Axial skeleton: spine and ribcage bones
Internal intercostals: The muscles in between the ribs
Thorax: the section of the body from the base of neck to bottom of ribs.
What a chapter! I am personally very interested in the anatomy of the body and particularly how the diaphragm works and helps us as singers, so this was the chapter for me! In this chapter, McCoy says that many people misunderstand the diaphragm. There are many singers that think that the diaphragm is lower than it really is or that the lungs actually expand into the belly. I know I used to think those things. But the lungs are actually very high in the ribcage and the diaphragm simply flattens in order to let them expand. This causes all of our intestines and other guts in our stomach to get pushed down and out a little bit.
Internal intercostal muscles are in between the ribs and help us breath. When we exhale these muscles pull in and down. When teachers say to let the ribs stay expanded while singing a phrase they are referring to these muscles indirectly.
Something new I learned in this chapter is that our left lung is slightly smaller than the right to make room for the heart. Another thing I learned is that breath control and breath support are different things. Breath control refers to the efficiency of the air use through the vocal folds. Breath support refers to the air that through the function of the muscles of inhalation and exhalation get to the larynx.
I kind of already talked about how this knowledge applied to me in my own voice lessons but when I teach my own voice lessons I want to know enough about the muscles and function of the parts in the body that I can explain these things well to my future students so they won’t think their lungs are in their belly like I used to when I was younger! In my own singing I think this knowledge will help me because I will more fully understand what is happening in my body instead of just working with sensations.
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