How to use your diaphragm?

How to actually use diaphragm to sing?

• I know how to breathe with my diaphragm and i do know exercises to strengthen the muscles there. But the question is, how do i use it when i'm singing? This is a question i've been wondering for about 5months now.. :/

• Answer:

  This is why you need a voice teacher--you and all the other "self-trainers" out there. You have no freaking clue what you are doing and you may end up seriously injuring your voice. You do NOT know how to breathe with your diaphragm because if you did you would also know WHY and HOW it's used for singing. It's not something that is easily explained or people would understand it better than they do. It's actually something that is very difficult to master--correct breath control--because you ARE training your muscles to behave in a certain way when you sing. However, merely doing strength exercises for your abdomen is not the solution. It won't hurt to have strong stomach muscles, but just having fabulous abs won't turn you into a great singer. The diaphragm expands so you can take in a deep breath of air as a source to sustain and support your tone when you sing, but how you let that air out in a controlled manner VARIES WITH EACH AND EVERY SONG! Breaths actually have to be planned. As you become more experienced as a singer, this may come more automatically, but it depends on the difficulty of the song and how you want to interpret that song when you sing. Growing louder or softer through a phrase, also requires you to think and plan on how to release the air you just took in. Like I said--HARD! It will take more than 5 months even WITH a teacher, but you can expect a better rate of improvement if you get a teacher than if you rely on clueless kids who think honey and tea is a cure-all for throat problems because you strained your cords trying to "practice". There is much more to learn about correct and healthy vocal production. Did you know it was important to know how to even open your mouth? That the position of the tongue, upper palate, etc. are all important? Once again--find a voice teacher. Start by asking at local high school and college music departments for local references. The teacher needs to be someone with an actual music degree related to voice, vocal performance, vocal pedagogy (teaching), etc. and have a very good understanding of the actual physical processes involved in singing. You can find great online advice about singing, but if you misunderstand something, you can end up doing great harm to yourself---or simply finding you are getting no where with your "training". If something like breathing can be so confused...something "everybody" knows--what about other concepts you may never have heard about?