Don’t worry, breathe happy! 🙂
![Perry, D. (1999). Luciano Pavarotti, Mandalay Bay [Online image]. Retrieved April 22, 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/](https://sites.music.mcgill.ca/mpbs/files/2015/04/2329493400_49dc52242c.jpg)
Do you sing with your heart?
- How does performance stress affect your breath?
Have you ever experienced performance anxiety which led to dissatisfaction in performance? If so, are you sure that you are breathing properly? Also, what can you do to help the body to breathe better?
[marker ]Emotions and respiration have a very close relationship…[/marker][clear]
According to the article Interaction of psychological and emotional variable with breathing dysfunction (Chaitow & Gilbert, 2014), negative mental input may interrupt the even functioning of respiratory system. You may even experience sudden hyperventilation when under extreme pressure.
On the other hand, Masaoka et al. (2014) pointed out that conscious change of one’s breathing rate is capable of reducing anxiety. For instance, taking voluntary deep breaths may result in reduction of negative emotional states such as anxiety or fear.
- How do I breathe when I am feeling anxious?
Among all the emotions, it has been suggested that fear, in particular, produces shallow and fast breathing. According to breathing instructions suggested by Philippot et al. (2010), which were derived from the results of one of their studies, the breathing instructions for ‘fear’ are as follow: “Breathe and exhale quickly from the top of your ribcage; with normal amplitude. Your breathing is slightly irregular with some tremors and your ribcage very tense.” This is contrasting to ‘joy’ which is instructed as “Breathe and exhale slowly and deeply through the nose; your breathing is very regular and your ribcage relaxed” (Philippot, 2010).
Masaoka, Izumizaki, and Homma (2014) claimed that there is an evidence of connection between the respiratory rate and amygdala activation; an increase in respiratory rate corresponds to increase in amygdala activation; taking deep breaths may reduce amygdala activity, resulting in a reduction of anxiety.
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By all means, negative thoughts will actually disturb efficient breathing, being unable to produce the vocal quality you intended. Most importantly, fear does not do you any good.
If you are unsure about the functions of the respiratory system, please click here to learn how it works!
- How does singing with ‘emotions’ help you sing ‘better’?
The National Voice Centre of the University of Sydney (Foulds-Elliott et al, 2000) conducted an experiment to observe the effects of emotional connection in vocal performances by measuring the respiratory patterns of five operatic singers during the ‘emotionally connected performance’ compared to ‘technical singing’ during rehearsals. It has been found that there was a significant increase in flow rate, higher initiation lung volume, lower termination lung volume, and higher lung volume expired when singers were emotionally engaged with the performance. The results support the hypothesis that psychological effects may influence technical results in operatic singing.
As a result, the supporting studies and articles suggest that being engaged with positive emotions may contribute in improving your performance quality. The most significant point is that fear and concerns will only interrupt your breathing patterns.
- What are the ways to overcome the fear of performance?
There are several ways to overcome your performance anxiety. Please click on the titles below to learn about them!
- Take it or leave it! Anxiety in performance situations Stressed?
- Eat well. Play well!
- The art of Zen music playing
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Chaitow, L, & Gilbert, C (2014). Interaction of psychological and emotional variables with breathing dysfunction. In Recognizing and treating breathing disorders: A multidisciplinary approach (Second ed.), Churchill Livingston.
Foulds-Elliott, S., Thorpe, W., Cala, S., & Davis, P. (2000). Respiratory function in operatic singing: Effects of emotional connection. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 25, 4, 151-168.
Lechtzin, N. (2014). Control of Breathing. Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/lung_and_airway_disorders/biology_of_the_lungs_and_airways/control_of_breathing.html
Philippot, P., Chapelle, G., & Blairy, S. (2010). Respiratory feedback in the generation of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 16(5), 619-620. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from http://www.tandfonline.com.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930143000392#.VSn04tyG–4
Watson, A. H. D. (2009). Breathing in Singing and Wind playing. The biology of musical performance and performance-related injury. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.
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Perry, D. (1999). Luciano Pavarotti, Mandalay Bay [Online image]. Retrieved April 22, 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/golf_pictures/2329493400/
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I really loved the article.
As a psychology major, I can confidently assume that the information of performance anxiety and the writer’s explanation are solid and well researched.
According to the cognitive behavior psychologists, our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are closely interconnected and each change affects one another. The article argued how in reality they are affecting to one another and the principle was exceptionally applicable to many performing stage musicians.
Thank you! 🙂 I almost forgot that you majored in psychology… I guess it’s been a while. I am more than glad to hear that you liked the article. It is fascinating to read about such clear evidences of the relationship between emotions and breathing patterns. We should bring up this topic to more musicians so at least they would be aware of this matter.
Nice article ! Performance anxiety is cursed and we always associate bad performance with nervousness etc… My anxiety peaks 10s before I start playing… Great insight! Definitely will take extra note of my breathing habits the next time 😀
Thank you so much, Weilin! Hope you will get rid of performance anxiety completely by breathing in the right way!!
This is very interesting. I used to play flute for several years and it is rather useful to know how the emotions affect the respiratory system. I wonder, do you also suffer from performance anxiety? If so, what is your own ways to overcome the fear?
Hey, Dawon! I never suffered from performance anxiety. For me, it’s more like a positive excitement that actually improves the ‘performance quality’. However, I still eat bananas before performance as there has been a few studies that suggest banana consumption helps one to calm down. Please refer to the article Eat well, play well!
I enjoyed reading the article, thank you! Although I am a violinist, I appreciated learning about the respiratory system and the relationship between emotions and breathing. The article seems very informative. Keep it up!
Thanks, Jiwon. Glad you liked the article! I think breathing doesn’t have a direct influence on violin playing, but I believe that string players must breathe with the music in order to really internalize the music/performance.
What I found good is it related performance anxiety to singer’s breathing, which I used to forget about while on stage. Regarding this issue of anxiety, I rather focused on just mindset or attitude. ‘Breathe happy’ could be a useful tip for singers because breathing technique is fundamental in singing, and it’s also easy to remind themselves and do on the actual stage.
Sarah, thank you for your kind and constructive comment. We all know what to do on stage, but sometimes we get overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. Keep up your beautiful singing! 🙂
This was an interesting read! Very helpful 🙂
Thank you, Daniel. Do you think you could relate this topic to guitar playing? 🙂