What exactly is support?
The concept of support may be used to describe airflow and breath management, or it can mean working muscles in the body to assist work in the larynx (voice box); sometimes it means both. In my point of view, the goal of support is to engage the body in a way that puts no strain on the voice, not even in extreme vocal tasks situations.
Regardless of your singing style, having proper support is fundamental for ensuring a healthy voice production. Also, maintaining a supported singing gives you access to balanced tone production, longer notes, bigger range, more power and dynamic control, and it also helps you prevent hoarseness and strain.
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“Support means working against the natural urge of the diaphragm to release the air that has been inhaled. This is achieved by resisting its movement. During singing, the waist muscles and solar plexus are pushed outwards whilst the abdomen around the navel is gradually pulled in, in a constant and sustained manner, and the back muscles are tightened. The muscles in the loin try to pull the pelvis backwards, while the muscles in the abdomen try to pull the pelvis up under your body.
This battle created between the abdominal muscles and the muscles in the loin is a valuable and important part of the support. However, the support must happen in a sustained and continuous manner as though working against a resistance for as long as a sound is being produced. When the muscle contractions stop being sustained and continuous, for instance, if you cannot pull the abdomen around the navel inwards any further or push the muscles of the waist or solar plexus outwards any further, then there is usually no more support.
It is important to conserve your support energy so you do not waste it or use it at the wrong point in time. Do not use support energy before it is necessary. Save it for when the singing gets difficult, such as on high notes or at the end of a phrase. Support work is hard physical work so you should be in good physical condition.”
