Singing and the Pelvic Floor

Last night I enjoyed a fascinating dinner conversation with a tenor who performs with Andre Rieu. His interest in my pelvic floor work, lead him to about talk about his experiences both as a singer and teacher. He described how the strength of his resonance and projection comes from the base of his body, combined with perfect posture to gain maximum airflow into his lungs. As the muscles controlling the vocal cords are so small, he generates force from the base of his body (pelvic floor). Placido Domingo described how he sings from his sexual centre, generating a powerful force to project his mesmerizing voice, sparing strain on the vocal cords, allowing them to fine tune pitch and accurate tone.

My dinner companion teaches his students perfect posture, deep chest opening breathing plus techniques to connect with their pelvic muscle force, as part of learning advanced singing skills. Showing a deep knowledge of his body, and without using medical terms, he perfectly described the steps I use to teach pelvic floor awareness and exercise. Poor postural control, faulty breathing patterns and release of enforced abdominal tension all need to be addressed first to allow the pelvic floor muscles freedom to move , coordinate with other abdominal muscles and generate enough force to close pelvic sphincters, support internal organs and build up strong sexual sensation.