Jen Cluff ~ Breathing for Flutists
Canadian Flutist and Teacher
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Easier Flute Breathing:
New (2012) Teaching Easier Flute Breathing
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2005 General Questions
about breathing easily and quietly
____________________
I can sustain most notes for at
most eight seconds only. I seem to have to blow a lot of air to produce
sound, hence the air finishes off soon. Is there any way to determine if
I have a low lung volume?
Can you provide some pointers or information on suitable books to
improve breathing techniques, minimize airflow, embouchure shaping and
such? I am in my 40s.
Answer:
Low lung volume can be determined through an appointment with your
doctor for a respiratory test (if this is covered by your medical plan)
---- or , and this is way more fun.......you could simply blow up
plastic bags from the local grocery store (the kind you put fruit in),
attached to a straw with an elastic, and have contests with your flute
teacher. As you progress, you can attach the bag to the flute's
headjoint and watch how quickly it fills, or how slowly it fills as you
play a long note on the headjoint. The bag full of air allows you to
physically see and witness the amount of air your teacher takes in and
blows out while playing the flute, and the amount of air that YOU take
in and blow out while playing the flute. Chances are you are wasting
alot more air than the teacher, and it is pouring out into the
atmosphere instead of getting converted into a flute sound.
And, of course, it depends how serious you want to get about your 'lung
volume.' There are people just over five feet tall who play flute
beautifully, and obviously have child-sized lungs. Unless you're over 70
or have a lung disease, most people just need a flute teacher to help
them utilize their natural lung size well.
Most commonly, beginning flute
students show signs of being typical 'shallow' breathers. These folk
simply need to learn how to fill the BOTTOM of their lungs up first,
*before* filling up the middle and top of the lungs.
This can be learned from any book on Yoga, where a detailed exercise in
the "yoga deep breath" will help the self-teaching person.
The bottom of the lungs is "pear-shaped" and much larger in volume than the tops of the lungs, which are small, and high up under the collar bones. Learn to fill and use the bottom of the lungs, pushing the gut viscera out of the way as the large, lower lobes expand. The top of the lungs rarely even need to be referenced.
Breathing deeply for beginners:
What you do is to fill up the bottom 1/3rd of the lungs on a long, slow inhale. Feel your tummy area expand fully (as all the viscera get pushed outward to make room for the large, pear-shaped base of the lungs as they expand. Exhale slowly, and relax.
Next: Fill up the bottom 1/3rd of your lungs, and then consciously fill the middle third of the lungs. Feel your tummy and ribs expand fully outward in a 360 degree circle. Exhale slowly, and relax (rest longer if getting dizzy.)
Next: Fill up each third of the lungs in sequence; bottom 1/3rd, middle and top 1/3rd of the lungs, slowly filling up with air. It may help, if you are tense and out-of-shape, to slowly raise and open your arms in a "Waving, hello! I'm over here!!" gesture, on either side of your head as you slowly inhale:
\ o /
The above is a picture of your head with your arms up and opening your chest area. You can raise your arms very slowly as you inhale, and lower them as you exhale to stretch out the breathing apparatus.
Always proceed slowly and surely and be sure to fully exhale and relax comfortably before proceding (the rush of oxygen is refreshing but may take getting used to.)
Additionallly, you will zoom ahead in breath control if you practice the exercise called: "Blow from the belt." Way back in the old days, flute teachers would often effet this exercise by getting students to lie down on the floor with a flute case (or other weight) on their stomachs, and ask them to breathe in, making the book or flute case rise first (stomach fills with air before chest does) and then when exhaling, leaving the stomach extended as much as possible to create control over teh exhale.
But the "blowing from the belt trick" is much easier:
Pretend there's a belt done up two
notches too loose around your waist. When you breath in expand the
floating ribs (bottom three ribs) in a 360 degree circle, the stomach
and the back, in order to make the imaginary belt tight around your
stomach. When you then blow the air evenly out, as though blowing the
flute (you can use your flute embouchure) make a point of keeping the
stomach/back-lower ribs expanded outward as if you're trying to keep the
belt taut around your waist. (try with a real belt to see if you're
doing it right.) This really works!!! It allows the torso muscles to
control the speed at which the air is leaving the body through a light
muscular involvement of all the abdominal and intercostal muscles.
Speaking as a flute teacher, though:
Most novice flutists also need to learn not to let air out through their
nose while they're blowing and to make a more refined lip opening. Flute
students, under the direction of a good private teacher, slowly and
gradually learn to make the lip-hole (aperture) smaller and more
focused, thus saving tons of wasted air.
Over time, flute novices learn to learn to inhale so that they expand
the lower lungs first, expanding the three 'floating' ribs at the base
of the rib cage, taking in *more* air, and then gradually improving
their air capacity over time, taking in appropriate breaths for planned
"sentences" and metering it out more economically, so that almost NO air
is wasted.
This comes with focusing the tone by doing daily longtones, gradually
strengthening and becoming familiar with, the facial muscles around the
embouchure, and better sensing the lips so they become more poised and
reliable.
There are exercises on longtones and holding long notes during
crescendos and diminuendos in most flute method books, and most are as
simple as counting how long you can hold a longtone at various dynamics,
etc. Trevor Wye's "Practice Books for the Flute - Volume ONE, Tone" is a
great book to start out with for all ages.
And of course, your private flute teacher will help given more
specifics, where they can see you playing "live".
So for self-evaluation, until your next lesson, for example:
1. Do you sense your lip aperture is too big and too much air is wasted?
or:
2. Can you sense air leaking out your nose as you're blowing?
These are both so common that "lung capacity" becomes almost moot in my
honest opinioin.
Good breath control usually comes with time and helpful exercises done
in the prescence of a good flute teacher.
Best, Jen
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More questions: Why would my nose leak air 'unconsiously'?
When air leaks through the nose it
is usually a "survival technique" of the human body that's being asked
to do something novel such as breathe in very deeply for no apparent
"survival" reason (unlike a GOOD reason, like being chased by a cougar.)
As a flute novice, you've just filled up your lungs to capacity, and
your head starts to swim (dizzyness from either too much O2 or too much
CO2 is common at first) and as you blow a soft low note, the brain
triggers the nose to let off some of the air to "save" the brain from
this strange new mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
To combat this, don't feel you need to fill up over and over again,
making yourself dizzier and dizzier. Just slowly fill up once, and then
play a longtone, and then rest for a few seconds, and fill up again and
play a longtone.
Learn to feel as if you are gently blowing on a candle flame so that the
flame bends over, but doesn't go out.
The flame should stay bent over, as you gently exhale at it, for a full
lungful of air. Then rest and take in another deep, slow breath, and
bend the candle flame again for a full lungful.
After a few times you can sense your abdominal usage, your lip
precision, your mental focus, the relaxedness of your throat and face.
This is very like holding a long flute note.
Another way to stop the nose from leaking unconsciously is to gently
bend a piece of paper backwards for a full lungful of air.
Choose a very lightweight paper such as piece of tissue. Dangle it in
the air in front of your lips, and bend the hanging end of it back
gently for a full slow lungful. If you want to use a regular piece of
paper, simply hold it up so one small triangle of it is in front of your
lips and experiment with bending that triangle backwards.
If you try to bend the paper
SHARPLY backwards with your air, then your nose will definitely
close off by itself--as the brain now understands the reason for the big
lungful of air having been taken, and directs the outflow more purposely
through the mouth.
I've often used the example that follows:
"Sustained notes in flute playing are most similar to the idea of
blowing a ping-pong ball down a shiny, 70 foot dining room table, with
poise and control so that the ball goes right down the middle of the
table, all the way to the end, even when your lungs are half-full, keep
blowing that ball.
Loud playing can be akin to making the ball go faster.
Soft playing is akin to letting the ball go steadily no matter how far
away from you it gets."
_______________
Can you suggest any exercises to facilitate making the lip's
aperture smaller?
_______________
If working without a teacher, you may want to use a mirror to center the
lip aperture over the blow hole of the flute so that no air escapes the
fine edges of the blow hole.
Pictures of this abound in Mellersh/Soldan's
Illustrated Flute Playing
(excellent!) and for almost insane amounts of
rigourous detail, in Roger Mather's three volume bookset "The Art
of Playing the Flute".
I found all three volumes using "Interlibrary loan" at the public
library.
But when using the mirror and
self-observation, note that the aperture should only be big enough to
accurately hit the "sweet spot" on the far side of the flute's blowing
hole.
The "spot" is the exact center of the far side of the edge that splits
the airstream, and rewards you, when you find it, by giving the
clearest, most un-breathy tone quality. This is why we practice
'lontones''; It is in order to locate and remember where this "sweet
spot" is for each note on teh flute.
Also note:
For low notes the lip aperture will be long thin oval shape, like a
grain of rice lying on its side.
For high notes the aperture will be like the "o" in the center of a
cheerio.
_____________________
If I reduce the aperture, the low notes do not sound.
However, my notes are very breathy, hence I must be wasting air while
blowing notes - I just don't know where the problem is.
_________________
Low notes need you to remain fairly loose and experimental.
Look in the mirror.
When you "reduce" the aperture is it possible that could be doing
something extra like -over-squishing the lips into a useless too-kissy
shape? ( :>x)
- over-tightening or "squeezing" the lips so that they are no longer
cushiony and flexible?
- pulling the top lip down onto the bottom lip so that the air angle is
unuseable? The air is actually hampered?
- jutting your chin out or pulling your chin suddenly back?
-ducking your head down?
- twitching your lips off-center?
- missing the blow hole completely?
- making a pin-hole so small that you can't aim with it.?
None of these "extra" motions is needed.
Instead:
Reduce the lip aperture by 360 degrees, but very very loosely.
Center the aperture across from the center of the flute's blowing edge.
Get extra help from your private teacher.
And hey, here's an idea.
Coffe Stir-stik immiation
embouchure:
Next time you pass a coffee shop, go in and get a free brown
plastic stir-stik (for stirring coffees).
Place this between your lips so that the butt end of the stir stik is
hitting your front teeth, and hold it very gently with your fingers
experimenting with the circle of muscles that surround the mouth.
The lips themselves should remain as cushy and soft as they can. The
muscles AROUND the lips actually operate the lips themselves. Gradually
as you sense the slightly flat, slightly oval shape of the stir-stik...
()
(turn head to view this almond-shape sideways)
...sensitize and conform your
inner lip membrane to the slightly oval shape of the stir stik. The
inner lip membrane is the wet part of the inside, red, portion of your
lips.
The INNER lips need to be as long an aiming device as possible. You may
find that when you use this position on your flute, that you need to
roll the flute away from you slightly to get your normal tone, because
your inner lips are now lifted away slightly from the fronts of your
teeth.
A teacher could show you this in 10 minutes, so I highly advise a live
demonstration.
Then blow a longtone while finding the "sweet spot" and thinking that
you are blowing the piece of paper backwards against the music stand, or
that you are blowing a ping pong ball down a 70 foot table, very
gradually.
Hope all these crazy images work. Sometimes images help more than
anything. :>)
Jen Cluff July 2004
Breathing
Question II:
I am currently working
towards my grade 7 exam, and I am finding my biggest problem in
everything i play is my breathing. It has really let me down and I don't
seem to be improving as much as I could because of it. I cannot hold a
note longer than 20 seconds at mf, and in fast pieces like my Koehler
study, I cannot breathe fast enough and get enough air into my lungs to
play the next phrase. I also have trouble with high notes, as an
example, in an orchestra, we're playing
Adagio, by Tchaikovsky, in the last 11 bars they have really high long
phrases inclusing a LONG high Bflat, and I simply cannot hold the
phrases and the B flat note for that long, i run out of air and have to
breath between phrases, and it is really letting me down.
I really need some help, and any tips would be so great. I am a small
person, and my lung capacity isnt that great, but it must be possible
for me to breathe correctly without trouble? Please HELP anyone, this is
really holding me back!
W.
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Dear W.,
What does your teacher say about your breathing?
Knowing what they've already suggested would help us "see" what the
problem is.
Obviously,
there are some basic factors:
- You must have your posture checked to insure that your air-way is free
and unhindered, (good neck and head position will be helped greatly by
specifically asking about this from a good private flute teacher) and
that your ribcage is up and lifted free and open (to assist in rapid
inhalation.)
- You must breathe deeply enough that you fill the bottom of the lungs
to capacity (not just the upper lungs.)
- You must blow all the air through your mouth, and not allow the nose
to unconsciously open up and let air leak out nasally
- You must make a small , yet loose and poised, and eventually, a very
focused embouchure hole in your lips so that the air doesn't flow out
too quickly
- You must be able, through experimentation, to control the speed at
which the rib-cage collapses as the air leaves the body. If the lip
opening is so large that the air just WHOOSHES out, then doing daily
tone work will help. (Longtones). If the air wafts out too slowly and
too weakly, learning to play with a fuller sound, working toward a more
robust tone will help. For high register playing, often experiments with
"pushing down against the floor with the feet while blowing" can help
engage muscles below the lungs to aid more control. Posture and daily
practice can both make a huge differencte.Ask your private teacher for
help with the specifics of learning how to control the amount of air
you'll need to use for sustaining a singing sound. It is almost
impossible to teach in words as the lung effort, the embouchure poise,
the volume, intensity and the quality of sound cannot be easily learned
without live demonstration or daily experimentation.
- You must find the "sweet spot" on
the mouthpiece to aim for, so that
no air is wasted by missing the perfect place for the best sound to be
created
- You must avoid using up all your air, so that your rib cage drops or
you feel 'collapsed' at the end of playing. You want to have the
rib-cage raised and ready for the next inhale. If you let yourself get
completely out of air, it will take too long to fill the torso up with
air again, so learn to breathe before you feel all panicky and
out-of-breath.
- You must be able stay poised and
ready at the end of blowing so that your lungs can fill up again
quickly, and with no counter-productive tension. Your teacher will have
shorter breath-length exercises for you to do in order to get you to
sense any tension while holding longer and longer phrases of music.
- You must play longtones until you can control your air stream by
hearing the sound of a well-placed column of air aimed at the "sweetspot"
of the headjoint.
- You may want to learn to crescendo through longtones to gain control
over the abdominal muscles that assist in long passages.
Get your teacher's help in these areas, and let us know what you think
it is that's causing the problem.
Best,
Jen Cluff
What does it mean to take a breathe with a open throat? What does it mean to breathe from the back of your throat?
When I take a breath I consistently gasp. It's like an asthmatic sound almost but not as bad.
Also, I have a bad habit of breathing through my nose, not from the diaphragm. My teacher told me, I need to work on taking breathes as quietly as possible. She demonstrated and gave exercises. She said, "I'm still trying to hard, relax, relax everything, relax the throat, I'm constricting the air when I take a breathe getting ready to play".
Answer: On William Bennett's website there's a great interview that, for me, holds the KEY to breathing quickly and quietly, and filling your lower lungs easily. See: http://www.wibb.co.uk
Quote:
William Bennett said that during his conversation with singer, Janet Baker she said:
'Another thing I do when I sing is try to bounce the sound off the soft palate'. And I said, 'What's that?', and she said, 'Oh that's the bit at the back of your throat that feels cold when you breathe in'. She taught me how to breathe! If you take in a breath that strikes the air cold on your throat, the apparatus of your stomach works without thinking about it. 'Don't think about the diaphragm, it thinks for itself!'. Taste the air as it goes in and cools the throat, without making any noise, and you have breathed well. People have terrible trouble with breathing because they think about the stomach. People also have terrible trouble because they hold themselves so badly, of which I'm also guilty, but at least I'm fighting it!' ------------end quote
Jen continues: Do you catch the bit about the soft pallet and the trigger response that it seems to have to easier breathing?
I was taught to expand the lower 1/3 of the lungs first, then next 1/3, and finally the top third (without tensing the shoulders or raising them.) Then we experimented with YAWNING while breathing in, for awhile, to teach the throat to go really wide and open. Then to say "Ho" backwards while breathing in to make the air go in quickly.
However the above description manages to surpass and surplant all of these instructions. Works like a charm. Give it a go and see for yourself.
______________________________________________
Since I was re-reading "Body Mapping for Flutists" last couple of nights (see below for more on this fab book):
As they've discovered with Alexander Technique, tense and noisy breathers usually have a posture where they polk their chin forwards, retract the back of the neck like a turtle going into his shell, and have pushed their chin quite far forward.
This head angle is from a combination of desk-work-tension, computer work, reading for years, working under high stress from regular life etc. The head is tilted back and the jaw hinge is therefore in a tense place, and can't open easily and effortlessly.
Once the person becomes aware of how to balance their head and release the tension in the back of the neck (see any Alexander book for pictures, or go for several lessons) their breathing noise disappears.
Just adding this in case your teacher doesn't know about this weird "jaw and head tension" factor in all this.
If this might be the case with you, write back and I'll dig out an old post about "QUICK" Alexander Tech. for doing while reading the computer.
Jen :>)
_________________
Alexander Technique suggestions for flutists:
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R. wrote: > I have a real question too...I'm in about 8 classes/lessons that require "perfect posture". You all know what I mean-straight back-lifted chin that you need to get all the room for the air.
Anyway-my backs been getting kinda on the sore side and all the basic stretches I know don't really help all that much...any ideas?
Dear R,
I liked the ideas of strengthening the stomach muscles, Tai Chi, and Yoga that other listers gave. But don't forget about the book called "The Physical Flute" and the famous posture system called: 'Alexander Technique' for musicians!!!! It will not only help your posture, your holding of the musical instruments you're learning, but will also make incredible improvements to your breathing@@
Here's the simplest version I know of Alexander Technique for flutists:
The true center of your balance and good posture (according to Mr. Alexander) is a spot right on top of your spine: where your skull is attached to your topmost vertebrae.
This spot is actually "between your ears, and behind your nose" and can be located with your "feeling senses" by gently nodding "Yes".
When you nod Yes, your skull is sliding back and forth over the topmost vertebrae of your spine.
Stop and locate this point of balance. (try nodding and feel for the sliding point between your ears at the very center of your head.)
Now that you've located it, put a helium bubble on that sliding point and allow your whole head to feel buoyant and upwardly rising. Feel it lead the stretch as it rises higher and higher.
When your head rises freely upwards in this way, your spine follows as if it's being hung from a string.
If you just *can't* feel this center point in your head, try imagining a string is holding up the crown of your head from the ceiling and lifting it up and away from your body.
Imagine tieing helium balloons to THAT string and letting your head float upwards. Your spine (being attached) will follow.
Let all the rising feelings be gentle and soft. Don't yank the head up, or stiffen any muscles. Just float it up milimeter by milimeter, while remaining comfortable.
This can also be done while seated as long as you're angled forward on the chair, and not leaning into the chair back.
While standing:
Keep your knees flexible (not locked) and your hips flexible (don't arch your back or stick your bum out or anything that'll tighten you up again.)
Just gently follow your floating head up and up.
Look in the mirror.
Do you not feel tall and straight yet bouncy, flexible, and resilient?
Like you could move continuously and flowingly into ANY posture?
Do you not feel more stretchy and relaxed than you do when "force" your muscles to create "good posture"?
As you forget this and lose it again (about every 40 seconds or so, just let your head rise up again and again. Don't "hold" it, let it be flexible in all directions like a bobbing balloon.)
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I just *love* Alexander Technique, and the author of The Physical Flute for explaining it so well as it relates to flute. She manages to give releasing instructions to all aspects of the body too (loose ribcage so it can expand better for breathing, loose abs, so they respond quickly to a breath intake etc.)
For more info. on this check out Alexander books at your college library. Also, look into "Body Mapping for Flutists" and "The Physical Flute". The former gives all sorts of info. on how our bodies actually work, and "The Physical Flute" gives all sorts of warm ups and exercises that you can do while releasing unnecessary tension.
To order "The Physical flute" go to my fave repertoire page for the 800 number that will connect you with the order desk for "Physical Flute", and also search online for the excellent book Body Mapping, by Lea Pearson. Both books will really make you 'breathe easier.' :>D
Best, Jen Cluff 2002
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