The singer's exhale

How to do it

1. Sit toward the front of a chair with your feet flat, your spine long and your chest open but not stiff. Let your shoulders and jaw go.
2. Breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds, without a sound. Let your belly and lower ribs widen, to the sides and into your back. Your shoulders stay where they are.
3. Part your lips just a little and let the air out through your mouth for 12 seconds, in a thin thread that's the same from start to finish.
4. As the air leaves, don't let your chest drop all at once. Your ribs close gradually, as if they wanted to stay open a moment longer.
5. When the guide cues it, breathe in through your nose again for 3 seconds. There are no pauses: the air comes in, goes out and comes back in.
6. Every two breaths the exhale grows by 2 seconds: two at 12, two at 14, two at 16, two at 18 and two at 20. The inhale is always 3.
7. To finish, breathe at your own pace for half a minute before you stand up, speak or sing.

What the singer's exhale is

It's a short breath in through the nose, 3 seconds, followed by a very long breath out through the mouth. The exhale starts at 12 seconds and goes up by 2 every two breaths until it reaches 20. That's close to what a long phrase asks of a singer: grab air quickly between two phrases, then spend it without letting the sound wobble.

What sets it apart from other long exhales is the intent. In 4-8 breathing or the lengthening breath, the air falls out and the point is to let go. Here the air is metered: you're training the thread to be the same at second 2 as at second 18. It's a control exercise, not a rest.

Where it comes from

It comes from classical voice training, where managing the air has an Italian name: appoggio, from appoggiare, to lean or to support. The teacher Francesco Lamperti (1813-1892) defined it in his treatise on the art of singing as the support given to the voice by the muscles of the chest, especially the diaphragm. He also described the lotta vocale, the vocal struggle: the muscles that breathe in keep working to hold air back while the muscles that breathe out push it along, and a sustained sound comes out of that balance.

In the 20th century the American voice teacher Richard Miller took the term up again in The Structure of Singing (1986), where he explains that appoggio covers resonance as well as breath management, and where he gathers breathing exercises done without sound. One modern manual in the bel canto tradition has you release the breath as slowly as you can manage, up to fifteen seconds. Teachers still argue about exactly what the word means. The 12-to-20-second progression in this guide is this site's own; it doesn't come from a treatise.

What people use it for

Singers use it to warm up before vocalizing and to feel where support comes from without spending any voice. Teachers, broadcasters and public speakers use it so they can reach the end of a long sentence with air to spare.

What the research says

We found no studies of this exact exercise. What exists are measurements of how singers breathe, nearly always in very small groups.

In 1985, Watson and Hixon tracked rib cage and belly movement in six classically trained baritones. They saw the abdomen set the diaphragm and ribs in a position that favors singing, while the rib cage regulated pressure and airflow. One detail stands out: what each singer said he did when breathing matched poorly with what he actually did.

In 2016, a study in PLoS One compared seven professional singers with four untrained people. At rest they breathed alike. While singing, the abdomen accounted for about 35% of the air moved in singers and about 14% in the other group, and the singers differed a lot from one another. These are tiny samples. They describe; they don't show that one way is better.

What it feels like and what to notice

The 12- and 14-second exhales usually come easily. Around 16 you'll be tempted to spend a lot of air up front and have nothing left at the end. That's the exercise: spend less in the first few seconds.

If you have to squeeze your throat or chest to make it to the end of an exhale, it was too long for today. If you feel dizzy, tingly or short of breath, drop the pattern and breathe normally.

Variations

• Easier (steady 3-12 variation): stay at 3 seconds in and 12 out for all 10 breaths, with no increase.
• With sound (the s variation): let the air out on a soft, continuous s. Your ear tells you when the thread wavers or fades.
• With voice: hold a comfortable vowel at medium volume through the exhale. It's no longer a silent exercise; it's the first step toward singing.

Common mistakes

• Taking in too much air. Filling to the brim in 3 seconds tightens your neck. A comfortable breath is plenty if the air leaves thin.
• Spending it all up front. The thread is the same from start to finish. If you're empty in five seconds, close your lips a little more.
• Collapsing the chest. If your breastbone drops the moment you start to exhale, the air escapes. Let the ribs close last.
• Squeezing the throat to slow the air. The brake is at your lips and your belly. The throat stays open.
• Wringing out the last drop. Reaching 20 red in the face isn't support. Breathe in sooner and try again another day.

How often and how long

One 10-breath session a day is a realistic practice. Control of the air is a skill, and like any skill it's built by calm repetition, with no deadline. If you sing or teach, do it before you warm up your voice.

There's no need to repeat it several times in a row. If a 20-second exhale isn't comfortable yet, stay with the steady 12 variation for a few days and move up when the thread comes out even. For vocal technique itself, nothing replaces a voice teacher who can hear you.

Before you start

• Do it seated while you're learning. If you feel dizzy, tingly or short of breath, stop and breathe normally.
• Don't force the end of the exhale: if you have to squeeze to get there, breathe in sooner.
• If you're pregnant or have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition, check with your care provider first.
• If you have hoarseness, pain when speaking or voice changes that don't go away, see a voice professional. This exercise is not a treatment.