Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2007-09-21 10:11
John wrote:
>> Lying on my back with hand on my abs I quickly inhaled. There was sudden push from the abs area.>>
I find this too; it's what I would expect as the diaphragm pushes against the guts and therefore, indirectly, against the abs.
>> In the same position I tried exhaling quickly....I felt a flex but was unsure whether there was a push out or in.>>
If you look at what happens as you bend your arm suddenly, the biceps flexes OUT -- it cannot flex in, because of the bone of the upper arm. But in the case of blowing suddenly, the abdominal flex -- or rather, the combined abdominal/back flex -- generates the inward push on the guts that forces the diaphragm upwards.
You'd also expect SOME outward movement, I suppose.
>> I also used some drinking straws to test support vs unsupported long tones. (blowing air) There was noticeable increase in duration of blowing with a supported air stream. It makes sense then that we support so we can play a long phrase. What is different other than that? Is the difference that support evens out uneven responses of various notes on the clarinet or is it evident in tone quality?>>
It does seem, doesn't it, that there is a difference in tone quality between unsupported blowing and supported blowing if you play an isolated note. However, careful observation leads me to suppose that my embouchure tends to flex slightly to follow my abdominal flexion, though I can over-ride that consciously.
Further, I most often use a degree of support when -- for musical reasons -- I'm after a precisely controlled and concentrated sound, and it may be that whilst experimenting on myself I still unconsciously associate the two actions, abdominal and lip flexion, just because there's no particular musical reason to separate them. That would of course help to explain your experience of extended duration in long tones, because such an embouchure would tend to economise on airflow.
Apart from that, I can't see any particular reason why airflow generated by 'supported' blowing (blowing partially resisted, and therefore 'supported' by diaphragm action) should necessarily have any different qualities from airflow generated by unsupported blowing. It all has to pass through the lungs, mouth and so on, after all.
Of course, there can be an unfortunate 'creep' of tension from the abdominal muscles to other muscles, as possibly in the case of the lip, above, and in unthinking players, to arm and finger muscles -- that obviously has potential for damage. It needs to be guarded against both in oneself and in one's teaching.
The fact is, 'support' is a fine control system that, as you say, allows you to learn to iron out unevennesses of response; to learn to produce subtle dynamic inflections (even large and sudden dynamic inflections); and to learn to take fast, effective breaths -- if it is operating appropriately.
None of this detracts from the fact that there are other aspects to proper breathing that may be accessed by powerful, general metaphors, and that may have very striking positive effects on one's overall playing. 'Support' is just a part of it -- an important part, but not one that should be overdone. It's unfortunate that something that is so simple in practice should need so much careful discussion just because too many foolish people have obscured its simplicity.
By the way, it's the 'to learn to' bit of the penultimate paragraph above that's most important. Because, it's not the fact that you're 'supporting' that produces these effects; YOU produce them, albeit seemingly by magic, in LEARNING TO USE SUPPORT via modulations of diaphragm flexion in an elegant and unconsciously graceful way IN EACH INDIVIDUAL CASE -- just by listening to the result.
In short, support is useless unless coupled to the EARS.
Tony
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