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When I studied at Interlochen with Dr. Jerry Young, he used a medical device (incentive spirometer?) which consisted of a large bag connected to a tube with a volume measuring scale. As I recall (it was over 15 years ago), he used the device to show me what a full 5-6 liters "felt like" as an incentive to really fill up when taking fast breaths.

The balloon idea sounds interesting, but I've never seen a technique involving "feeling backpressure" on the exhale...intuitively, it sounds backward to everything I've experienced (free blowing always being stressed), but I'm open-minded to the concept. Of course, breathing the air back in from the balloon is dangerous if repeated several times...carbon dioxide isn't very healthy to breathe for extended periods, you know.

I've always found Arnold Jacobs' teaching on such matters to be the best...quit worrying about what your body is doing...just relax and breath. Thinking about the process inevitably leads to unwanted tension.

Blowing up a balloon, especially a small one, requires a lot of pressure, playing a tuba requires a lot of air. Rather than using a balloon, when I do a class, I bass out a plastic bag about 5 liters in capacity and have the students inhale and exhale into them. It is far less pressure!

Twist a balloon into a tuba?

Todd S. Malicoate wrote:I've always found Arnold Jacobs' teaching on such matters to be the best...quit worrying about what your body is doing...just relax and breath. Thinking about the process inevitably leads to unwanted tension.

There you go. In a nutshell. Breathing should help you blow up the balloons, like I do for my son's friends at Christmas and birthday parties, not the other way around.

If you gotta have something to help with breath capacity, over and above Jake's teaching on the subject, use the DVD and book of Sam's and Pat's Breathing Gym.

Hey, Joe: between the above post about the "seriousness" of this thread and your thread on Messianic Jews and Tuba Christmas, what's happening? We're worried about you, as you're even more irascible than usual this season. PM me.

brianf wrote:Blowing up a balloon, especially a small one, requires a lot of pressure, playing a tuba requires a lot of air. Rather than using a balloon, when I do a class, I bass out a plastic bag about 5 liters in capacity and have the students inhale and exhale into them. It is far less pressure!

This seems most logical to me.

Well, I'm curious how you measure the capacity of the bag; my guess would be that would be hard to eyeball and you could be off by a lot.

Like, to me a breadbag looks like about two liters, and of course the breadbag I'm thinking of might be a liter different in size than the one you're thinking of, because of the kind of bread I buy.

MA

MaryAnn wrote:Well, I'm curious how you measure the capacity of the bag; my guess would be that would be hard to eyeball and you could be off by a lot.

Like, to me a breadbag looks like about two liters, and of course the breadbag I'm thinking of might be a liter different in size than the one you're thinking of, because of the kind of bread I buy.

MA

Use a container that is air/water tight. measure how much water it holds and you have a rough estimate of how much air it holds.

http://www.metropolitanmedical.com/prod ... Rub_02.htm

These are not terribly expensive...the 5 liter bag is $16.25 plus shipping. A nice investment for a durable breathing bag with a rubber bushing on the end to attach a PVC pipe or something similar. These are very likely also available at your local medical supply store, or possibly less expensive elsewhere on the web.