Weeks 7-8 · technique · breath planning across phrase boundaries
Plan the breath. Carry the phrase. No mid-phrase gasp.
The rule
pass: two 6s phrases · no gasp ≥ 12 dB
Two phrase arcs separated by a planned breath — that’s the emerald pass shape. Each phrase carries on one breath, you breathe between them, then carry the next. The grey failure on the bottom is a single phrase fractured by an emergency gasp — a sudden +12 dB intake mid-line. We flag any RMS jump that big as a planning failure.
Hear it first
A planned phrase has a clean arc — onset, sustain, release, breath. A gasped phrase has a flinch mid-line where the singer ran out and grabbed for air. Once you hear the difference you can’t unhear it.
What’s happening. 6-second phrases are at the edge of an untrained singer’s breath capacity — exactly where planning starts to matter. An emergency gasp is the body taking back control: the diaphragm pulls air through an un-prepared throat, producing the characteristic +12+ dB spike on the next voiced note. We detect that spike as a 4-frame moving-average baseline jump.
Why two phrases. One phrase tests capacity (can you hold it?). Two tests planning (can you recover between?). The 1.5-second rest in the middle is intentionally short — long enough for a planned breath, too short to coast. If you blew everything on phrase one and gasp on phrase two, that’s a planning failure too.
Why this is the foundation. Every song has phrase boundaries. Two-phrase memory, verse-breath-plan, phrase-from-memory, and song-from-memory all assume you can carry a 6-second line. This is also where the silent-breath-hiss work pays off — if that wasn’t settled, you’ll gasp here.
Session ahead
5 trials · each: phrase 1 (6s) → 1.5s breath → phrase 2 (6s) · no gasp ≥ 12 dB · hit 4 to advance.