and my shoulders rounded forward, I am likely to live in my body that way when I sing, too. In this case, I would not be getting as free or open a breath as possible, and my neck would be thrust forward at an angle putting tension on the larynx and impeding the freedom of vibration. Whether I am singing or not, I probably don’t realize I am in this physical habit because it is home base, I am always there. It is comfortable, so it feels right to me. It is really hard for someone to use their body differently while singing if they continue to use their body in the same inefficient way at all other times. The habit will continue to be reinforced. With more physical awareness of how we live in our bodies on a day-to-day basis, we can learn what it feels like to make a different choice. In doing so, we relieve the tensions of inefficient body
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