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Y'know, the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle...

Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-06-24 03:15

...so when people say "breathe with your diaphragm", it really bothers me. Steven Melillo taught us this when I was in 9th grade in New Mexico All-State, and it's something I've laughed inwardly at every time we have a clinician come in and tell us to breathe "using our diaphragm, not our chest". Even more amusing is the fact that the diaphragm is located in the lower chest, right below the lungs! I think what people mean by this is that you should breathe "correctly", which when done, will cause your stomach to expand before or with your chest. Yet people also screw this up, and tell people only to "breathe deep into your stomach, not your chest", which causes people to try and control their stomach muscles while breathing in, another thing that shouldn't happen. I think we should be careful when we try to discuss with young players the best way of breathing when playing an instrument, and make sure we don't cause them to take a step back on the breathing line. Saying things like "breathe with your diaphragm" or "breathe to make your stomach expand, not your chest" is counterproductive. Something more along the lines of "when you breathe correctly, your stomach should expand with your upper chest...", I think, would be a more helpful way to teach the exercise.

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