Singing and posture–see Categories, About, Launch 4-2014

The question is asked, what is support, and the above was given as a link.  http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=3630 .   And Felipe gave an answer as http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?pid=33758#p33758

I’ve had the same question for years.   “Support” usually suggests structural or relationship support, and in singing, it changed into “air flow mechanism.”    This is confusing.   The proper terminology, as best as I can determine, should be “air flow mechanism” or “air flow mechanism as predominantly supported by the expulsion of air through the diaphragm.”   In either case, I suggest the terminology is confusing, as support, in these cases, should comply more with standard dictionary meaning.

I suggest the following:

There’s “structural support”– this is truly “support”, as by the dictionary.   This is how feet support the leg supports the pelvis supports the spine supports the ribs supports the throat supports the head.

There’s that confusing “singer’s support ” which is quite nebulous, because instead of describing a thing (e.g diaphragm), it describes a complex process.

There’s that second “singer’s support”, which describes an implied proper process.

“Singer’s support”, I believe, is more detailed than the simple “singing air flow mechanism caused by the diaphragm” usually discussed.  One has to ask “WHAT is causing the mechanism to flow?”, and if the answer is “the Correct cause is the diaphragm”, the following question is, “WHAT Supports the diaphragm?”.

In another word, there’s a structural support for the diaphragm and the vocal tract, and it supports the “Singer’s support”.  And this “structural support” complies moreso with the dictionary meaning, than a esoteric meaning of “support”.

Is this all simply semantics?   I believe not.   Those in singing typically indicate that the singer should control the diaphragm to power the voice.  VocalPosture believes the control mechanisms for the diaphragm and the remaining vocal tract is NOT entirely volitional control, and from a teaching perspective, the singer is likely unaware of the entire degree of freedom that the entire vocal tract has, such that even the diaphragm’s freedom and entire power are not volitional.

Before the diaphragm (and other singer’s support means) can power volitionally, it (these) has to be SUPPORTED properly– by the skeletal system, the guts and its muscles, the pelvis and lower back in particular, and myofascia.   When looked at this way, the term “support” makes sense and can vastly improve singing.

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