Once again, I am indulging in watching Wimbledon fortnight and I am struck how a different ‘sport technique’ like Tennis can correspond to Singing. I am watching Roger Federer and it is interesting to hear how he specialises in Balance exercises when training. Looking at his very balanced, elegant body on court everything seems to be functioning as a ‘whole’ and as singers we need to do that too.

It started me thinking about balance exercises for singing, whole body but also laryngeal balance and how I would go about that. I think filling the mouth with air (tennis) balls, and feeling the space and air pressure, in the pharyngeal cavity is good. We know that whole body balance exercising is good for any singer and singers as a rule do not think in terms of athleticism and yet the top performers do.

This is when dance technique, Feldenkreis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, can help tremendously. Opening and closing palms thinking in 3 dimensions, sagittal, vertical and horizontal. Difficult to put into words but any whole body work is vital.

Now back to the tennis, more on this later!