Every Saturday from 11am to noon, I run Office Hours over on my Discord Server. On this Saturday in February we talked about alignment. Check out the transcript below.

You’ll find resources and a discussion to get you going on good alignment, i.e. posture, for singing. All comments are mine unless otherwise noted. Participant’s comments are in italic.

My Discord server is open to ALL singers. Here’s the link: https://discord.gg/XTWHcCu Join the discussion!

[11:01] Good morning, singers!

[11:06 AM] We'll get started with some resources on alignment today.

[11:08 AM] Alignment refers to posture, but sometimes our understanding of "posture" is bound up in various life experiences that may or may not be helpful.

[11:09 AM] For example, "good posture" is often associated with a rigid body. Rigidity is very problematic in singing

[11:09 AM] This is one reason why many singers prefer the term alignment

[11:10 AM] One thing that has been a struggle with online teaching this past year has been my inability to monitor my student's alignment

[11:10 AM] That's why I wanted to share some tools that you can work on at home to ensure that your alignment is tip top for singing!

[11:12 AM] Especially as we navigate adulthood, we develop poor postural habits. These are just a few examples. The red skeleton, in the image above, is the ideal posture.

[11:13 AM] One of the best ways to check your alignment is to stand sideways and have a friend take a picture of you. You could also use a tripod and your camera's timer.

[11:14 AM] An unbalanced alignment can cause all sorts of issues in your singing because everything in our body is connected.

[11:14 AM] The primary area to be affected is your breathing. However, when breathing is compromised other areas of your instrument will be taxed.

[11:15 AM] For example, if there isn't sufficient breath flow sometimes the laryngeal muscles will unduly contract which, if done excessively over time, can cause vocal cord hemorrhaging, nodes, and other dangerous conditions.

[11:19 AM] Do a quick check on your alignment sometime this week and make notes of where you can strengthen and straighten.

[11:20 AM] Here is a short exercise regimen designed to improve alignment:

[11:20 AM] It's only 4 minutes. Let's try it out.

[11:25 AM] These are good exercises. If you've finished the video take a few moments to try out the reps she suggests: the arm circles, elbow curls and ankle workout.

[11:31 AM] Working on strengthening your scapula and upper back muscles will help you to hold your alignment in a sturdy way

[11:32 AM] Similarly, strengthening your ankles is important to your alignment. When our legs don't distribute our weight evenly our hips become dysfunctional. Again, this would directly impact our breathing for singing.

[11:34 AM] I'm going to bookmark this YouTube video for later reference. I feel that my own alignment has gotten worse since I've been at home and in front of a computer so often.

[11:35] Let's work with this short body warm-up on YouTube. I like it because it's low impact and because it has a timer in the corner plus a video inset for what's coming up next.

[11:40 AM] Phew! that was fun! I got my heart beating a little faster and my breathing feels much more activated.

[11:41 AM] It's good to remember that singing is an athletic activity - much more so than any other instrument.

[11:42 AM] Treating our body as though it's doing athletic feats helps us to prepare for singing appropriately. Getting blood pumping, exercising the core, and loosening up our limbs are all important parts of vocal work outs.

[11:45 AM] Let's queue up one more warm up video.

[11:47 AM] Let's try this one together:

After we tried out some body warm-up videos together we sang a few vocal exercises and chatted about alignment. Join the next Office Hours on Discord to learn more about singing and/or check out the archived chats on my blog.