#10: Music First, Breathing Second

January 1, 2005 - Revised August 31, 2006

Proper breathing is derived from proper motivation. Proper motivation is your musical concept. Hence, the best breathing comes from a thorough understanding of music. You do not need to understand the breathing process to play a wind instrument.

When you are motivated to play a long phrase, play a loud phrase, spin a pinwheel, move the marker in a breathing device, yawn, swim under water, blow out a candle, blow up a beach ball, or if you are surprised, you will most likely take a good breath. A good breath will not come from studying breathing or by trying to manipulate your body. In fact, focusing on body mechanics can lead to 'paralysis by analysis,' standing in the way of your goal. That is why imagery is such a useful practice tool when you want your body to do something. If you become aware of a bad habit in your breathing such as excess noise or tightness, it can often be resolved by tapping into the motivational images in the first sentence of this paragraph. Any thought devoted to body mechanics should be a last resort, guided by a good teacher, and kept simple, for instance "open your mouth just a little wider when you breathe," or "take a quieter breath; you'll get more air."

To increase focus on the music, ask yourself "How would a cellist or pianist (someone who does not need a breath) play it?" or "How would I play it if I did not need to breathe?" Of course you are really asking "How does the music go?" That is the bottom line. If you want to know how the music "goes," you need to listen to recordings and live performances. Not only of the exact piece, but of music in the style of what you are preparing.

What does this have to do with breathing? When you understand music and focus on it instead of where and how you will breathe, you put the music in the foreground and the breath in the background, where it belongs. This point was driven home for me in grad school when I was working on a solo and I told my teacher "I don't know when to breathe" and he replied, "Breathe when you need air." Does this mean that I never plan any breaths? No, but since that lesson I plan breaths less often and I put the music first, allowing it to phrase over a quick breath if I need one. Those quick breaths get the most air when my body is relaxed, when I am not already so low on air that my abs are tense from squeezing it out, when I am in good physical shape, and when my mind is relaxed. Good posture also helps. Keep your head up by aiming at an eye level spot across the room. When sitting, sit tall. Everything above the pelvis should be the same as when standing.

Breath control during exhalation is another matter. My colleague in the Dayton Philharmonic asks students to picture a water tower with an open spicket near the bottom. When the tower is full, the stream shoots out of the spicket in a strong straight line. As the water level in the tower decreases, the stream weakens. The same is true for our lungs. If you sigh after a full breath the air escapes quickly, then with decreasing force. When I play the trombone with enough air, it is with a controled 'sigh,' which is my most relaxed state and helps me achieve my best tone. However, as the air in my lungs decreases like the water in the tower, I must support the sound. This is done by listening and reacting rather than by trying to analyze and manipulate the musculature in my thoracic cavity. I try to avoid the need to squeeze air out of the lungs below their state of relaxed equilibrium by inhaling completely enough and often enough. Squeezing or pushing (engaging the abdominal muscles) creates tension, making the next inhalation more difficult and sometimes causing the note after the breath to be late.

Arnold Jacobs' Concepts

• Breathe to expand; don’t expand to breathe. The body expands as a result of moving wind: it is not the cause;
• Think of your body like a bellows;
• You cannot directly control the diaphragm, so don’t think about it. Simply suck in air, feel it pass over the lips, and it will go to the right places;
• When you inhale you’re at a gas station; when you exhale you’re an artist;
• Keep the front abdominal wall weak, like jelly;
• Breathe in from the corners of the mouth, leaving the mouthpiece in place;
• It is not important to know how breathing actually occurs. Wind is just the fuel; think more of the song.

Other Tools, to Maximize Capacity and Engrain Good Habits

• Use breathing aids (see links below).
• Inhale through a drinking straw.
• Hold your forefinger in front of your lips in a "sh" pose, create an "O" shape in the lips, and inhale, creating a soft, hollow sound.
• Play a long tone on an empty bottle.
• Use a pinwheel, which can be taped to a music stand.
• Dangle a sheet of paper and blow the bottom of it away from the face.
• Buzz through a mouthpiece and leadpipe or slide tube (remove the outer slide) while aiming at a pinwheel. Many people lose air-flow when they buzz, and the pinwheel will show it. Keep it spinning. You can also show air-flow by buzzing your leadpipe and making bubbles in a sink full of water or by attaching your mouthpiece to an incentive spirometer and moving the ping-ping ball while buzzing. Anyone can move the ball when just blowing, but the key is to be able to do it while creating a buzz.
• Use a breathing bag, made by affixing a plastic bag with a rubber band to a plastic tube (the tube should be a little narrower and longer than a toilet paper tube...found in the plumbing section of most hardware stores). The bag is there to prevent hyperventilation, not to be filled. The benefit from the breathing bag comes from the tube keeping the teeth apart, tongue down, throat open, and large volume of air passing through.

More About Breathing

• Arnold Jacobs Master Classes
• Arnold Jacobs Videos & Articles - Use of Breathing Devices, Age/Height Capacity Charts, Voldyne, Breath Builder, Inspiron, Air Bags, Compound Gauge, Buzzing, Smoking, & more
• Belly-in or Belly-out? Effects of Inhalatory Behaviour and Lung Volume on Voice Function in Male Opera Singers
• Breathing and The Valsalva Maneuver
• Breathing Exercises
• The Breathing Gym - Video & book for sale
• Circular Breathing: When and How to Use It
• How do you develop good breath control?
• It's About Breathing: Playing Trombone with Asthma
• My Breathing Exercises
• A Thorough Breathing Routine
• Yoga Breathing and Stretching Links
• Search on "breathing" or related topics on any search engine for much more information
• My Book contains 22 breathing exercises and other information

A Brief Description of the Breathing Process from The Simon and Schuster Handbook of Anatomy and Physiology by Dr. James Bevan

The lungs occupy most of the thoracic cavity. They are elastic structures and it is this elasticity that helps with the movements of breathing. The main muscles for breathing are the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles, which run between the ribs. The accessory muscles that can sometimes be used are the shoulder, neck, and abdominal muscles. They are used to help regain breath after running, by resting the arms on a table. This rigidity of the arms allows the arm muscles to move the chest wall instead of the chest wall acting as the firm structure for arm movement to aid in breathing. During normal breathing the diaphragm does most of the work. It contracts, becoming flatter, and the rib cage expands. This increases the volume of the thorax and air is drawn down the trachea into the lungs—known as inspiration. Expiration takes place passively by the natural elasticity of the lung tissue and is effortless movement. More forceful active expiration can be produced by using the using the intercostal and abdominal muscles. The intercostal muscles can help the diaphragm with inspiration.