Proper Breathing

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:16 am

Hi everyone,

I just started playing my flute again after 5 years! I was surprised to find I could still play at about the same level (advanced beginner I guess).

I'd like to get some input on proper breathing. I've read that you should always breath in through your nose, but then I've also read that doing that encourages "forced chest" breathing, so should not be practised by less experienced players. I understand you are supposed to breath from your diaphram.

Can anyone clarify this?

Flute_star3 · Post by **Flute_star3** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:23 pm

Wow five years! I hope it goes well with you.

Although I am not an expert, I have always been told to breath in through your mouth, its much more efficient if you do it right: with your throat very open and relaxed so you don't get any "girl in a horror movie" gasping sounds. Also if you inhale through your nose, than it would be very likely for your jaw to tense up, especially in difficult spots in music. But when you inhale through your mouth (assuming that you open your mouth instead of just sucking air through your lips), you can refresh your embouchure, so you don't get tense. As I said before, I'm still a student, so please correct me if I'm wrong..

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:07 pm

Thanks Flute-star3. I thought maybe I'd developed a bad habit (breathing though my mouth). It's always worked fine for me so I guess I'll continue doing it.

It's funny, when I first tried to play again a few weeks ago, some of the notes weren't sounding, and I though maybe I'd lost it. Then as I was playing, the mid section of keys sort of caved it. So I took it in to be repaired and it was just a screw that had come loose. I was joking that there was something wrong with the flute because it wouldn't play properly, and it turned out it WAS the flute. What's even more strange is, I seem to be actually playing better now than I used to.

I need to go back to basics on scales though as I always tended to play a lot by ear, so I'm starting to practise those now. Don't ask me how I manage to play something by ear when I can't play the scale properly. I just seem to remember where to put my fingers by where I am in the tune I'm playing. Better to do it properly though and practise scales and exercises.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:27 pm

Here is a video that a local flute professor put online. I have had attended one of her masterclasses, and they were very useful, so I highly recommend her videos online. I myself basically use her approach to breathing, but have modified it a little bit.

Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Kyg0FXXD0

She also has several other videos that are rather interesting.

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:29 pm

Breathing through the mouth is generally preferred. Breathing through the nose is something that should be used sparingly and for a specific reason. For example, if you needed a quick partial breath, but want to keep your embouchure in place, breathing through the nose might be an option.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:46 pm

Thanks for that link fluteguy. I just watched it. What she says seems to make sense, and certainly works for her. It does seem odd to push your stomach out before breathing in as in "diaphram" breathing. I'll watch her other videos later. They take a while to download on here.

pied_piper, I think you're right about only using nose breathing for a quick partial breath. It's impossible to take a lot of air in quickly through your nose.

Sentinel · Post by **Sentinel** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:59 am

Can flute playing lead to dry cough? I've been playing the flute for 3 months now, and I started coughing, and it seems to me that it is in connection with playing.

Could improper breathing be the cause?

Thanks

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:03 pm

Sentinel wrote:Can flute playing lead to dry cough? I've been playing the flute for 3 months now, and I started coughing, and it seems to me that it is in connection with playing.

Could improper breathing be the cause?

Thanks

I can't imagine how breathing would cause a cough, though if you'd probably be better off asking your doctor about this. Improper breathing generally means you're not storing as much as you could, are using too much as you exhale, etc. It's hard to breathe improperly....Ineffectively is probably a better term, but in any case, I can't see how playing would induce a cough.

brina · Post by **brina** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:56 am

coughing is defenetly not good. Flute usually helps cure some lung disease. Like asthma, or at least makes it a bit better.
Breathing is very important, because flute needs the most air of all instruments although it doesn't seem like. Flute is the only instrumnet where half of the air u blow isn't used to actually make a tone. U must breath thru your mouth but some air can also go thru your nose. And when u breath in your shoulders mustn't go up, your belly MUST go out! If you lean a bit forward, your air capacity grows.
sorry for my bad english...

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:31 pm

brina wrote: Breathing is very important, because flute needs the most air of all instruments although it doesn't seem like.

The flute actually doesn't require the most air. It's about equal with the tuba and other high air volume instruments. However, you're right that we have the highest percentage of wasted air.

U must breath thru your mouth but some air can also go thru your nose.

Unless you're circular breathing, or emptying your lungs of CO2 while maintaining a sound (and interesting skill I picked up a few years ago), your nose should not be venting any noticeable amount of air. It's possible to control this, and if you're "leaking" air in this manner, it would probably be best address it.

And when u breath in your shoulders mustn't go up, your belly MUST go out!

There's nothing really wrong with your shoulders going up, but it's very easy to overdo this, so most teachers advise against it entirely. If you watch an opera singer during an aria, when they breathe, their shoulders may come up slightly...This is because lifting the shoulders takes weight off the ribcage and allows your chest to expand more. Be careful that you have a very minimal rise in the shoulders, and there should be no problems.

brina · Post by **brina** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:57 pm

i didn't express well...i said that u can breath in thru your nose when u need to make a big breath in a short time. You might be doing it without knowing it. And sometimes it happens that u have to much air and u can breath it out thru your nose while playing.

chaos0008 · Post by **chaos0008** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:06 am

brina wrote:i didn't express well...i said that u can breath in thru your nose when u need to make a big breath in a short time. You might be doing it without knowing it. And sometimes it happens that u have to much air and u can breath it out thru your nose while playing.

Yup! i do the same thing too sometimes. When i have an extremely short time to breathe, i breathe through my mouth and nose for a larger amount of air. Sometimes with certain passages i need to clear out air for a clean breath of oxygen during the next breath, so i breathe out through my nose while playing.