Breathing

[taytay05]

Do you know of any breathing exercises? I want to be able to play more measures without taking a breath.

[Nanohedron]

Do you know of any breathing exercises? I want to be able to play more measures without taking a breath.

Breathing exercises won't help all that greatly, I'm afraid. Developing a focused embouchure is key, and you should eventually be able to require little more air than you would use when speaking. This will extend your time between breaths. Just a tiny space between the center of the lips takes the airflow and concentrates it, just as when you put your thumb over the end of a free-flowing hose, turning the stream into a jet of concentrated power. Think breathing instead of blowing.

Take it from a smoker.

[artsohio]

Long tones with a focus on trying to conserve your breath.
Marcel Moyse's "De la Sonorite" is about tone but it has a lot of long tone exercises with scheduled breaths. You can work on them, trying to expand the length you hold a tone by a metronome click or somesuch every couple of days.

[phcook]

And never forget: loud playing doesn't require a lot of air!

[Berti66]

[quote=
Marcel Moyse's "De la Sonorite" is about tone but it has a lot of long tone exercises with scheduled breaths. You can work on them, trying to expand the length you hold a tone by a metronome click or somesuch every couple of days.[/quote]

and where do I find this information? sounds worth a try.
berti

[Doug_Tipple]

As an exercise to help develop breath control, I recommend learning to play the digeridoo. You can make an inexpensive one out of PVC pipe from instructions online. You will find that, just like the Irish flute, it is possible to sustain a strong drone note with just a little air. It is also easy, once you learn how, to breath in through the nose while you continue to sustain the note with the air in your mouth cavity (circular breathing). With this technique it is possible to play an unbroken note for an extended period (15 minutes, for example). Does anyone know whether the technique of circular breathing is ever use for the flute?

Now do some Yogic fire-breathing, which are rapid inhalations and exhalations through the nose. Start out with no more than 15 seconds of this practice. Among other benefits, this practice is good to develop greater strength in the diaphragm, so that you can really pulse the notes on the flute.

Dr. Andrew Weil, a nationally known medical doctor teaching at the University of Arizona, recommends this breathing practice. Breathe in through the nose for a count of four, hold the breath for a count of seven, exhale through the mouth for a count of eight, and continue this sequence. I use a small electronic metronome with an audible beep to pace myself. You might want to start at 60 beats per minute and gradually lower the metronome setting as you get more comfortable with this practice. I am not sure whether this practice will do anything for your flute playing or not, but it just might lower your high blood pressure, which is problem I have when I play the flute very much.

Now put the above practices all together. First, do 15 seconds of fire-breathing through the nose. Next, do 15 repetitions of the 4-7-8 breathing practice. And finally, play a five minute unbroken drone note on the dig. At this point you can either pass out or relax and breathe normally. Now, it is back to practice on the Irish flute.

[jim stone]

swim laps, and so on

[rh]

Does anyone know whether the technique of circular breathing is ever use for the flute?

Robert Dick is a real pioneer of extended techniques (including circular breathing) for the flute. He's definitely NOT ITM but well worth checking out if you're a fluter of any persuasion.

Larry Krantz has a number of his articles
http://larrykrantz.com/rdick.htm

and RD's own page
http://www.robertdick.net/
opens with a flash player clip of him doing some circular breathing

I saw him about 20 years or so ago and he was truly mindblowing.

[Doug_Tipple]

Rh, thanks for the information about Robert Dick and circular breathing. His website is quite interesting, with videos and streaming audio clips of many of his recordings. I see that he has a new glissando headjoint for sale for $2000. It has a lever that rests against the side of his face. He can press it by moving his head sideways.

He mentions that it is more difficult to do circular breathing on the flute than on other wind instruments, mainly because the flute requires a lower pressure, higher volume stream of air than other instruments. I worked for weeks to do circular breathing with ease on the digeridoo, and I don’t think that circular breathing on the flute is going to come very quickly either. I did find, however, that with the dig, once I got the hang of it, it was easy after that, much like riding a bicycle.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention another important breathing exercise that I use all the time. Play a tape or CD of your favorite singer (Luciano Pavarotti, for example), and sing along with the music. Don’t forget to put the dog out first.

[Karina]

My aunt told me that she used to have a flute teacher that would make her do sit-ups while playing her flute. Sounds a little hard core to me, but she said that it made a dramatic difference in her breathing. Nevertheless, I have to wonder how one would ever manage to keep their embouchure in the process of doing such an activity. I haven't tried it. Maybe it would work, she certainly seemed to think so.

[Eivind]

My aunt told me that she used to have a flute teacher that would make her do sit-ups while playing her flute. Sounds a little hard core to me, but she said that it made a dramatic difference in her breathing. Nevertheless, I have to wonder how one would ever manage to keep their embouchure in the process of doing such an activity. I haven't tried it. Maybe it would work, she certainly seemed to think so.

That's probably just about getting used to deep breathing ('from the stomach').
I.e. to get a feeling with pushing air from/with the abdominal region.

[jim stone]

Join a marching band.

[kkrell]

Do you know of any breathing exercises? I want to be able to play more measures without taking a breath.

A link from my own WORLDTRAD resource website:

http://www.hsu.edu/faculty/bucknej/Reso ... Jacobs.htm


Kevin Krell

[Ro3b]

Ditto on the Moyse and Robert Dick. Work on your tone. As you develop a tone that's strong and powerful and precise, you'll waste less air, so you'll be able to play longer phrases.

But also be aware that you can take tons of breaths as long as you do them in the right places. This is an area where studying the masters can teach you a lot. I have a recording somewhere of Peter Horan playing, and he's taking a breath every two bars, regular as clockwork. He sounds perfect. On the other end of the spectrum, Emer Mayock often plays very short phrases -- sometimes two or three beats! -- and she sounds perfect too.

I've got some info on this on my website if you're interested. Sorry about the wretched popups.

[bradhurley]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention another important breathing exercise that I use all the time. Play a tape or CD of your favorite singer (Luciano Pavarotti, for example), and sing along with the music. Don’t forget to put the dog out first.

In her prime, Ella Fitzgerald had amazing breath control and phrasing. There are lots of reasons to listen to Ella, but this is definitely one of them.