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Correct breathing for SpeakingCorrect breathing is essential for good speech. Every sound we make needs breath. I’m going to ask you to stand up. Now say out loud: ‘I am a brilliant coach and I’m bound to produce some champions.’ What did you do immediately before you spoke? I would imagine that most of you pulled your shoulders up as you took a deep breath. Lifting up your shoulders did you no good whatsoever! All you did was restrict yourself and tense your muscles. This is called clavicle breathing. With this type of breathing you are trying to move parts of the body which don’t move, in particular the top ribs. When we are asleep or resting the air enters our body slowly and escapes quickly. When speaking we need to inhale quickly and quietly. The emphasis here is on must quietly. It must be done naturally with no preparation – you mustn’t think ‘now I’m going to take a breath’. If you lift your shoulders and think, ready, steady, go – there will be a gasping sound. Breathe in through your nose as this will protect your vocal cords. Breathing through your mouth will dry out your vocal cords so it is essential that anyone with a sore throat breathes through the nose. Good breath control is essential for good speech but it must appear natural. In order to breathe to speak we need to use our intercostal muscles and our diaphragm. The intercostal muscles move the ribs and the diaphragm forms the bottom of the thorax and the top of the abdomen. At the centre of the diaphragm is the central tendon which joins the lower ribs, the sternum and the spine. During normal breathing the diaphragm descends about 1 cm but during strenuous breathing it can descend as much as 10 cms. Between the ribs are the external intercostals muscles and when these contract they elevate the ribs. When we breathe in our lungs need to fill up with air. This requires our ribs to move outwards and sideways. If you place your hands on your ribs just above your waist and breathe in you should be able to feel your ribs move outwards. As the lungs fill with air the diaphragm will move downwards, giving plenty of space for the lungs to expand. As the air is used up the diaphragm returns to its normal position – pushing the air out. During normal breathing out (exhalation) the muscles are relaxing. The diaphragm and the external intercostals muscles relax causing the ribs to depress. Other muscles become active only after forceful breathing, as in sport or trained speaking - the abdominal muscles and the internal intercostals contract. This is a skill which has to be practiced, it does not come naturally. It is also important that your posture is correct. Stand up and sit down again. How many of you sat down and then let your ribs drop down a second time? We have 12 pairs of ribs. Ribs 1-7 are fixed and cannot move, consequently lifting up your shoulders or any other movement around the neck and shoulders cannot increase the size of your thorax. Ribs 8-10 can move outwards and these are the ribs we concentrate on. Ribs 11 and 12 are floating ribs and when we sit down badly, we rest the top half of our body on these ribs. Your lungs need room to expand. I’m going to be a nuisance and ask you to stand up again. This time imagine you are talking to a group of adults. How are your knees? Have you locked them tight? If so, bend them a little and relax the muscles. The tension in the back of your knees will travel up your back into your neck and shoulders making breathing more difficult. Let your feet take your weight, not your knees. Stand evenly on the heels of your feet. Make sure you are not standing to attention. The only people who do this successfully are people who don’t need to speak such as soldiers on parade, gymnasts and ballerinas. If you stand upright with your head up (but still relaxed and not to attention) people will immediately take notice of you. You will look as though you know what you are talking about. Standing and sitting correctly will also make you feel less tired so you will sound much more alert. Whilst you are sitting or standing correctly, try the following sentence. Start each line with a new breath and see how far you can get until you run out or breath (ignore punctuation)
1. I can name 2. I can name seventeen different sports 3. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket 4. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming 5. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton. 6. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton, gymnastics, trampolining.
7. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton, gymnastics, trampolining, diving
8. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton, gymnastics, trampolining, diving, skiing, hockey
9. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton, gymnastics, trampolining, diving, skiing, hockey, basketball and
10. I can name seventeen different sports: football, baseball, cricket, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, squash, badminton, gymnastics, trampolining, diving, skiing, hockey, basketball, snooker and athletics.
Although breath control is very important, we mustn’t become so obsessed with taking deep breaths that we are too frightened to pause in the middle of a sentence if it makes sense to do so. Good breath control means that we can pause when we want to rather than when we have to.
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