 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C.R
Date: 2002-01-06 02:17
Hi, I have a question: how is one supposed to breath, please explain me. Also do you have an idea of why it is that I can´t breath fast while I´m playing. And why it is that I feel like stuffed when I´m playing and chest tired when I stop.
Thanks.
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Author: Stephanie
Date: 2002-01-06 03:21
Is your chest rising when you breathe? Cuz it's not supposed to. The diaphram (sp?) is supposed to expand when you breathe in. Put your hand right under your ribs and see if it does. Hope this helps!
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Author: willie
Date: 2002-01-06 06:16
Try lying down on the floor for a moment and observe your chest and abdomen while breathing. If the "belly" rises and falls, you're doing OK. If the chest rises and falls, you're not breathing properly for music. Watch an infant lying in the crib. They do it naturaly. Some how I got turned around in this method, probably from lots of snorkel diving in my youth, I think.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-01-06 09:14
If you want a big breath to last half a page you will have to fill using both diaphragm TIGHTENING (which presses down on the gut hence makes the stomach poke out a little, AND intercostal (between rib) muscles which makes the chest enlarge (frontwards - which can be looked upon as a 'rising' action - , sideways and even backwards.) There is nothing wrong with any of these. What is wrong is believing that you are taking a breath by rising your shoulders. 'Rising' is an ambiguous word without being qualified.
Using your diaphragm only will be a relatively small breath, but is probably the most healthy and desirable way to take a small breath.
If you don't use your diaphragm in your normal breathing then chances are it will get weak along with your abdominal muscles (which effect the opposite action when breathing/blowing out), and finish up with a protruding gut even if you are not a beer swiller! Well that is an observation I have made anyway. Take it or leave it. I will only accept counter arguments from posters clued up in pneumatic and fluid physics and in physiology. Others tend to talk a load of rubbish. Example "The diaphragm is supposed to expand when you breathe in." The writer does not appear to know what the diaphragm is, nor its function. The diaphragm contracts to a flat(ter) shape when you correctly use it to breath in.
Now, you say you are slow to take in a breath.
1. Taking a slow breath through the nose is fine when there is time in the music but a fast breath must be through the mouth. The passages through the nose are just too small and the nostrils also tend to collapse. Are you opening your mouth?
2. I am a relatively slow breath taker, in spite of all involved muscles being in fine state. I have become convinced that we actually vary in the size of the tubes going to and within our lungs, making some people slower than others. I guess a medical person can confirm this. It could be measured with a flow meter, turned around to measure intake rather than blowing.
3. A variety of medical conditions including asthma can constrict these tubes, causing breath intake to be slow.
"Why do I feel stuffed and tired when I stop?". General lack of fitness? Body has not adapted to the long periods between inhaling air while playing? Body not yet adapted to air tracts being under pressure for extended periods?
Medical condition? .........
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Author: Laura
Date: 2002-01-06 18:50
Gordon explained it well and I am going repeat some things he said.
It sounds like you are using your chest to breathe. This will tire you out quickly. Using the diaphragm will resolve this problem.
When you are sitting around relaxed or lying on your back, breathing normally, notice that your diaphram is the muscle moving. It will rise or move out and nothing else moves, not the chest or abdomin. This is what you use to breathe. To help you get started, breathe in slowly through your nose while the clarinet is in your mouth, and then blow into the clarinet. Your diaphragm also supports (it stays out as you blow). This is where you get the stamina to go a long way on one breath. Another trick is to spit. Notice how much air you take in and what your diaphragm does, how it moves, where it moves, etc.
Breathing slow is no problem. It will take a while for you to build it up. As soon as you master where to breath from, then you can take in quick breaths if needed. These don't have to be big ones. Your diaphragm might be sore in the beginning, but that is good becuase you are building up the muscle.
Good luck.
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Author: Ava McDowell
Date: 2002-01-07 00:55
A couple of things I do with my band students as well as my private bassoon students works really well. One is to lie down on the floor and have someone GENTLY BUT FIRMLY press down on your stomach beginning about 2 - 3 inches below your waist. The goal is to move their hand out when you breathe in. While you can move it by just using your muscles, you can move it higher when you inhale. I used this with my mom after she had heart surgery and she was off the respirator two days before they thought she would.
The second involves putting a rolled-up towel on each shoulder (for padding) and draping a rope over each towel (front to back). You should stand up to do this. Tie a knot in each rope to form a loop that is firm when you are standing, but not tight. Breathe in. If you feel the rope getting tighter on your shoulder, you are chest-breathing and raising your shoulders. In effect, using only 25% of your lung capacity.
The final thing I give my students to do, I do myself: crunches (sit-ups). Get those abs nice and strong and you will be breathing correctly in no time!
Ava
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-01-07 06:50
This might be worth reading: http://www.hornplayer.net/archive/a121.html
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-01-07 09:52
Laura I cannot follow what you write because you seem to have mis-located the diaphragm. One cannot see, notice or feel one's diaphragm. It is completely internal and near enough to horizontal.
You appear to be referring to abdominal muscles (covering gut from ribs to pelvis an pubic area)
If neither you chest nor abdomen are moving then how can you be breathing?
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Author: C.R
Date: 2002-01-08 05:28
thanks a lot, these answers to my questions have helped me a lot. one thing I don't understand is that you say that doing sit-ups etc. I will develop better breathing. I am 19 I have made exercise since I was about 15 and the muscles from my stomach are strong and they show ( I guess it's what you call ''the six pack'' I am from Mexico so I am not sure if this is a right term to use) , so I don't understand why this has not helped me. I will do all that you have written.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-01-08 13:08
Hehe! If you have a six-pack then your abdominals will be just fine.
You have got me wondering.... If you have a sixpack this may actually reduce the volume of air that you can breath in, simply because of the firm, less stretchable quality of the toned abdominals. It is a while since I had a six-pack so I've forgotten whether it can poke out when a large breath is taken, or is it just too toned to do this. I don't know. Well exercised muscles seem to be very hard and unyielding compared with those of the average person.
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