7/21/2019 Burns Breathing.pdf

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WOODWND NOTES

THE IMPORTANCE OF

BREAIHING

BYMICHAEL URNS

The

itleof

hisarticle eemsobvious. of breathing,"f

you

will. I ike o have

stu-

Everybody nows hat breathing s

mpor-

dents

ocate

one

part

of their diaphragm

tant;we stopbreathing nd

we

die

What by

placing

handon he'spongy'feeling

lwish to discuss s the

fundamental e- areasjustbelowtheVoftherib-cage.

hi s

cessity f

good

breathing

nd support or is he rontof the diaphragm. hen have

playing

wind nstrument.

them simulatea

short,

oud

cough, or

Whenever see a new studentforthe

laugh. I will demonstratet first

and then

first time I like to ask them some ques- they must mitateme.

tionsabout support;

what s t, how does Theyshouldsee and eel he muscle

one do it and

why,what s his diaphragm

jump

outwardsalong

with

the sound. I

thing, etc.

Prettyoften

find hat he

stu-

then ike o have hem

play

a

note

on their

dents only

have the vaguest notions of instrument hat only requiresone hand f

what it is all about. Granted,

t can

be

possible G

on

the

sax,

ow

C on he clari-

pretty

darn difficult

o explain,but a lot of net,middle

C on

he

bassoon, tc.). have

these kids really

have no idea. them

place

heir

free hand back on the

In my opinion

his needs mmediaie diaphragm,

ushing

n

slightly, nd feel

addressing. believe hat support

s the what it

does

when

they

play

the note.

foundation f all

wind

playing

nd here- Theyshould eel he

diaphragm

ushing

fore one of the most

important hings o steadily ut

againstthe

and. f hey

don't,

teach.

We tend to concentratemore on then

workwith

hem until heycan. After

the other

physical

attributes:

ingerings, doing hisa ittle he

student an

eelwhen

embouchure, andposition, tc.,and not thediaphragm s nuseevenwithouthav-

necessarily

pend

ime eaching tudents ing a hand

pushing

against t,so hey

are

how to breath

properly.

Don't

get

me free o

play

notes hat equire

oth hands.

wrong, hese other attributesare all

very A hidden

danger

urks

at this

point,

important nd must be taughtwell and oneof heolhermostcommon

reathing

closely

monitored,

ut et'smakesure hat

problems

hat have

encountered.When

breathings not neglectednthe

process.

the

student

s

pushing

with their

dia-

Itendtorelatethefollowingpersonal

phragm

heir

entirebody tenses up to

story o a

lot

of thesestudents:

When become like

a caric ature of Arnold

was n high

school,

my

band and

orches- Schwarzenegge r hen he was

Mr. Uni-

tra

conductors,and my bassoon

eacher verse.This ension

particularly

ffects he

would ask me i f lwas using my dia- throatandjaw,c losingthemofs othatthe

phragm,

nd

supporting.

wouldnod my air does not

get

through

properly.

Th e

headand say

"yes

sir/ma'am"

when n act student s working

o hard o support

and

I reallydidn't know what t was or how to push and ense theirdiaphragmmuscle

use

t. I knew

hat therewas this hing thatthey nadvertentlystranglethesound

called a diaphragmsomewhere n my with he ension hey

produce

n he rest

torso,

and that I

was

supposed o do oftheirbody.

something ith t,but I didn't eally now

As I said, his seems o be

particu-

what or how. Telling his true story often larly common, and

a

solution s rather

gets

a

student

o admit hat hey eel

he

hard

to teach. In essence he

player

same way; that really hey don't know needstosimultaneouslybeasrelax edas

what support s.

This hen leads

o an

possiblefromtheuppertorso,shoulders,

explanation

f the breathing

process,

he and neck

up,

while

correctly si ng he

dia-

muscles nvolved, tc.,often

with

some

phragm

n the athleticmanner

already

dramatic

esults n

the student's

one.

described. havebeenworking

o find a

So, what S this diaphragm? t is a

good

way o teach

his

phenomena

or

a

muscleattached o the bottom of our rib long imewithvarious

egrees

f success.

cagewhich s used n he breathing

ro-

| used o tell students o im agine heir

cess.Everyone asoneanduses t day- body is

schizophrenic; l ike

Arnold

in

and day-outwhile hey breath. Essen- Schwarzenegge r

n the bottom half

and

tially he muscle

contacts nd

pulls

down- super-relaxed

n he op . Or, would

have

wards

when we breath n, and expands them

magine hat hey were

cloned

and

and

pushes

upwardswhenwe

breathout. that one clonewas

ensed and the

other

The way hat

we use his muscle or wind relaxed,

hena magician

omesalong

and

playing

compared o normal

breathing s saws hem both in

half and

puts

the re-

akin o the way

a marathon unner uses laxed

op on the tensed

bottom.

their leg muscles

as opposed to some Both

of these had

some successes,

non-athlete

ustwalking.

Weall

havethe but not

enough. What

am doing now

same ype

of equipment,but we have o which

seems o work more

consistently

use he

diaphragm

n

a

highly

specialized is o

concentratemostly

on the relaxation

and ntensiveway. We

become

athletes

aspect.

I

have even worked

to change

78 NORTH AROLINA USIC DUCATOR/ovember 996

MICHAEL

BURNS

EDITOB

the anguage hat use whiledescribing

the

process.

I

never

use

the word

"ten-

sion"anymore,hat s something hat am

trying o avoid nducing n the student,

instead

have he student hinkof

"exoan-

sion." I make

sure

irst

ol all hat

he

stu-

dent s breathingdeeply. I

point

out that

when fi l l ing

a bucket of sand the sand

goes

to the

bottom and

fills

up

towards

the top. Likewise,a

glass

of water fills

from the bottom to the too. But what if

you

are blowingup a balloon? Even f

you

standwith he balloondangling o-

wards

he

floor

he air does not

all o the

bottom

and

fill rom there

up,

it fills rom

the closest

point

and

expands

outwards.

Our ungsare ike he balloon. We can

justhavea litt le ir n hem and twillonly

be

in

the op of the ungs. I

get

he stu-

dent hen o imagine

hat hey are

il l ing

their ungs ike hey

are

pouring

a

glass

of

water.

Draw he air all the way to the

bottom and fill upwards o the top. This

usually

gives

hem a larger

quantity

of air

to work with. Next, I

have them take a

deeo breathand hold t for

a

while o feel

how fully expanded heir lungs

and

ri b

cageare. t s hissame eeling

f expan-

sion hat I want hem to

emulate

he en-

tire ime hat hey

areblowing nto he n-

slrument. f hey

do this correctly hey

will

start o producea moreopen, supported

sound

with

ess ension.

I hem'coach'

hemsomewhat

hile

they

play.

Encouraging

hem o

"support,

support,

tayopen,

support,

tayopen,"

etc. They will tend

to fall back

into heir

old habitsof eithernot

supporting

every-

thing

s relaxed)

r supporting

with en-

sion n

the restof the body

(everything

s

tense)and will need

your

encouragement

to keep

he balanceof supportand relax-

ation. Eventuallyt wil l become he

ne w

habit

and

they will

be able

to monitor

themselves.

It akessomeeffort o go through his

process

with

studentsbut the

results

are

well worth t. Remember hat hese ech-

niques

an be

aught n

group

situations

as

well

as the one on one

private

esson

withsome

success.Oncea student tarts

to

play

with the combinationof support

and relaxationt makes he

otherelements

of

playing

end o fall nto

place

moreeas-

ily.

The student s encouragedbecause

they

sound better, nd, afterall the initial

learning

eriod

s

over,

t

s actually asier

for them

to

play.

Theseare he wind in-

strumenlsafterall.