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Greetings wise ones,

My time on piano taught me that one of the best forms of practice is to do things off instrument everyday. Get the mental imagery right and all else just kind of comes together. As I embark on my love affair with my Euphonium I'm trying to get the same things happening so I get the same results.

I've been deep in "The Art of Euphonium" and breathing is my sole purpose for the week.

The idea of breathing like a baby (or my cat) is great imagery. I particularly like the idea of breathing in like you are yawning. Quite funny really. You yawn it in, and then sort of yawn it out and push it up and in from the abs.

I've created a singing exercise to help me when my inexperienced chops can't hack it any more for the day. I'm interested in ideas other more experienced folks may have to help me refine the concept and build on my results.

My idea comes from Pavarotti doing "Nesum Dorma". That guy could take the paint off the walls at the back of La Scala. What fantastic support!

Let's try to do it as Art says, but use Luciano's bravado from his San Fran recording (80s?) as a musical aid.

Step 1 - breath in with stomach going out, sternum flat until the end of the breath. Rather, YAWN in. No blockage. Clear path from the mouth to the bottom of the lungs. Textbook Art.

Step 2 - Sing like you want to rip the roof off the car. Not just loud, but resonant, manly and strong. Long phrases. Vigor. "Be" Luciano in spirit.

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me ...

start to push in from the belt and then push up as the phrase goes on. Try to get his full phrases (which are .. long ..) and hold at the end. Keep the tone, resonance and volume up all the way through to the end. Try to get everything in the car to resonate with you (this one my teacher Glenn Call taught me). The Universe is just one big sounding board - find its resonant frequencies and work 'em.

Step 3 - repeat as you drive to and from everywhere. Have the kids in the back do the same. My five year old think's this is the best. My thirteen year old dies from shame. Oh well - can't make everyone happy!

When I do this for even a few minutes my abs hurt. If nothing else I'm building better abdominals!

Now .. I know I'm telling the pros out there stuff you know. My point is to get you thinking about off instrument drills you follow and then have you explain them to the rest of us!

All input welcome!

Colin.

That approach to respiration might work for a singer but, for a brass player it is just about exactly opposite to what should be done. By "pushing up" with the abdominal muscles and trying to maintain a "high chest" as a resonating chamber is introducing counterproductive tension and severely limiting your useable air capacity.

The idea of "singing" when playing a brass instrument applies to the end product NOT the mechanics.

Air is free - waste it! and Strength is our enemy: Weakness is our friend. I'll leave it to you to guess who said those things. By the way, he DID coach a number of top level vocalists who benefitted from those very ideas.

Hey Ken,

It may be my explanation. Art was quite specific in his book about not assuming that high chested posture and I really see why. It would tense the shoulders, neck, etc.

Having said that - he does say to think of it as lifting up with your diaphragm. "Pull up and in". He's not really talking about contracting the diaphragm itself as that would be a function of inhalation, right? Rather, he's discussing the contracting of his abs causing the triggering of the diaphragm.

This reminds me of the time when all 275 pounds of me stood on top of my teachers abdomen for a couple of minutes while he played very comfortably through some registers I didn't think existed and right down to the bottom of his range. He didn't break a sweat. If his abs were not contracted and extraordinarily developed he wouldn't have a lumbar spine right now.

I'm not really talking about singing here - I would do that quite differently. I've had voice training and you don't do it the way I've described.

Thanks,

Colin.

"Having said that - he does say to think of it as lifting up with your diaphragm. "Pull up and in". He's not really talking about contracting the diaphragm itself as that would be a function of inhalation, right? Rather, he's discussing the contracting of his abs causing the triggering of the diaphragm."

The diaphragm WORKS only in inspiration. You can not trigger it with your abs, you can NOT conciously control it. The diaphragm is controlled by subconscious thought processes. The only, indirect "command" you can give it is "I want to breathe in - the brain then knows what to tell the appropriate nerve channels which then trigger contraction in the diaphragm which lowers, causing a partial vacuum in the lungs which causes air to enter to achieve equialibrium of air pressures inside and outside the lungs. The abs are not for breathing - they will cause a decrease in available space for the lungs by forcing other internal organs to compress them a bit when you tighten. The pair of intercostal muscle systems are much more highly involved in the respiratory process. One set works for breathing in and the opposing set for breathing out.
Trying to control your respiratory musculature IS counterproductive as you are merely creating tension when and where there should be none.

Yes, as Jake used to demonstrate - the abdominal muscles CAN exert tremendous power, but they are NOT something to try to use for breathing unless you are desperate and trying to squeeze the absolute last bit of useable air from the lungs. Far better to breathe deeper, and more often and let your body do what it knows how to do than bring in extreme, artificial methods of using too little air.

Virtually right from birth your body KNOWS how to breathe. Try to interfere too much with its natural ways and you will eventually convince it to take away your ability to decide when and how much air you move in or out. Concentrate on the end result - not the mechanics - and you will get better results.

Too often players are concerned about exhalation, when they should focus on inhalation.

The body's equilibrium is almost empty, so IF you get that air in, it's GONNA come out. The out part is going to work itself out as long as you get as much in as you can. Inhalation is the key.

Dont worry about "efficient use of air". Waste it. The more air you use...and waste, the better player you will be.

Ken Herrick wrote: The diaphragm WORKS only in inspiration. You can not trigger it with your abs, you can NOT conciously control it. The diaphragm is controlled by subconscious thought processes. The only, indirect "command" you can give it is "I want to breathe in

Uh ... no.

1) The diaphragm "works" in both inspiration and expiration. Conscious, forced exhalations, such as when speaking, coughing, sighing, or spitting, are examples of the latter.

2) The diaphragm can be controlled BOTH voluntarily AND involuntarily. The autonomic contraction and elastic rebound of the diaphragm ("breathing reflex") is the primary example of involuntary control (retching, hiccoughing, and burping are other examples). Holding your breath (consciously resisting the contraction/rebound) is an example of voluntary control; other examples of voluntary control of the diaphragm include intentionally increasing or decreasing the rate at which you breath (breaths per minute), consciously regulating the speed of inhalation and exhalation, and consciously controlling the depth of inspiration/expiration.

Obviously, the diaphragm does not work in isolation from the abdominals, intercostals, and accessory muscles to respiration; and, obviously, you have more control over the abdominals and intercostals than the diaphragm; but neither changes the fact that the diaphragm works in both inspiration and expiration, and can be controlled voluntarily.

Let me tell ya something. PGYM's Anatomy ain't nefer gonna replace Gray's.

It's more accurate than anything else I've read here.

Ken Herrick wrote:Let me tell ya something. PGYM's Anatomy ain't nefer gonna replace Gray's.

Doesn't have to: these guys already have:

The primary motor area for voluntary diaphragmatic motion identified by high field MRI. Nakayama T, Fujii Y, Suzuki K, Kanazawa I, Nakada T. Journal of Neurology, 2004 Jun;251(6):730-5.

Activation of the human diaphragm during maximal static efforts. S C Gandevia and D K McKenzie. Journal of Physiology. 1985 October; 367: 45–56.

Rib cage distortion during voluntary and involuntary breathing acts. McCool FD, Loring SH, Mead J. Journal of Applied Physiology May 1, 1985 58:(5) 1703-1712.

Breathing is controlled independently by voluntary, emotional, and metabolically related pathways. Plum F. Archives of Neurology 1992 May;49(5):441.

Assessment of the voluntary activation of the diaphragm using cervical and cortical magnetic stimulation. T Similowski, A Duguet, C Straus, V Attali, D Boisteanu and JP Derenne. The European Respiratory Journal: official journal of the European Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology (1996) Volume: 9, Issue: 6, Pages: 1224-1231.

Videofluoroscopy of the Diaphragm During Voluntary and Reflex Cough in Humans, Stephens, Robert E. PhD; Addington, W. Robert DO; Miller, Stuart P. MD; Anderson, Jeffrey W. DO. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: May 2003 - Volume 82 - Issue 5 - p 384

Voluntary activation of the human diaphragm in health and disease. Sinderby C, Beck J, Spahija J, Weinberg J, Grassino A. Journal of Applied Physiology. 1998 Dec;85(6):2146-58.

Analysis of diaphragm movement during tidal breathing and during its activation while breath holding using MRI synchronized with spirometry. Kolar P, Neuwirth J, Sanda J, Suchanek V, Svata Z, Volejnik J, Pivec M. Physiological Research, 2009;58(3):383-92.

Breath-holding and its breakpoint. M. J. Parkes. Experimental Physiology. Volume 91, Issue 1, pages 1–15, January 2006.

Hemoptysis Provoked by Voluntary Diaphragmatic Contractions in Breath-Hold Divers. Esen Kıyan, MD, Samil Aktas, MD and Akın Savas Toklu, MD. Chest Journal. 2001 Dec;120(6):2098-100.

The voluntary drive to breathe is not decreased in hypercapnic patients with severe COPD. Topeli A, Laghi F, Tobin MJ. European Respiratory Journal. 2001 Jul;18(1):53-60.

Effect of hypercapnia on maximal voluntary ventilation and diaphragm fatigue in normal humans. Rafferty GF, Lou Harris M, Polkey MI, Greenough A, Moxham J. Am Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1999 Nov;160(5 Pt 1):1567-71.

Use of mouth pressure twitches induced by cervical magnetic stimulation to assess voluntary activation of the diaphragm. de Bruin PF, Watson RA, Khalil N, Pride NB. Eur Respir J. 1998 Sep;12(3):672-8.

Twitch potentiation following voluntary diaphragmatic contraction. Mador MJ, Magalang UJ, Kufel TJ. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1994 Mar;149(3 Pt 1):739-43.

The effect of voluntary diaphragmatic activation on back lifting. Wedin S, Leanderson R, Knutsson E. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. 1988;20(3):129-32.

Mechanics of the human diaphragm during voluntary contraction: statics. Goldman MD, Grassino A, Mead J, Sears TA. J Appl Physiol. 1978 Jun;44(6):829-39.

Mechanics of the human diaphragm during voluntary contraction: dynamics. Goldman MD, Grassino A, Mead J, Sears TA. J Appl Physiol. 1978 Jun;44(6):840-8.

Comparison of electromyogram activities of the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles in man during voluntary inspiration. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 1967;43:Suppl 31:191.

Voluntary control of the diaphragm in one subject. Stigol LC, Cuello AC. J Appl Physiol. 1966 Nov;21(6):1911-2.

I'm getting dizzy trying to think about all of this. Roger Bobo's video on breathing pretty much says it all and demonstrates it as well. Too much thinking can be the problem. When I was studying with a well-known East Coast player he put it very simply: breathe for total capacity (yeah I know the 80/20 rule).

The human body knows how to breathe. It does it quite well when we are unconscious. Just do the same thing but bigger and with the yawn feel (whisper the syllable "home" when you inhale) and it puts everything where it belongs. Don't worry so much about where it's going, just how much you are getting.

I gave a lesson to a young lady at Tubonium one year, and she had been apparently told that the air should push the stomach out. She was completely inhibiting the ability of the upper lobes of the lungs to fill with air. Once I convinced her to relax a bit and just breathe, her playing became more effortless and easier.

I have several rules that I live by in my own playing. The main one is "Breathe Big, Blow Big". The lesser known one is that "Most instruments play in major and minor scales. I play in the Richter scale".

Thinking just gets in the way of letting the body do what the body already knows how to do. Less thinking; more air.

Just my $0.02.

Roger