 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-01 18:51
Would be interested to hear from players who have had a history of abdominal weakness (in my case, multiple inguinal hernia repairs) and experience issues with resistance/breath support. There are days when I can't play due to this.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2012-09-01 18:51)
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Author: Campana
Date: 2012-09-02 08:18
My friend was/is a great trumpet player however a few years of 60 a day cigarette smoking as a young man has ruined his lungs. Despite his talents he is unable to play in a band, he simply doesn't have the staying power. In later life he has earned a living playing gigs with his wife, a good singer. He uses professionally made, full band, backing music which allows him to play only the solo parts and allows his wife to carry a song without him necessarily playing. His programmes are so artfully crafted his audience doesn't realize just how much he is pacing himself. He is now on the verge of retirement but he has earned a living this way for at least 25 years.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-09-02 12:51
The recorder maker Adriana Breukink says there are two types of players: inhalers, who inhale actively and let the air flow out, and exhalers, who let the air flow in and blow it out actively http://www.adrianabreukink.com/Inhaler_or_Exhaler.html. She makes her instruments differently for each type.
Of course recorder is a low-pressure instrument, so even an exhaler doesn't blow very hard by clarinet standards. Also, I've examined my own breathing and found that I'm a mix, as I suspect most people are. However, you can certainly experiment with letting the air flow out as much by its own weight as by abdominal effort. Still, it might help to fill up and let the breath work by its own weight.
Also, it's possible, and even preferable, to inhale expanding your sides and back as much as your abdomen. That way the ribs add to the exhaling pressure when the muscles that expand them relax.
The great tuba player Arnold Jacobs had lung problems that reduced the amount of air he could take in. He invented a number of exercises to increase his capacity http://www.windsongpress.com/jacobs/breathing%20exercises%20master%20.pdf.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-04 21:47
Thanks. That's very interesting about the inhalers vs. exhalers. I would say in my experience that the #1 thing an amateur, untrained clarinetist cannot teach him- or herself is *breathing*. I don't know the first thing about it.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2012-09-04 21:47)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-09-04 21:56
Can you blow up a balloon without damaging anything? If you can try it for a week or so and see what happens. To get the balloon easier to blow into when it's new, fill it with water from a faucet. Let me know if you can do this and if so is it working?
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-09-05 03:39
Bill,
I bet you know a lot more about breathing than you think; after all, you do it all day long without much thought I'd imagine.
I would question or investigate the active/passive inhaler/exhaler article a bit, even though you merely consider yourself an amateur... I've met many amateurs that are far smarter than they believe.
For the record, I don't really "agree" with the posted link; or at least as weakly explained as it stands. The truth of the physical process is not so simplistic as Ms. Bruekink lays it out.
Likewise, the way Arnold Jacobs goes about addressing the breathing process is at times confusing, even misleading or wrongly-stated, and never really did much to help me; even when using all his gadgets.
6 of one half-a-dozen of the other. Teaching how to breath in person is a bugaboo and doing so over the internet can be like teaching Baptists how to dance.
As for the abdominal weakness, are there any exercises that the doctor(s) prescribed to increase core strength?
Crunches are always mentioned, but can at times be a red-herring or damaging if not performed correctly.
Something more simple like strengthening the transversus abdominus (corset muscle) may provide some of the abdominal "poise" you feel is lacking in your current state. It can add a feeling of stabilizing support (not to be confused with "breath support") and remove some of the weakness you currently are experiencing. Obviously, I would speak with a doctor before doing any exercises.
Personally, I had a severely torn oblique muscle that never healed properly due to my stupidity, still suffer from chronic chostochondritis, and thus have to be careful what sort of abdominal workouts I do myself. (Alas, because of this, David Beckham was able to steal all my underwear model contracts...)
Hope you can find a solution to what ails you at any rate.
-Jason
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Author: Bill
Date: 2012-09-06 17:29
Thanks Jason. I titled this thread "weakness" to try to avoid too frank a description of my specific problem. My groin muscles have been damaged by hernias and by an imperfect surgical repair. I have good days, and I have bad days on which any blowing pressure causes pain. I simply can't play on those days.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-09-07 01:36
Bill,
Understood...
I feel your pain, both experiential, figurative and tactile; though I'm not going to ask you to turn your head and cough.
Are you under any lifting restrictions?
Mine was "wait and watch" without need of surgical repair... but I did have to take care in certain settings.
On a more pragmatic front: can you make concessions in the resistance/back-pressure in your equipment to ease some of the experienced pain?
Could be a path to explore if you haven't considered it...
-Jason
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Author: eac
Date: 2012-09-07 17:28
Take a look at The Breathing Gym. I believe the guys who developed it are brass players who developed exercises to maximize breathing for instrument players. They have a book (which is out of print but which you might be able to track down through interlibrary loan or used book websites) DVD's, other products, and even some UTube videos. you might find some ideas that will help.
http://patricksheridan.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1
I have no financial interest or connection to these products.
Liz
Liz Leckey
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Author: luckyclar
Date: 2014-11-01 21:53
I am reviving an old post but I stumbled upon Breathing Gym videos on Youtube mentioned by last post and it helped me a lot to realize how not being relaxed effected my playing. I was forcing myself to "support" the air but ending up biting or blaming reed/mouth piece/ligature/clarinet etc
:)
These guys show very simple and easy exercises to relax upper body and build up stamina.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi4aJA-bZh8&list=UUzzgDff07iEdQCuv2D6rs4w
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