Spotlight Seminars > Breath Support Bootcamp

Breath Support Bootcamp 2025

A six-week intensive experience for singers who want to understand breath support clearly, coordinate it effectively, and finally feel in control of their breath while singing.

If you’re a singer who’s been around the block a few times, you’ve probably heard it all when it comes to breath support. And chances are, at least some of the advice you’ve received from one teacher has completely contradicted the advice you got from another!

• “Push down and out.”

• “Pull up and in.”

• “Breathe in the front.”

• “No, the back.”

• “Don’t think about your breath at all—just sing!”

You may have tried belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, or rib breathing (are they even different?). You may have been told to “hold the ribs open,” or that breath will “take care of itself.”

And still…

• You run out of breath too quickly.

• High notes feel effortful.

• Tension creeps into your neck, jaw, or larynx.

• And breathing for singing feels more like guesswork than coordination.

What You’ll Learn

Breath Support Bootcamp is a six-week intensive designed to give you a clear, applicable understanding of how breath support actually works—not just in theory, but in your singing.

Led by Dr. Julia Nielsen, a specialist in both voice science and historical vocal pedagogy, this course distills the technical training she provides to her professional students and makes it accessible, actionable, and directly relevant to your vocal practice.

Over the course of this series, you’ll learn:

• WHAT breath support actually is:
  A clear, functional definition that goes beyond metaphors.

• HOW skilled singers coordinate it:
  Specific ways to optimize inhalation, onset, and airflow throughout a phrase—sometimes called appoggio—and how those choices affect everything from tone clarity to vocal stamina.

• WHERE YOU START, based on your current habits:
  Breath support isn’t one-size-fits-all. You’ll learn how to identify your own tendencies and apply the concepts and corrective strategies that make the most sense for your voice and your current coordination.

By the end of the program, you’ll have a deeply informed understanding of breath support—and a set of tools to apply it with more precision, less tension, and greater confidence in your singing.

What’s Included

• Four 90-minute live Zoom sessions
  We’ll meet every other Saturday: June 28, July 12, July 26, and August 9. Each session includes a structured presentation, live discussion, breath-focused vocal exercises, and time for Q&A.

• Video replays you can work through at your own pace
  Can’t make it live? No problem. All sessions are recorded and available for replay through October 31, 2025 (Pacific Time).

• Vocal workouts in every session
  Each meeting includes at least 20 minutes of guided vocal exercises to help you apply breath coordination concepts directly to your singing.

• Four on-demand practice videos
  You’ll receive a new 12–15 minute workout video after each live session, so you can continue reinforcing key concepts between meetings. (Recommended 2–3 times per week.)

• An in-depth digital workbook
  You’ll receive an 80-page PDF workbook packed with clear explanations, anatomical insights, historical and modern breathing exercises, and notated vocal exercises to support your ongoing development.

• OPTIONAL: A one-on-one 40-minute Zoom lesson with Dr. Julia
  This optional private lesson add-on ($95) gives you the opportunity to work one-on-one with Dr. Julia on your breath support coordination. Limited to the first 25 singers who request a lesson. Learn more here.

Inside the Curriculum

Over the course of six weeks, we’ll explore breath support from multiple angles—anatomical, historical, practical, and experiential. Each topic is designed to help you strengthen your coordination and apply what you learn directly to your singing.

• Breathing Anatomy and Physiology
  What’s actually happening in the body when you breathe to sing? Learn which muscles are involved, which you can control directly, and how they interact during inhalation and exhalation.

• Common Breath Support Myths
  We’ll unpack the most widespread myths about breath support—why they persist, what makes them misleading, and what useful kernel of truth each one contains.

• Inhalation
  What does a good inhalation for singing actually involve? We’ll discuss how inhalation strategies change depending on phrasing, tempo, vocal onset, and registration.

• Onset
  At the moment of the first note of a phrase, what needs to happen in the body? Learn how breath-related coordination at onset can shape tonal clarity and vocal ease.

• Appoggio
  This frequently misunderstood term refers to a whole-body coordination that regulates airflow during singing. We’ll define it in practical terms—and explore what it feels like when the system is balanced.

• Historical and Modern Breathing Exercises
  From the Farinelli Exercise to Carl Stough’s breath counting technique, you’ll try a variety of time-tested tools that develop awareness, pacing, and control.

• Vocal Exercises for Support
  Build your personal toolkit of notated vocal exercises designed to strengthen breath coordination, increase stamina, and reduce tension in the jaw, tongue, and larynx.

Breath Support Bootcamp is a series, and participants are registered for all four dates when they sign up.

Bootcamp Dates & Times:

Saturday, June 28 10:30am–12:00pm PT

Saturday, July 12 10:30am–12:00pm PT

Saturday, July 26 10:30am–12:00pm PT

Saturday, August 9 10:30am–12:00pm PT

Cost: $285 for the series (workbook and practice videos included)

Level: All levels

Video replays available! All participants are encouraged to attend all four live events. However, recordings of all meetings (and all practice videos) will be available to all registrants for three months after the final meeting, through October 31, 2025 (PT).