When you are singing, you want to try to inhale through both your nose and mouth. If you only inhale through your nose, you will struggle to intake enough air. Similarly, if you only breathe through your mouth, you will put strain on your vocal cords by drying them out.
Air exhaled through the nose also reabsorbs moisture more efficiently than mouth breathing. This reduces the chance of dehydration. Mouth breathing, meanwhile, can dry out the mouth and throat, which can irritate the throat when singing.
Negative Effects of Mouth Breathing
When you mouth breath, the throat and vocal cords can get dry and irritated.
Silent Breath
In fact, you will want to use this kind of breathing most often when you sing (and when you record). The breath comes in quickly through your mouth (and nose) and goes deep into your lungs with very little sound. Your ribcage is open and expands easily as the air pours in.
Huge Breaths
Lie on your back somewhere comfortable and take some diaphragm breaths. Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, hold for 8 and exhale for 8 seconds again. Try to get as much air into your lungs using your diaphragm, as possible.
While characteristic dizziness during a voice lesson could be associated with hyper-oxygenation, it is possible dizziness is caused by changes in blood pressure created when singing. “Dizziness is your body's way of telling you that something isn't right.
True nasality in singing is when the singer is driving all of the sound into the nose, which is rare in singing. Quite often, nasal resonance is caused by singing with the larynx a little too high, so more sound waves end up in the nasal tract.
It's common for inexperienced singers to use the nose or throat too much. Singing through your nose won't cause the vocal damage that singing on your throat will. But it doesn't sound as good, will limit you as an artist and may result in throat singing also.
If your cold is in your sinuses (i.e you just feel "stuffed up") and not in your lungs it means your vocal chords are probably healthy enough to sing. If you start getting a bad cough and are getting hoarse it's best to rest your voice and if at all possible cancel your show.
Yes, but still many singers have to be reminded of opening the mouths properly and it is a thing they consciously have to think about. If you open your mouth properly (meaning – wide but not exaggerated) your sound will have more volume, it will get warmer and richer because of more room for overtones.
Singing enhances lung function
The way singing requires you to breathe makes you do just that, increasing your lung capacity as well as engaging the muscles around the ribcage.
Lung capacity exercises
Here is an exercise to do at home: Breathe in for as many counts as you can manage, hold for two, then breathe out for as many counts as you can manage. Hold for two, then repeat. If you do this regularly, along with your singing practice, you should see an increase in the count you can manage.
A weak diaphragm leads to shallow breathing which results in shortness of breath during singing.
If you are inhaling with a shallow “high breath” (where you try to fill your upper lungs by raising your chest and shoulders) you might not take in enough air for what you are about to sing. Or most of the air will be quickly expelled as your ribcage collapses when you begin to sing.
Be sure to breathe sufficiently when singing a song. If you run out of the air you'll lose oxygen and crave a yawn. Learn how to take snatched breaths between phrases so you stay fired up. If you feel a yawn coming on, lower the soft palate and close your mouth a little.
5. As you start to sing, (with your stomach out and ribs expanded) - engage your abdominal wall, just a tiny bit, contract those muscles in your stomach. By that I mean, you should have a bit of the feeling you get when you do a sit-up or flex your abs.
You may also be able to hear if you're singing on your throat. The sound will be tinny, pinched, or harsh. So listen closely to your recordings.