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by
Catherine Fitzmaurice
- What is
it?
-
- "Structured
breathing" and the "focus line" are terms I
coined in the early 70s as part of a vocal
technique ("Destructuring/Restructuring") which
combines appropriate choice with spontaneity as
well as focused attention. "Structuring"
partially uses techniques taught as bel
canto in singing, and brought into the field
of speaking voice in the late nineteenth century
by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech
and Drama in London, England, where I learned it
and later taught it. "Structured breathing"
modifies the bel canto pattern in three
main ways.
-
- "Destructuring"
exercises reveal "structuring" as the preferred
pattern of a free torso when speakers are
engaged in speaking from their own imagination.
Through "destructuring", awareness develops of
the chemical and emotional needs of the body and
mind to a.) breathe varying amounts at varying
times, and b.) express desire and purpose.
"Structuring" freely incorporates such
requirements.
-
- "Structuring"
differentiates between the active actions of
exhalation of the transversus abdominis
(which lifts the ribcage) and that of the
rectus abdominis, the obliques, and inner
intercostals (which squeeze the ribcage).
-
- "Structuring"
involves awareness of an imaged "focus line",
which assists with harmonic range and clear
intentionality.
-
- How does one
do it?
-
- The
inhalation in autonomic (ANS) silent
breathing is dependent on a raised level of
carbon dioxide in the blood to stimulate the
phrenic nerve in the diaphragm. This causes an
active diaphragmatic downward contraction, and a
passive widening of the ribcage by the resulting
slight enlargement of the diaphragm's
circumference, thus expanding lung tissue
three-dimensionally. The abdomen is moved
passively a little outwards by the
viscera.
-
- The
"structured" inhalation in intentional
breathing for speaking is activated by the
Central Nervous System (CNS) and is primarily
stimulated by ideas formed in the mind, so that
the regular rhythm of respiration is altered to
express the complex rhythms of thought. (The
word "inspiration" denotes both mental and
physical activity.) There is generally a quick
intake in preparation for a sustained outflow
which vibrates the somewhat approximated vocal
folds. In this inhalation the CNS effects the
active contraction of the external intercostals,
lifting and widening the ribcage, which pulls
the now mostly passive diaphragm wider and down,
thus expanding the lungs. The seventh through
twelfth ribs, where the lungs are largest, are
the most flexible, because they are not attached
in front to the sternum but only jointed at the
spine, so this intentional inhalation focuses
effort at the center of the tuxedo cutaway-like
portion, but the entire ribcage may be somewhat
involved. (When the intercostals are familiar
with this action, I use an image of "separating
the kidneys".) As in silent breathing, the
abdomen follows by being moved outwards,
passively only, and not very far, as a result of
compression of the contents of the stomach from
above by the diaphragm, and not as a reaching
for air. It may dip inward a little first, in a
whiplash effect resulting from the outwards
movement of the ribcage.
-
- The
exhalation in autonomic (ANS) silent
breathing is simply a release, with the
diaphragm and ribcage returning to a rest
position.
-
- The
"structured" exhalation for speaking
follows the quick structured inhalation almost
instantly. The CNS effects an active quick
contraction (and resulting inwards movement) of
the transversus abdominis only, which
holds this contraction steady throughout
vocalization. Because of the accompanying
relaxation and rise of the diaphragm the
abdominal wall will move further inwards during
phonation, but the initial action moves inwards
immediately as far as it comfortably can. (I use
the image of a trapdoor, hinged at the end of
the sternum, drawing inwards and upwards to
create a floor for the thorax -- the same action
as when one tries to appear skinny if standing
sideways and looking in a mirror.) One can see
at the same time, in a whiplash effect, a
passive continued outward movement of the ribs,
if the inner intercostals and/or other abdominal
muscles are not unnecessarily bracing them in
place or starting a contraction to squeeze the
ribcage inwards. The outer layer of the
abdominal wall (the rectus abdominis) and
the middle layer (the obliques) remain
uncontracted, soft, and passive, but of course,
as an integral part of the abdominal wall, they
move inwards together with the innermost layer,
the transversus. As the vocal folds
adduct and partially engage and vibrate, the
external intercostals "float" down slowly, in a
delayed release, not a collapse, and not a
squeeze. But the focus is on the action of the
transverse.
-
- The "focus
line" (as a mental image only) then extends
from the dynamic action at the abdomen down and
around the pelvis and up the spine into the head
and out of the "third eye", so the attention is
not on oneself, nor on the vocal tract, but on
the point(s) of communication.
-
- If speaking is
to continue, one can restart the entire cycle
immediately with another quick inhalation, or
there can be a pause after the out-breath. In
either case breathing for speaking is always
activated by the CNS as the result of thoughts
one wants to express, and its size and rhythm
depend on the thoughts.
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- Why do
it?
-
- The above is a
mechanical description of highly organic and
fluid motion, which (once the specific actions
have been identified and practiced sufficiently)
is always available as a choice when there is
need. Need may arise from physical effort, as,
for example, when speaking with high volume or
unusual pitches, or dancing or fighting; or in
charged emotional speaking; or from stage
fright; or when sustaining long thought patterns
and complex sentence structures; or when the
tone of the voice may be intentionally altered
as a result of physical tension -- for character
work, for instance; or the body may have chronic
poor breathing habits. Or, finally, the simple
act of standing upright and speaking can in some
people cause so much tension in the back, the
shoulders, the chest, the neck, and/or the
abdominal wall that the breathing is compromised
-- either held, hindered, or helped in unhelpful
ways such as gasping or squeezing.
-
- "Structured
breathing" -- in constant interplay with varying
breath patterns arising from any such situations
-- is also useful when no extraordinary demands
are placed on the voice, such as in speaking
with a microphone, or in small spaces, or
quietly, or on the telephone. The inhalation
with the lower third of the external
intercostals is simply the fastest and most
efficient way of taking in the appropriate
amount of air needed for vocalization, because
it directly expands the lungs where they are
largest. The exhalation when speaking, using the
described abdominal action, engages the speaker
at the center and expresses authenticity, with
directed focus.
-
- All of these
actions are economical, become automatic as a
response to choice or need, and can happily work
together with individual breathing habits and
vocal requirements of all kinds.
-
- (See my
article "Breathing
is Meaning")
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- (NB: my
teachers, including Cicely Berry, used to refer
to the upper part of the abdominal wall as the
"diaphragm", and the diaphragm proper as the
"internal diaphragm". The way they described the
bel canto version of this abdominal
action -- as pulling in the "diaphragm" to
exhale -- would otherwise be impossible to
accomplish.)
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