# Ask the voice teacher

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-voice-teacher/682839>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 4, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-voice-teacher/682839 "2014-03-04T18:01:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-voice-teacher/682839/81 "2014-03-18T21:19:18Z")

</div>

> [@Weedy](#):
>
> Thanks for your answer. That is not something I had ever thought about.
> 
> How important is breathing properly and is it the kind of thing that some people learn how to do naturally or is training necessary?

Breathing properly is critical. Air is the fuel for the voice. If you don’t know what to do with your breath, nothing else will work.

The second question is interesting. Most people actually breathe just fine on their own without thinking about it. But when actually going to sing, they tend to mess it up, because they are thinking about it too much (and trying to take in too much breath). So it tends to require extensive training, _in order to do what you already know how to do_. Sometimes the brain is a bitch.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-voice-teacher/682839/82 "2014-03-18T21:23:32Z")

</div>

> [@BigT](#):
>
> Do you know what happens physiologically that seems to reach lower notes after waking up in the morning? For me, anyway, it seems to be related to how dry my throat is. When I drink any beverage, I tend to lose those notes very quickly. An eight ounce drink raises my bottom note from a C or Bb below the staff to an F just below the staff.
> 
> I know it’s not just me, though. That university voice teacher I mentioned earlier would drop to an A from her normal low of a bass clef C.

I don’t know specifically what happens physiologically, but it’s basically the same principle behind needing to warm up your muscles before working out, especially first thing in the morning. I suspect it’s a combination of deep relaxation and dehydration making the cords (which are, after all, muscles) thick and sort of floppy. Once the blood gets flowing, they’re a little more active, which allows you to get to the high notes, but also sort of cuts of the low notes.

A few weeks ago I woke up one Monday morning after a week of being ill and sang a low B-flat. Give that I’m now a tenor, and was never a bass to begin with, that was pretty fun. Never works when I need it, though.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-voice-teacher/682839.md?page=4)