Anxiety & How It Affects the Voice

When we are anxious, we tend to hyperventilate, that is, take in short bursts of breath too fast. We usually breathe through the mouth in these moments, our chests rise, out heartbeats race, and our abdominal support goes out the window. We bring everything up into the throat and end up with a strangulated sound that gets weaker the longer we sing.

But there is remedy. There are three factors that will help you overcome anxiety during singing. The first is total body relaxation, which can be achieved by lying on the floor or your bed with your head slightly elevated and your knees slightly bent. Breathe in through the nose slowly. When you have filled the entire abdominal cavity, hold your breath for a second, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. Do this 10 times. Your heart rate will decrease, your body will relax, and the anxious feelings will lessen.

The second factor toward handling anxiety is concentration on the fundamentals as you sing. Concentrate on supporting your voice with your diaphragm by placing your hand on the upper abdomen and pressing gently and resisting your hand by pushing down and out with the vocal muscle. The third factor is this: mean it! By this is meant, communicating the words of your song so honestly and sincerely that you and the song become one. By losing yourself in the communication of your song, all other thoughts leave your mind.

Even if your anxiety should return after you're through singing, by practicing these techniques, your performance will not be adversely affected.

A word about Saving your breath or breathing too much.

I have a student with phenomenal breath control. Every time we do an exercise, she can hold notes longer than anyone. Yet, when she sings, she seems to bring it all up into her throat and her voice loses quality little by little so that by the end of the song, she is sapped of strength and her voice is very tired and weak.So what happened? What happened is that although this singer has great breath control and can hold notes forever, she has failed to make the connection between breathing and singing her song. If she sings a short line of a song that calls for a stopping of the sound, she takes in another breath before the next line. She breathes without needing breath! This creates anxiety in the body and before too long she is hyperventilating and singing totally in her throat. What we need to see here is the difference between stopping the sound, and breathing between sounds. When I say in my manual that you should never save your breath, I mean that you should use all your breath all the time, but I don't mean that you should breath every time the lyrics of a song call for a stop.

I gave my student an exercise that you all may benefit from as well. Breathe in through the nose, and sing, using the initial "grunt" which initates the diaphragm support, "Me Me Me Me Me" (stop) "Me Me Me Me Me" (stop) "Me Me Me Me Me" (stop) and so, on until you are out of breath.

DO NOT LET GO OF THE ABDOMINAL SUPPORT THROUGH THIS EXERCISE! And DO NOT INHALE!

Stop the sound between between each series of Me Me Me Me Me's, but do not breath if you don't have to. Breathing when you are already full of plenty of air is like trying to pour more water into a glass that is already full. It overflows onto your table your floor, your lap, and makes a mess!

By practicing this exercise, you will be using the breath you have until you are out of air, and when that happens, your body will take the next breath for you without you having to consciously inhale. It makes your song less choppy and frenetic, but more fluid and connected with more warmth and expression.