Breathing revisited

Here's an excercise for strengthening those out of practise stomach muscles and lungs. What i want you to do it sit near a clock, preferably an analogue clock - unless your digital watch counts the seconds it won't work. When the second hand reaches twelve, I want you to inhale as deep as you can, take in all the air to can in one swift breath and then hold it, as you watch the clock. Keep holding it until you absolutely cannot hold it anymore - now i really want you to work at this. Then let all that air out. Take not of where the second hand is on the clock. How long could you hold your breath for? 30 seconds? one minute? Take a few seconds to relax your self and get your breath back. Then when the second hand reaches the twelve again, I want you take inhale again and hold your breath. Your aim here is to hold it for longer than the first time but it doesn't matter the first few times if you can't. Once again, when you absolutely can't hold it in any longer, let it out. Take another few minutes and then do it one last time. I know it seems like a pointless excercise, but like I said it will strengthen all of those muscles and your lungs. If you do this everyday, you will get stronger as you find you can hold your breath longer. This will also help with phrasing, which I will move onto soon enough. 

Pitch

The first thing, I want to tell you about is pitch. Now the best way I can show you what I mean, is to tell you is to start with scales. For now, don't worry about the sound of your voice, we can work on that later. Pick a note and sing (if you have a piano, keyboard guitar or other instrument, hit middle C and start from there), "aah", trying not to let your voice waver. Just keep on that particular frequency for a count to 4. 

Then pick another note, preferably the next one on the rung (D on the piano) and hold it for 4 counts. continue this up each note another six times (this should be C) and then go back down again, each time holding the note for 4 counts. What you may be fascinated to know, is that you have sang the spectrum of one octave, from C to C = 8 notes. The point of this excercise is to train your ear to recognise the notes and familiarise you with the way it sounds, coming from you. It will also be a tool you will find useful in strengthening you voice. When you get the hang of those eight notes, start the scale on the second note in your original scale (D instead of C) and work your way up the eight notes and down again. This will seem awkward at first, but the more you practice this it will become second nature.