 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-10-16 12:02
Hello all,
I have an exam in just under 2 weeks and am struggling with breathing. I think it is a bit of a psychological thing too, like if I said to you don't think of a white elephant, what do you think of?
Same with my breathing. I've been having troubles the past few months.. I will get all tense around the throat area and will start 'playing from the throat' (I really have no other way to describe it) and I can't go through any of my pieces without stopping. It's a bit like an elephant thing - I know it's a problem for me, and it's a problem because I know it is, if that makes sense. It's the only thing I can think about (or should I say freak out about) when I play, and thinking about it makes it a problem.
Obviously this is a massive issue as I can't go into the exam unable to play a piece completely through. In all other aspects, I am fine on the clarinet and unfortunately this is a great hindrance on everything.
If ANYONE has experienced anything similar, or can provide tips for breathing or any sort of help that would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You!
Jess
Post Edited (2017-10-16 12:04)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2017-10-16 16:36
You can check my website page on the subject, it's in my signature, of course it's effected by nerves. You're going to have to work at relaxing your throat muscles while playing under tension and breathing deep from your diagram without tension. Though it may be more phychological than physical.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-16 16:52
jrain54 wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have an exam in just under 2 weeks and am struggling with
> breathing. I think it is a bit of a psychological thing too,
> like if I said to you don't think of a white elephant, what do
> you think of?
>
Well, a white elephant. But I will forget about the elephant about ten minutes from now (about the time it will take me to type this response).
> Same with my breathing. I've been having troubles the past few
> months.. I will get all tense around the throat area and will
> start 'playing from the throat'
Do you have this problem when you aren't playing your clarinet? But you breathe all the time. In fact, you can't *stop* (with effort) for more than a minute or so without passing out. And once passed out, you will start breathing again with no conscious control or effort.
> It's a bit like an elephant thing - I know it's a
> problem for me, and it's a problem because I know it is, if
> that makes sense.
So, you're having a problem with tension in your throat and probably in a few other areas that you aren't noticing because you're focusing on faulty breathing as the cause.
> In all other aspects, I am fine on the clarinet
I would suggest that this may be a little wishful. There is from your description a lot of unnecessary and destructive tension being generated as you play, and I would be surprised if that didn't extend into many other areas including embouchure and reading accuracy.
First get back to basics. Take a few normal breaths (as you would sitting at the dinner table), then using one of them, just blow a note - maybe C4 (or any chalumeau note). Hold it a few seconds, then exhale and take another *normal* breath and play a portion of a scale. Don't try for length or an extreme dynamic or anything else musical, just produce a pure, easy tone with no effort for a few notes. If you've managed this without getting into trouble, then it's a matter of extending the same feeling to incrementally longer and, eventually, more technically demanding passages. In the process, when you feel any tension building up, you need to try to figure out what is causing it and why.
If you have a teacher, he or she should be able to help with this. If you don't have one, having a competent clarinet teacher watch and listen to you play in person could help find the cause. You're almost certainly trying too hard somewhere, and the looming exam is probably making that worse (many of us have faced that situation in our lives). The solution isn't strictly breathing, although you may be trying so hard to "fix" a breathing problem that you're contorting the muscles involved in inhalation, too.
Karl
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-10-17 14:29
Yes, my bad Karl.
What I meant when I said
> In all other aspects, I am fine on the clarinet
was rather, if the breathing was not a problem for me at the moment then I would be fine as I have no other issues. The breathing is definitely affecting my playing and I know that if I sit the exam it will be far from my best performance, as all I can really think about when playing is 'getting to the finish line' and I can't really enjoy the music much as I am just struggling. It is very annoying and frustrating.
Thanks for your feedback!
Jess
Post Edited (2017-10-17 14:31)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-17 20:26
jrain54 wrote:
> What I meant when I said
>
> > In all other aspects, I am fine on the clarinet
>
> was rather, if the breathing was not a problem for me at the
> moment then I would be fine as I have no other issues. The
> breathing is definitely affecting my playing...
But, it seems that you've missed my point. It isn't "breathing" that's causing your problem. It's faulty technique somewhere. It may well be that the fault is in the way you inhale or the way you try to control the air as you exhale to play - techniques you're superimposing onto the basic process - but that's less your breathing and more, at best, a misuse of the musculature involved in breathing. In any case, it's unnecessary and destructive tension that you're somehow introducing by something *you're doing.* My point is that breathing is a natural function and not something that has to be done "correctly" to play the clarinet.
There are lots of words in print and many spoken at clarinet lessons about how to "breathe," most of them aimed at improving response and beefing up the player's sound. But when those techniques are misapplied (misunderstood by the student and not corrected by the teacher), they can cause forcing and resulting tension as muscles are made to do things they don't do naturally. Hence, my comment that you're almost certainly "trying too hard" in some aspect or aspects of your playing.
The solution is to back off anything that's really effortful and revert to actions and feelings that are more natural and comfortable. I'm not able to see you or hear your playing. But what you describe as a feeling of "playing from the throat" screams of constriction in the wind path. It would help if you could really zero in on the sensation and find more detailed ways to describe it, because in doing that you might find hints to the source of the constricting tension.
Have you tried singing the music you're practicing? Then, trying to emulate the sensations you feel when you were singing? Try reading a passage from some text source (maybe this post or your own original post) and remember the feel of the vocal production. The point is that breathing in itself is not effort-laden and doesn't in itself cause constriction. If you can get back to a more effortless and less technically driven way of taking in air and blowing it out into the mouthpiece, you may be able to stop whatever cycle is causing your problem.
Just as an afterthought, do have a sensation of air escaping from your nose? If that's part of your "playing from the throat" feeling, it could open up another area of discussion.
Karl
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-10-19 14:34
Yes I see what you mean now and I have played with that in mind, and I think it is the throat which is causing the problem and it's tensing up when I play - making it difficult to breathe properly and play comfortably.
And to answer your question, no there is no air escaping from my nose - I think it is all just my throat which is, for some reason, tensing up.
I'm not sure what I can do to fix it, and it is very frustrating.
Jess
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-19 18:46
jrain54 wrote:
> Yes I see what you mean now and I have played with that in
> mind, and I think it is the throat which is causing the problem
> and it's tensing up when I play -
> I'm not sure what I can do to fix it, and it is very
> frustrating.
>
There are two possible explanations (sorry for the length).
The less likely one, but especially if you're having any respiratory problems apart from the clarinet, is a physical obstruction in your upper airway. Enlarged tonsils, allergic inflammation? I'm not a doctor, but a consult with your family physician might be able to rule this in or out. It's especially something to think about if your throat seems to close as you inhale.
The other more likely one is that you've taken something someone has told you or something you've read, and tried too hard to apply it. "Keep an open throat" is one that's often misapplied. Trying consciously to pull the throat to "open" more often results in tightening muscles that should be relaxed. In addition the resulting harder surfaces can interfere with resonance. Trying consciously to lower the tongue can, *if overdone,* actually end up closing the pharyngeal area because the back of the tongue will rise when the middle part is pulled lower in an effort to produce more opening.
The solution, if this is actually the cause, is to keep your mouth, tongue and "throat" in a natural position, emulating the way everything feels when you speak. You could try, as I suggested, singing something before you play it and try to replicate the sensations. Or you could try consciously to sing with the same feeling of tension you're experiencing with the clarinet. If you could do that, you might come closer to figuring out what you're doing to cause it when you play.
In case over-exertion in your lips and jaw are contributing to some sort of echo effect of tension in your airway, you might experiment for short periods of time with a double lip embouchure. That approach automatically reduces jaw clenching and raises the soft palate slightly and could give you the space inside your mouth that you're now trying to produce by "opening your throat." Keep everything else relaxed and natural.
In this exchange you haven't mentioned a teacher or any advice you've gotten from one. Solving this kind of problem can really be easier with a knowledgeable, experienced teacher reacting in real time to the result of any changes you try to make. A good teacher may also have specific exercises to recommend that will help move you away from whatever is causing the problem.
Assuming there's no physical explanation for this, the bottom line approach will not be to *do something* - to add any kind of technique on top of what you're already doing. It will instead involve *not doing something* - removing some bit of counterproductive technique that's causing unwanted tension and interfering with free air flow.
Karl
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-10-23 14:02
Sorry for the late reply Karl, but thank you so much for your correspondence.
I think I have simply and quite unfortunately developed a terrible habit of using my throat to somehow assist me when I play (although assist would be the wrong word, more like inhibit). I did mention it to my teacher because one lesson it was really bad, I didn't quite tell her the extent of my problem (I probably should have), and she said it is just me overthinking in anticipation of the exam.. But I've had this problem for a while now, it's just gotten worse maybe in the lead up to the exam...
I think after the exam I will be able to give the clarinet a bit of a break and hopefully by the time I return to it after a few weeks or so I may have disassociated any mental hurdles with playing and I'll just be able to play normally again. I hope so!
I really miss loving my instrument because right now playing is more of a chore than anything which is just the worst.
Thanks again!
Jess
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Author: michele zukovsky
Date: 2017-10-24 11:35
you are so right. it is taking in the right kind of air, and allowing nothing to stop it.
pretend you need to go across the swimming pool in one breath, and in a relaxed way, just stop the air with your lips---gently.
then go to a pool and do it.
nothing should stop you from doing this.
young children can do this easily.
do it for a week, and you will get in shape. and breathe from the bottom of your lungs, and even the back of your lungs.
do not stop the air.
i will tell you more, later.
michele zukovsky
michelezukovsky@gmail.com
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