Klarinet Archive - Posting 000117.txt from 2000/12

From: Knaphet@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Breathing, the Diaphragm and all that......
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 13:50:50 -0500

I agree that thinking "oh" is a good way to breathe. But again, in this
area, recent classes with a breathing teacher showed me that once one is
comfortable with "oh", there is a better way. When we say a deep, Darth
Vader-like "oh", that sound we hear is the sound of the tongue back in the
throat, actually it may constrict the air flow some. He told me that Joe
Allard (NY clarinet and saxophone teacher) had an idea that letting the
tongue relax (as if saying the word "Heather") and breathe in a little more
laterally, as if the air is going in the sides of the mouth more than the
middle. For me, if I think of the space of the air as about Hershey bar
shaped (2 inches wide, 1/4 inch high) I get the best effect.

When we breathe in on "ee" or "ay", or "uh", the tongue is more poised or
tense and constricts the air for sure, so I agree with you. See if "Heather"
works for you. For years I have taught "oh", and it brings about good
results, but I think that "heather" and thinking laterally may be a nice ref
inement.

Arnold Jacobs used to talk about using the terms "blow" and "suck" to
describe air going in and out, because he recognized that "inhale" and
"exhale" bring about more torso involvement which often turned out to be
detrimental. I remember Jacobs in a masterclass at Florida State say to
imagine one's self as a decapitated head when breathing in, with no torso at
all. He said that many people breathe most effectively while sleeping, when
they are unaware of breathing or *how* to breathe, because the body knows how
to breathe. It is when we try to get a "good" breath that we overuse our
muscles a little. So when I suggest breathing into the mouth, I am only
trying to suggest *not* thinking about the torso too much.

I am not a large person, but with these recent changes to my thinking (i.e.
allowing the rib cage to move more) I have nearly 6 liters of capacity. The
next experiment I want to try is to somehow check if I am substituting one
limitation for another, and compare capacity. So in what ways do you think I
am substituting one limitation for another?

I welcome your honest opinion of these ideas.

==Anthony Taylor

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