This article was originally written in Turkish and has been translated into English with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The translation may contain errors; the original Turkish version is the authoritative text.
The quality of one’s speech truly is a reflection of one’s personality. So what must we do to speak well, so that the person we are speaking to can understand every letter of what we say?
Our country is one where various dialects are spoken and where the language has generally been influenced by Arabic and Persian. Good Turkish has long been said to be Istanbul Turkish. Speaking well, both in our country and in the world, depends on using our body well.
The essential element of using our body is using our lips and our breath very well.
Breathing begins when a newborn baby, just out of its mother’s womb, meets the world, and it continues until death.
When doctors hold a newborn by its feet, turn it upside down and pat its bottom, the child begins to cry. At that moment, with its cry, the child meets the world and, taking a proper breath, begins a kind of song. The baby is breathing from the right place and singing its song. Its voice never becomes hoarse until it tires. What is this correct breath? It is the breath we take by filling with air the diaphragm area, located between the stomach and the intestines, and because it is the kind of breathing that uses this area we call it diaphragmatic breathing. Are there other kinds of breathing? Yes. Just as people make a number of mistakes in life as they grow older, they also find themselves breathing incorrectly (breaths taken using the upper chest, breaths taken using the chest, so-called mixed breaths taken using all parts of the body and so on). Incorrect breathing not only makes good speaking and singing difficult; recent research shows that it even has negative effects on our health.
As for how we can find and practise diaphragmatic breathing: teachers generally make learning and teaching this kind of breathing seem very difficult. In fact it is not that difficult.
Have you ever paid attention to someone sleeping next to you, especially when they sleep on their back? In what position are they? The diaphragm area, that is, the area between the intestines and the stomach, keeps rising and falling, doesn’t it? That person is breathing from the right place. If you place a cushion on the diaphragm area while they sleep, the cushion keeps rising and falling. This is one of the best ways of seeing diaphragmatic breathing.
We need to use this breathing in everyday life too. How should we breathe in order to fill our diaphragm with air? Only through the nose? Only through the mouth? Or through both? If we breathe only through the mouth, in cold weather this causes problems such as tonsillitis, laryngitis and pharyngitis, together with hoarseness, and prevents us from feeling at ease when speaking and singing. Breathing only through the nose wastes time, especially for singers (thirty-second and sixty-fourth note values), and causes difficulties for people with nasal infections. So the most suitable way of breathing is what we call mixed breathing: breathing through both the mouth and the nose.
I mentioned above that the breath we take while sleeping is the ideal breath. So how should we apply this breath, which we call diaphragmatic breathing, in everyday life?
We singing teachers first teach our students who are beginning voice training how to breathe. In the first lessons I usually have the student lie on their back, on three or four chairs placed side by side if we are in a classroom, or on a chaise longue if I am somewhere suitable, and for a few lessons I suggest they wear close-fitting clothes so that they can see their diaphragm clearly. I have them breathe in as in the sleeping position, then hold their breath, and then let it out with a “tsss…” sound. I place weights on their diaphragm so that it is easy to observe. While lying on their back, I have them do these exercises against the clock, first for 15 seconds, then 20, 25, 30 and so on, building up as far as they can, up to one minute. When the student has fully mastered this lying on their back, I take them by the hand, help them up, let them rest a little and then ask them to do the same movements standing. When the student stands up, they at first struggle to do these movements and falter; so we go over the subject again by showing them the diaphragm area, and have them observe the diaphragm rising and falling under their close-fitting clothes. After they have completed the observation by placing a hand on the diaphragm area (on their own waist) and on the teacher’s waist, I have them repeat against the clock the same exercises we did lying down, this time standing balanced on both feet (with the body’s weight distributed equally on both feet). The exercises should be done with a “tsss…” sound; at the end of each exercise there should be no breath left in the diaphragm, and as the time span grows longer, the strength of the “tsss…” breath released through the mouth should be reduced so that the breath lasts for the whole time span.
Diaphragmatic breathing, which in the past was taught only to wind instrument, opera and theatre students in conservatories, has been shown by recent scientific research to have very positive effects on human health as well. People who use diaphragmatic breathing do not easily catch flu and similar illnesses, and they find a stress-free environment in their working life. Learning diaphragmatic breathing gives people a better quality of life. PLEASE TRY TO LEARN THIS WAY OF BREATHING TOO, FOR A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.