Fire Hose or Garden Hose?

FIRE HOSE OR GARDEN HOSE

One thing singers often fail to do is to set their mechanism fully before singing (remember: breathe through the vowel you are about to sing). Then they tend to anticipate the ends of phrases by relaxing before the cutoff. The end result is sort of a crescendo/decrescendo of singing space over the life of the phrase. This is akin to a fire hose - it is collapsed and flat until it fills with water, then it inflates. After the water has been turned off, it slowly deflates back to flat.

Singers should imagine their mechanism not as a fire hose, but as a garden hose. Garden hoses are flexible, but maintain a structured, round shape throughout. Garden hoses are round and open before the water shows up, while the water is flowing through, and after the water is turned off.

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Not only does this analogy reinforce preparation for attacks, but also how to handle cutoffs. Many singers will either trail away on the cutoff, or end the note with a glottal stop, cutting off the air with their vocal cords rather than through coordination with the breath.