I spent a great deal of my initial college years unlearning years of improper breathing activity. We would spend hours analysing, studying, and practicing this most fundamental human activities. While I am sure that I have reverted to my evil breathing ways many of the techniques I learned to develop proper breathing I still use to help control various instances of performance anxiety I might occaisionally face. Nothing like some deep breathing to help you prepare for an important presentation. Just make sure you do it in private!

The following are some notes taken from a Arnold Jacobs masterclass back in August of 1990. Some interesting commentary and I have linked to a .pdf file containing breathing exercises to "help develop efficiency,coordination and flexibility in your breathing."

"My approach to music is expressed as Song and Wind. This is very important to communicate a musical message to the audience."

"This approach is one of simplicity as the structure and function of the human being is very complex, but we function in a simple manner. When we bring it to the art form it becomes very simple."

"Song, to me, involves about 85 percent of the intellectual concentration of playing an instrument, based on what you want the audience to hear."

"You cannot get anywhere without wind. If you think of a car, the wheels will not turn without an energy source—the engine. Brass players must have a source of energy, as there must be a vibrating column of air for the instrument to amplify and resonate. The musical engine is the vibration of the lips. However, the lips cannot vibrate without wind."

"When we combine Song and Wind, the musical message, song, is the principal element comprising 85 percent of the consciousness. The remaining 15 percent is the application of the breath, wind, to fuel the vibration of the lips."

We must consider development of an individual as product of all experiences. In music today, too much emphasis is on instrumental skills and not enough on musicality.

Find what thoughts bring success? Simplicity, not complexity of knowledge provides the precise physical control needed to perform. Get mind off of research and allow mind to hand motor functions to lower brainstem. Find an order to thought processes for all direct musical development.

Be a story teller in sound. Express emotion in music. Play to feel better.

Divisions of the brain that are used for music making are simple. Learn to stay out of the body's way for direct music making. What the brain hears determines the body's response, not what the body feels.

"Psychology of inhalation"

• Visualize the air as wind; move wind out and in
• Breathe to expand, not expand to breathe -- Body expansion is the result not the cause of moving wind.
• For specific development, alter stimulus to alter behavior.
• Use less pressure but use more flow

Slow breath exercise to develop sense of fullness and emptiness. Work for six months to two years. "Help" the breath in and out with an accompanying arm motion. Be patient with yourself.

• Breathe in for 5 counts (or 7 if you have a large capacity) Blow out for 5 counts (or 7)
• Breathe in for 3 counts Blow out for 3 counts
• Breathe in for 1 count Blow out for 1 count
• Breathe in -- fill up one half at a time
• Blow out -- release one half at a time
• Breathe in -- fill up one third at a time
• Blow out -- release one third at a time
• Breathe in -- fill up one fifth at a time
• Blow out -- release one fifth at a time
• Breathe in, hold breath -- but without closure in the airway
• "Be surprised," notice the sensation of the expanded torso
• Breathe in and blow out. Notice the sound of moving air movement (use a paper strip as a visual aid) the feeling of moving air at lips
• In 5/4 time: Blow out for counts 1 through 4
• Breathe in on count 5
• In 4/4 time: Blow out for 3 1/2 counts
• Breathe for 1/2 count
• In 8/8 time: Blow out on beats 1 through 7
• Breathe in on count 8
• In the meters above, with different tempi
• Always observe a large quantity of air passing the lips.

Arnold Jacobs, legendary tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1944-1988, is recognized as both a master performer and teacher of wind instruments.

Link: Arnold Jacobs Breathing Exercises by Don Little

Categorized: Art , Music and Sound

Tagged: , Music and Sound