Appoggio: The Vocal Technique with Benefits to Body Health

If your body needs physical rejuvenation, I’m here to tell you that vocal lessons just may be the natural remedy you need! Let me explain. One of the primary skills that singers must adopt for healthy vocal production is how to have optimal breathing patterns in order to support their sounds. Aside from singing, many people take breathing for granted, not realizing that proper breath management promotes tremendous body health such as relaxation, the reduction of pain cycles, and even the lowering of blood pressure, which is why this primary singing technique is my go-to as a voice teacher—the Appoggio technique.

I learned this skill as a classical singer and quickly realized that it is a technique that should be crossed over in all forms of, well, just proper voice use. Appoggio means to lean, and for healthy singing, you actually lean on air! Yet it is the combined efforts of the abdominal muscles where the magic begins to occur. It does wonders for singers, but the major kicker—it can help everyone in terms of the reduction of muscle tension and headaches, and the improvement of physical performance. It even helps in digestive and bowel function. Yep!

You’ve heard it before: we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. But what if we could optimize this process to become more efficient in physical activities, even become better athletes? It sure is possible by way of the Appoggio technique, which encourages diaphragmatic, not chest, breaths during physical activities. In addition, this singing technique optimizes an exchange of O2 and CO2 in the lungs, resulting in a natural remedy to reduce muscle and headache tension.

Even bowel function improves!

To elaborate, the Appoggio technique’s activity initiates a movement of the diaphragm that actually kneads the intestines like an internal massage that aids digestive flow. And more, use of this technique also propels blood and lymphatic fluid up from the legs, meaning your disease-fighting white blood cells are on the go as well.

Who knew that using a singing technique could actually be medicinal for everyone’s physical health!

So, if you’re in need of a little boost in the aforementioned, singing lessons with the Appoggio technique has you covered! It is pluses across the board, so I encourage you to try it and bask in the benefits of singing!

By Cassandra Claude