Breathing

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:01 pm

My breathing has always been so bad. I find I cant get a very long way on one breath. Is there any breathing exercises I can do? Im mostly concerned because tehres this one phrase in Carmen Fantasy that youre not supposed to breathe in - but I always end up having to. If I dont the entire last bar is basically deadness. Im sure it doesnt help that its warmer in the rooms today, but I still need more support even if it was freezing.

Any help anyone can give?

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:15 pm

There are two possibilities for extending how far you can go on a breath. You can either cut back on how much air you're using so you can get further, which may mean changing dynamics in the short term, or changing how you play to conserve air and maintain a full tank in the long term. You can also try expanding your lung capacity so that you can hold more air in stock. Swimming is a great way to go about this. Otherwise one of the easiest fixes is to focus on filling your lungs all the way before problematic phrases. Take small breaths to top off in the preceding phrases, rather than trying to refill entirely just before the long phrases (this can be useful for any piece where breathing is difficult).

musical_Kat · Post by **musical_Kat** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:01 pm

Definitely try to work on your phrasing in the short term but as flutepicc said....for the long term cardio is the best way to be sure that you will have the lung capacity to push through the long phrases without having to break it up with a breath. Swimming is great for expanding the lungs but also running or jogging, jumping rope, and core strengthening exercises like Pilates are also wonderful. Good luck!

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:10 pm

Just to get your opinions, since my audition is less then a month away, for the very short term, do you think one breath out of place will make or break my chances at all? A long term of mine is to greatly improve my breathing, but speaking just about the next 3 weeks basically. What do you think?

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:53 pm

Claiken wrote:Just to get your opinions, since my audition is less then a month away, for the very short term, do you think one breath out of place will make or break my chances at all? A long term of mine is to greatly improve my breathing, but speaking just about the next 3 weeks basically. What do you think?

It shouldn't be a huge deal assuming you play everything well. But it doesn't really need to happen that way either....3 weeks should be plenty of time to learn to overcome that particular challenge. It may be as simple as changing where you're breathing before the long phrase, or perhaps there's a spot to breathe that you haven't noticed yet that can help you get through it.

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:23 pm

Thats the thing, in this phrase I breathe at the last acceptable spot, then its 5 bars before I can breathe again. Which doesnt sound like alot, but it is.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:36 pm

Claiken wrote:Thats the thing, in this phrase I breathe at the last acceptable spot, then its 5 bars before I can breathe again. Which doesnt sound like alot, but it is.

Which passage exactly are you talking about? I've played the Carmen Fantasie before, and I don't seem to remember any insurmountable breathing problems.

remnantpark · Post by **remnantpark** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:56 pm

Claiken wrote:My breathing has always been so bad. I find I cant get a very long way on one breath. Is there any breathing exercises I can do? Im mostly concerned because tehres this one phrase in Carmen Fantasy that youre not supposed to breathe in - but I always end up having to. If I dont the entire last bar is basically deadness. Im sure it doesnt help that its warmer in the rooms today, but I still need more support even if it was freezing.

Any help anyone can give?

This may sound really simple and I know I might not be much of a help but what helped me to increase breathing is to spend some of my practice time just playing long notes. I take a clock and look at the really small hands that moves in seconds or set the metronome to 60. Then, I would play like the first-octave A and hold it as long as I can. I play notes from all different ranges and measure how long I held the notes. Then, I'd set a goal for myself to try breathing for x amount of seconds by x amount of days/weeks. Since I am still like an early intermediate, I probably only increase about 1~2 seconds a week. However, I've noticed that breathing became easier in my repertoire anyways...

I don't know. It may sound ridiculous but spending time just doing long notes really helped for me.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:12 pm

remnantpark wrote:
Claiken wrote:My breathing has always been so bad. I find I cant get a very long way on one breath. Is there any breathing exercises I can do? Im mostly concerned because tehres this one phrase in Carmen Fantasy that youre not supposed to breathe in - but I always end up having to. If I dont the entire last bar is basically deadness. Im sure it doesnt help that its warmer in the rooms today, but I still need more support even if it was freezing.

Any help anyone can give?
This may sound really simple and I know I might not be much of a help but what helped me to increase breathing is to spend some of my practice time just playing long notes. I take a clock and look at the really small hands that moves in seconds or set the metronome to 60. Then, I would play like the first-octave A and hold it as long as I can. I play notes from all different ranges and measure how long I held the notes. Then, I'd set a goal for myself to try breathing for x amount of seconds by x amount of days/weeks. Since I am still like an early intermediate, I probably only increase about 1~2 seconds a week. However, I've noticed that breathing became easier in my repertoire anyways...

I don't know. It may sound ridiculous but spending time just doing long notes really helped for me.

That is actually quite helpful if you do it right. But make sure that you do it on different notes in different registers as well so that you dont end up with a really longwinded register and a different very short breathy register.

Sentinel · Post by **Sentinel** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:49 pm

Hello All,

I've just registered to this flute forum, and I've been learning to play the flute for only two weeks. I have just started at the age of 29 and I live in Eastern Europe. I have a personal teacher.

I have already read most of the topics on this forum, and I wondered maybe you can advise me on the following problem.

I am practicing my tone with the easiest notes on the flute, and my teacher said the other day that my tone is "shivering" and that's not good. So I am practising to have a "balanced" airflow, but it is not improving and now I don't know how to move on.

I'm not sure about what can cause this shivering sound. I suspect that the airflow is not balanced, but why? And what can I do about it?
Do you have a thought?

Thanks very much in advance!!

P.S: Sorry for my English, it's not the best, I know

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:16 pm

Sentinel wrote:my teacher said the other day that my tone is "shivering"

One possibility is that you might be nervous playing for your teacher. Do you sound the same when playing for your teacher as when you play alone? It might be a nervous quiver in the lip muscles...

Another possibility is that since you have only been playing for two weeks, your lip muscles are simply getting overworked and tired. This can also cause the lip muscles to quiver and result in the sound you describe. How long are you practicing each day?

For both of these, the answer is probably just to keep practicing so that you strengthen the lip muscles and gain better control of them. Don't do too much at first. At your level you should probably limit yourself to less than an hour a day. Even then, take a short break every 20 minutes to let you lip muscles relax a bit. As you gain more experience and the muscles get stronger, you can increase that, but do it gradually.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:10 pm

Your English is actually rather good. I wouldnt have noticed anything significant if you hadn't mentioned it.

In addition to fluttiegurl's comments, make sure you are using a nice steady airstream. Dont make the airstream "quiver"/ "shake"/ "shiver". Just a nice solid airstream that isnt bumpy. Dont try to do vibrato yet [sometimes beginning players try to sound like professional singers/violinists and it results in a bumpy "shivering", "goat-like" vibrato].

So, let your embouchure strengthen, and keep a nice steady airstream.

Welcome to the forum!

Sentinel · Post by **Sentinel** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:40 am

One possibility is that you might be nervous playing for your teacher.

Yes, she also mentioned this, but I hear this also when I'm playing alone. I usually practice only half an hour each day. Maybe you're right and it's my embouchure muscles, but I do feel that it is connected to breathing.

I'll keep on practising

[/quote]

Sentinel · Post by **Sentinel** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:51 am

Your English is actually rather good. I wouldnt have noticed anything significant if you hadn't mentioned it.

Thanks, so I guess I should not have said anything about that:)

Thanks for your comments.
Of course I'm not trying to do vibrato, I'm not on that level yet

So I'm not doing this "shaking" deliberately, I guess I have to practise to blow out air in a more balanced way.
I'll get back to the forum with the results

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:26 am

Sentinel wrote:I guess I have to practise to blow out air in a more balanced way.

Try a few of these sites for some breathing tips. The first two links are videos that might help you.

Sir James Galway Masterclass - Breathing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulKmP5ZVQus
Nina Perlove on Active Breathing for flute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Kyg0FXXD0

http://www.jennifercluff.com/breathe.htm
http://www.geocities.com/flutepower55/breathing.html

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