You’ve got to plan ahead for long trips.
We’re working on a very slow ballad in Shades of Blue, requiring breath support for phrases that always feel like they’re going one beat longer than you expect.
The thing that makes the difference is planning like you’re going on a long trip.
If I going to drive to Chicago tomorrow, I would start by filling the tank with gas. Now, it doesn’t take a full tank of gas to get to Chicago – so why not just put enough gas in for the trip? Because I don’t know when I’m going to take a side trip, add an extra stop, or extend my journey in rush hour Chicago traffic. And I certainly wouldn’t want to run out of gas on the highway in downtown Chicago. So I fill up the tank.
We singers often don’t follow that philosophy when preparing to sing. We get enough air into our lungs to sing the phrase, we think. But anything unexpected comes along, and we’re in trouble.
Instead, fill up, any chance you get! Take deep, filling breaths. If you only use part of your lungs for the phrase, great! It means you’ve got a head start for the next phrase.
Fill the whole tank. Then you’ll never run out.