Vocal tone is created when air bursts through the cleft created by our vocal cords and vibration occurs. To create a clear sounding tone, the vocal cords need to come together solidly and completely. If the membranes or surrounding tissues are swollen (or contain lumps or tears), hoarseness will occur. While the damaging effects of infrequent hoarseness are not usually permanent, hoarseness is a sign of significant vocal abuse or fatigue and should not be ignored.

One of the cornerstones of learning to sing is knowing how to breath correctly and learn to control your breathing so that it is used to optimum effect when you sing.

When we are born our breathing is naturally corre

Power lunch. Power walk. Power nap. Hey, as long as we’re making ourselves feel powerful by renaming natural activities, allow me to introduce my superturbo, patent-pending breathing technique for singers. To be honest, there's nothing new about power breathing. Every baby on the planet has the technique down. Power breathing is what allows infants to scream for hours on end. Obviously, newborns don’t have a lot of muscle strength. So where does all that energy come from? They instinctively harness two universal properties: air pressure and recoil.

When you're on the mic remember to keep the abdomen tight (imagine you're going to lift a piano) and the throat relaxed (like yawning), allowing plenty of air to move. If you need higher notes you get them with more air, not by squeezing off your neck muscles (a common mistake make by singers who burn out before they're ready to quit). Test this by imagining you see a friend across a busy street and you need to get his attention. Holler out "hey". You'll notice that you do this in a very relaxed way with lots of air. That's how to hit those notes that are right on the edge. RELAXED throat, pushing the air out with the abdomen.

The typical twenty-minute warm up should be reserved for times when your voice is in pretty good shape to begin with and you have a lot of singing ahead of you. In the opposite situation, though, let's say you have a big audition or you're performing a single song on Late Night with David Letterman, twenty minutes will never do the trick. In these circumstances, you should plan on at least an hour (maybe two). You'll need to arrive at vocal control before you step on stage. Many singers, though, are guilty of not having a clear definition of control. Without a specific destination in mind, it's easy to become disoriented, just like good ol' Roger at the beginning of this article. A simple way to think about vocal control is, "any pitch, on any vowel at any volume." Now some of you may roll your eyes and think that's a pipe dream, but it's the same standard musicians use for their instruments. A pianist will check to make sure every key is in good working order; a guitarist will tune each string before attempting to play. Only after their instruments are ready, will musicians begin to warm up their fingers. A singer should follow the same two-step process.

Good breath support during singing and speech requires, good posture, abdominal breathing and breathing during natural pauses. Remember....the diaphragm doesn't exhale for you - just helps to control the amount of air exhaled.

Place your hands on your waist, fingers pointing towards your belly button.

Start by taking a deep breath, filling your lungs all the way down to the abdomen (not just the top half of your lungs). Then let it out very slowly in a constant stream. Imagine that you're exhaling through a very thin straw and the air is going out so slowly that you don't appear to be breathing at all--like playing "possum." It may help to picture a candle out in front of you, and your breath is moving so slowly that the flame doesn't flicker as you exhale.

Some topics in this essay:
Baxter Power, Breathing Exercises, James Keenan, AIR Singers, CD’s True, Singers Breathing, Stretch Loosen, Roger Dunlop, David Letterman, Tension Dysphonia, air pressure, vocal folds, abdominal cavity, lower lungs, vocal control, shallow breath, abdominal muscles, mark baxter, air pressure inside, twenty minutes, pressure inside, muscles surrounding larynx, hand belly button, control amount air, arrive vocal control,