How to hold Longer Notes and stop yawning and stage fright?

Question:I know my question might sound confusing so allow me to explain?
I sing, and all my music teachers have told me I do it well. How ever When It comes time for me to hold out notes or raise my voice a couple of octives higher I either slant or I crack, but I always run out of breath. Does any one have any advice on how to not run out of breath. I also have a habit of yawning in songs, espicially when nervous or bored with the song, can you tell me how to supress that. I say nervous because I have big stage fright (only in front of people around my age though). I get scared that I will be too harshly judged (even by friends). Any help would be appriciated. Thanx!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I know my question might sound confusing so allow me to explain?
I sing, and all my music teachers have told me I do it well. How ever When It comes time for me to hold out notes or raise my voice a couple of octives higher I either slant or I crack, but I always run out of breath. Does any one have any advice on how to not run out of breath. I also have a habit of yawning in songs, espicially when nervous or bored with the song, can you tell me how to supress that. I say nervous because I have big stage fright (only in front of people around my age though). I get scared that I will be too harshly judged (even by friends). Any help would be appriciated. Thanx!

Seamus is dead on about the breathing exercises - they make a world of difference, and will affect the yawning, as well. All a yawn is is your body's attempt to get more oxygen, and it occurs neturally when you raise your soft palate, which you do when singing. The thing to do, then, is to make sure that you have adequate oxygen in your body at all times - breathe deeply, even when you're not singing, and make sure it's your stomach moving and not your chest.

As for the stage fright, that's easily enough fixed. My trick is to spend some time meditating in the days before a performance, and imagine the performance being a million times more stressful than it will be. (For example, if I'm going to be performing in a 100-seat black box, I imagine I'll be performing in front of a whole auditorium full of rude people.) Once you've mentally prepared yourself for the more stressful situation, the reality will be much easier to deal with.
The beautiful thing about being a performance artist is that the world is on your side - people want to be entertained, so unless you flat-out SUCK, they'll be willing to overlook minor flaws in favour of enjoying your performance.

For your breath, you need to do exercises that increase lung capacity. How much air you can take in has as much to do with breath control as does your Diaphragm control in releasing the air flow. When you try to hit the higher notes, make sure you are not trying to use more air flow than you were for the lower notes. As the amount of air flow over your vocal chords really does not need to change much at all to hit the higher ranges.

I can't help with the stage fright...as I too get nervous any time I have to play or sing a solo. It has just taken me time and experience to decrease the level of my nerves. Do what you can...especially since your nervousness will also affect your breath control and cause you to run out of breath faster.