As the mother of two children gifted musically, and often needing to take them to various lessons, or support them in their musical activities, I am often struck at the parallels between singing technique and instrument specific technique.

You might think that it’s obvious the connection between singing and playing a brass or wind instrument as all these instruments are driven by breath. Therefore breathing is fundamental to success. However, I was reminded of that, watching Mike Lovatt the high-wire trumpet legend giving a masterclass today.

Mike encouraged students to sing their lines, in the way he wanted them to express the sound on their instrument, to feel more of a connection to the emotional intention of the music. He did so himself, indicating to a young trumpeter how to access a better inter-oral position by changing the vowel, which meant his tongue was in a higher position for a higher note.

The singing also was to help with the fluency of the line. I drum into my students that legato singing is a must and that sounds which stop and start are not only much more tiring on the voice, but also breath-wasting. Hearing even a tiny gap between sounds disturbs the line, expression, and emotional intent. Unfortunately lack of legato is a very difficult thing to hear as you sing yourself as the actual sound source and it typically takes students years to really understand what is required to produce that line, referred to humorously by Mr Lovatt as the ‘conveyor belt in a sushi bar, which carries on round and round, whether there are 2 or 10 dishes riding it’. Personally I refer to legato as a washing line, where the pegs are the consonants. You cannot remove the line from the pegs as they cannot exist without it – in the same way, the legato must not be broken by consonants. I think our choices of metaphor clearly show who has the more glamorous life!

Mike also mentioned the Valsava, basically a closed throat caused by a forceful exhalation, which can happen as result of too much tension in the lips, stopping the flow of air whilst trying to play high notes. Singers experience this kind of tension too, when ‘squeezing’ the throat rather than allowing the cords to stretch easily and sending too much air which triggers the natural constriction response. The idea of going up was coupled with the idea of thinking downwards, a strategy often employed by teachers to help singers to engage their abdominal support muscles.

Posture was also touched upon, the angle and height of the music stand, the elevation of the instrument. All very important issues for the aspiring singer who pokes their head forward or forgets that a long back of the neck and crown to the ceiling is important not just to the way they look, but also to the freedom of their voice.