• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Quick Vocal Tip: The Yawn Breath

Keven Smith · October 26, 2020

OOKING FOR A SPEEDY WAY to help your choir (or yourself) get into good placement for singing? One of the best ways I know of to prepare singers for phonation (basic sound production) is the yawn breath. I mentioned the yawn breath in my most recent article, but that probably wasn’t the first time. Nor will it be the last.

I’ve found that when running a rehearsal, it’s helpful to be able to combine several concepts in one short phrase. Once you’ve taught your choir what that phrase comprises, you can simply repeat it to remind them to do several things well at once. “Yawn breath” is just such a phrase. I teach it to students as young as four years old so that it will become ingrained as they advance.

The yawn breath is as simple as it sounds. You simply pretend you are beginning to yawn, and you take a deep breath into this space. It’s not about what you do so much as what you let happen in the process:

  1. Let your jaw drop. Don’t force it down. Ideally, the jaw will go down and back, but I generally don’t teach the “and back” part to my choir because I don’t want them to fixate on it. I’ll only mention it to a singer who seems to be jutting his jaw forward as he breathes.
  2. Let your tongue settle low in the mouth and throat. Again, don’t force it down. Consciously retracting the tongue into the throat will result in a distorted, almost comical sound. You may find it helpful to picture the whoosh of incoming air dissolving all the tension in your tongue.
  3. Let the soft palate rise. The soft palate is that spongy part of the roof of the mouth, right in front of the uvula (oh, how I’ve longed to work that word into an article). Don’t force it up to its maximum height; just be aware of how it naturally wants to rise a bit as you yawn.
  4. Make a sound in this relaxed, open space. Try singing a note on [a] or [o] in comfortable range. Be careful not to let any tension creep in between the end of the breath and the onset of sound.

Word of caution: It has been said that the yawn breath should actually be called the beginning-of-a-yawn breath. This is true. The goal here is not to stretch the mouth and throat open the way we do when we’re at the height of a yawn. Instead, we’re aiming to simulate the very first impulse of a yawn.

Another word of caution: Many books and articles condemn the concept of teaching a choir to sing as if they were yawning. I agree completely. Not only do we want to avoid holding the mouth or throat open in an unnatural, overly muscular way, but we also don’t want to force sound out the way we do when we’re trying to speak through a yawn.

In summary, I’ve found the yawn breath to be a very valuable rehearsal tool. Just be sure to explain it carefully so that it doesn’t result in distorted phonation.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: vocal technique Last Updated: October 27, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
7 June 2022 • FEEDBACK

From Chelan, Washington: “CCWatershed is a God-sent resource that I can’t function without! Such great work by the team to bring beauty back to our liturgy!” From Gainesville, Florida: “I am so appreciative of the work, of my brothers and sisters in music!” From Troutman, North Carolina: “Keep up the excellent work in service of the Liturgy!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“From six in the evening, his martyrdom had continued through the ghastly night until nine o’clock in the morning. After fifteen hours of torture rarely if ever surpassed in the bloody annals of the Iroquois, the soul of Gabriel Lalemant was freed from its charred and mutilated prison and summoned to join his comrade Jean de Brébeuf in the radiant splendor of God. March 17th, 1649, was the date; for Brébeuf it had been the sixteenth.”

— ‘Fr. John A. O’Brien, speaking of St. Gabriel Lalemant’

Recent Posts

  • “How Has Nobody Done This Before?” • Vol. 1
  • “Exceeded Every Expectation!” • Mr. O’Brien’s Review
  • “81 Photos” • Sacred Music Symposium 2022
  • Photograph • Dom André Mocquereau (d. 1930)
  • “I Found Myself Weeping, Almost In Disbelief…”

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.