Still Stuck After All Those Breathing Exercises?

Let’s Talk About Breath… and Why It’s Not Everything...

A new student came to me recently, looking a little frustrated.
He said, “I’ve been working on my breathing for so long, but my voice still feels stuck. I’ve been told to focus on my breath and do lots of breathing exercises, but it’s just not changing anything. Have I been breathing wrong all my life?”

Many people spend months (or even years) working on breathing exercises because they’ve been told that breath support is the key to great singing. But here’s what I explained to him:

While breath is absolutely essential to life and to voice, it’s only one part of the system that makes sound.
Your voice isn’t powered by breath alone. It’s a coordinated relationship between your airflow, the way your vocal folds come together, and how your vocal tract shapes and amplifies the sound.

When breath takes over without balance, it can actually hold you back. Too much air pressure can make the tone sound breathy or unstable. Ironically, using less breath often helps the vocal folds meet more efficiently, creating a fuller, clearer sound with less strain.

So if you’ve been doing endless breathing exercises and still feel stuck, it’s not that you’ve been “breathing wrong” all your life, you’ve just been focusing on one piece of the puzzle.

True vocal technique is about balance. Breath, vibration, and resonance each have their role, and when they work together, your voice feels free, strong, and effortless. That’s why it’s essential to train all the different muscles and structures involved in singing, not just your breathing.
Your voice deserves a complete approach that coordinates all the structures involved in making sound for strength, freedom, and clarity.