Body Alignment
We have been talking the last several weeks about the importance of singing with a FREE TONE and trying to understand some of the things that get in the way of a relaxed, open throat and thus a tone that is free from muscular interference and is therefore a FREE TONE.
What we are really after is called PRIMARY CONTROL. Primary control is the inherent and intrinsic mechanism for balance and support in the body. It assures that uprightness will be supported and fluid. PRIMARY CONTROL depends on the preservation or the recovery of a dynamic relationship between the head and the spine in movement or in stillness.
Most of the time, most of us impose a pattern of tenseness throughout the body that compromises the PRIMARY CONTROL. That pattern of tenseness is called DOWNWARD PULL.
DOWNWARD PULL is the pattern of tension in the whole body that begins with habitual tension in the neck. The eyes accommodate the chronic backward drag of the head by shifting in the orbit and they are chronically partially lidded. The jaw loses mobility and juts FOREWORD in opening. The tongue bunches and the throat tightens. The vertebrae of the neck are jammed together, putting pressure on the nerves and blood vessels, creating a susceptibility to tension headaches. Breathing is impaired, vital capacity decreased, rib mobility decrease, and the movement of breathing becomes disorganized. The spine loses range as well as its ability to lengthen and sequence in movement. Pressure is put on internal organs. The arm structure is distorted. The shoulder blades are pulling together as the back narrows, and there is also caving in of the chest, dragging the collar bones down and in other words we narrow front and back. The upper arm is torque outward, rotation is comprised at the elbow, there is retraction across the wrist and the hands tense. Meanwhile the whole back shortens and narrows. The lumbar area is shortened and forced forward or back. The gluteals shorten, forcing the hips joints forward in space. The pelvic floor is tightened uncomfortably upward. The thighs torque outward, putting pressure on the knees and causing the muscles of the lower leg to tighten, hardening the area between the tibia and the fibula. The lower leg is pulled off the perpendicular at the arch, forcing weight onto the heal, or in extreme cases, onto the ball of the foot. The foot torque, the heel pulling to the inside and front of the foot twisting outward, often sufficiently so that the reflexes that give us a sense of spring in the step are lost. Finally, toes lose mobility.
No one is really sure, other than physical disability, why we pull down. Some of the reasons given are imitation of parents or teachers, fearfulness, attempting to reduce sensation or emotion, a reaction to pain, a sense of worthlessness or defeat, a mechanism for staying where one doesn't want to be, or a means to prevent violence. It may be that humans habituate submissive posturing. Whatever the reason, it is deadly to singers, dancers, actors, and athletes.
