Courtney-McCoy-Ch. 3

 Summary:

In this chapter McCoy describes the muscles, tissues and skeletal structures involved in breathing. He starts with the spine and the ribs. The spine is made up of vertebrae and is shaped in a gentle /s/, and the lungs are connected flexibly to the spine and sternum. He then describe the lungs which cannot move of their own accord, but they adhere to the ribcage which expands or contracts the lungs when it is moved. The inspiratory and expiratory muscles move the ribcage. The inspiratory muscle is the diaphragm which contracts and flattens, increasing the space for the lungs to fill. There are six different sets of muscles that are important to exhalation, depending on the style of breathing you use for singing or other activities. 

Application:

It is important to know the various muscles, organs and skeletal structures used in breathing and how they function for many reasons. For one thing, it is important so that we can recognize posture or breathing issues in students (e.g. a swayed back, tight abdominal muscles) and think of ways to remedy them with a knowledge of the body's natural processes. It also shows that there are many possible ways to breath effectively for singing that use different bodily processes and muscles. It is important to understand how these things work, even if we don't explain to our students, so that we can understand why we have students do they things they do.