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I'm in somewhat the same boat as you are. I breathe about twice as many times as the other guys in my section (3 of us), and things work out well with stagger breathing. If there are other players with you, then I'd take some time and work out good stagger breathing spots. If you're alone, I'd take even MORE time to find good breathe spots. Taking a look at the score(s) for what you're playing might help, too.

I've been playing just "bands" for the past three and a half years, and have always heard things like "Don't breathe over bar lines" and "Breathe in the middle of long notes, not before or after". At my last lesson with my teacher, we went over some orchestral excerpts, and he helped me a lot with breathing where he basically told me to forget everything I was told by band directors when I'm playing in an orchestral context. Very helpful to me.

Just curious, James, what mouthpiece(s) are you using on your horns?

To help me with my breathing I take deep breaths in one count and out in one count as many times as possible without passing out. I'm not sure If this method will work for everyone, however, it works just fine for me.

I also breath in and out of a plastic tube device where I can change the resistance. That also works great. You could probably find something that serves the same purpose at Lowe's or Home Depot for very cheap.

Good Luck!

I think how often you breathe is less important than how and when you breathe. If you're using breaths as the commas, periods, and semi-colons of the musical language, and it works musically, there isn't any reason to worry about it.

The physical realities of playing such a high flow-rate instrument are such that trying to play a phrase like a trumpet player or a bassoon player will only lead to frustration. Find the places to breathe that make the most musical sense, and breathe there. Accept the physical limitations of vital capacity and turn them to your advantage by making what you're doing so musical that nobody cares when you took a breath.

I agree with this.I breathe often,especially in louder or lower passages.Learn to be quick and efficient.The actual sound of breathing can't really be heard in an ensemble setting-the sound of the music covers it up(of course the interruption of sound in long sustained passages will be noticed).The sound of a bad tone quality can be readily heard.Having said that,you should always reach for more efficient use of your capacity.Being able to take in more air and play longer phrases is certainly a desirable thing.I'm really getting a good breathing workout buzzing and playing along with The Brass Gym and 20 minute warm up.Breathing is good.I recommend it