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Back Pain
Voice & Respiration
Music-making
Work-Place
Personal Growth
Health & Fitness
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How will the Alexander Technique help me with respiration?
In two ways:
firstly, by having generally better "use" - that is
to say, carrying less unnecessary tension and having the proper support in the
body - the respiratory system will not have to work so hard to move air in and
out of the body; secondly, by learning how to leave your breathing mechanisms
alone, you will not be interfering with what Nature does very well.
What are the mechanisms involved in breathing?
Briefly, the brain
receives information about carbon dioxide
levels in the blood. When they are too high it responds by sending a message directly to the
diaphragm which in turn contracts downwards and outwards from its dome-shaped
resting position while the ribs move side-ways and upwards. This brings about a
considerable increase in the volume of the thorax. The internal air pressure is
thereby reduced and atmospheric pressure pushes air into the lungs. The
diaphragm then begins to relax and come back up inside the rib-cage, which
closes around it, into a dome-shape, aided by the internal organs and abdominal
wall which - having been pushed down during inspiration - are exerting
pressure. The resultant decrease in the volume of the thorax puts the air in
the lungs under increased pressure (higher than atmospheric pressure) and it
therefore passes out through the wind-pipe (i.e. is exhaled).
The most
important aspect of this from the point of view of respiratory re-education is
that the movement of air in and out of the lungs, when not
interfered with, is a passive
consequence of work done primarily by the diaphragm - not under voluntary
control. It is when we:
- interfere with the voluntary muscles (either consciously or
unconsciously), or
- are more or less permanently in a state of rigidity or
collapse
- that things go wrong. Therefore any effort made to make air come
in or out of the lungs is counter-productive. To learn to breathe well is to
learn how to get out of the way. Alexander work is a very effective way to
bring this about.
How will the Alexander Technique help me with voice?
Natural breathing, as described above, is the foundation for any
work with voice. In order to produce sound, the vocal chords squeeze together
and provide a resistance to the air being pushed out of the lungs by the
increase in air pressure caused by the diaphragm and rib-cage. When this is
done without any unnecessary interference from voluntary muscles, the voice has
a particular resonance which can be recognised. The most common faults in voice
production (or playing a wind-instrument) are:
-
auxiliary breathing mechanisms are used to pull air into the
upper chest. This mechanism (used, for example, when panting) allows for a
rapid exchange of air for emergency purposes. However, since
the lungs are more or less pyramid shaped they very soon feel
full if the air is coming into the top part first. This is the
most common reason why singers find they feel puffed up with
air and yet cannot finish a phrase.
-
the abdominal muscles are used to try to force air into the
base of the lungs. The effect of this is to weaken those
muscles, cause flaccidity in the intestines, weaken the
diaphragm (whose work is being done by the wrong body-part), and bring about a rigidity in the rib-cage, which is
denied its chance to expand and contract with respiration.
-
excess tension is used in the throat region to try to control
the rate at which air is expelled.
Re-education of the vocal mechanism begins with
work on improving general functioning, then work on rediscovering natural breathing, work on
producing simple sounds (whispered vowels) without interference,
then
speech and, if the pupil wishes, song.
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