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I'm a newbie on tuba, as some of you know. I took a lesson from a college tuba instructor recently and asked about my breathing. I'm 74 and have had some surgeries on my diaphragm that seem to have limited my lung capacity somewhat. I was taking breaths about every two measures in Tyrell #1 and the prof said not to worry about it and to take as many breaths as needed, as long as they were in logical places. He said this holds true in all tuba music in bands and orchestras because it takes our sound so long to propagate that the extra breaths aren't really noticeable.

Agree or disagree?

-royjohn
Tuba newbie

Agree. Clever Prof.
Musicality first and foremost.

Agree 100%. Breathe before you need to.

agree 100%. Sneak lots of little breaths where you can and make sure that you mark where not to take breaths due to the phrasing. The small breaths can be snuck between notes with almost no perception to the listeners

I think with situations like this the specific context is the really important. Generally speaking you always want to do what "sounds" best. If taking more breaths makes what you hear better, that's great! The preferred solution is going to depend on your own abilities, the room, the instrument you're playing, mouthpiece, lung capacity, and a huge number of external factors. I think that's the great thing about studying with someone - they can hear you in context and provide you real time feedback. Is the number of breaths you take important? Of course! At some point every aspect of music is important. That means we have to create a hierarchy to guide our decision making. I think the Prof. is on to something!

Happy trails!

Any breath that allows you to make your best sound is a good breath to take. Fight me.

[quote="David Zerkel" post_id=718491 time=1629843056 user_id=128]
Any breath that allows you to make your best sound is a good breath to take. Fight me.
[/quote]
What he said. Breathe when you can to make the best sound possible.

What Zerkel said.

What Zerkel said.

What Zerkel said.

What Zerkel said

As the Genie said to Aladdin, "I hear and I obey!"

Arnold Jacobs was a huge proponent if sub-phrasing (or note grouping) and taught his students to use these techniques in order to figure out musical places to breathe. In this interview with David Fedderly, he discusses how Mr. Jacobs taught him to think when figuring out the sub-phrases, some of which might only be one note long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4lyya6sQng