 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: eac
Date: 2008-04-14 16:39
Does anyone have any experience with a powerlung? Is it better than a breathing bag and/or breath builder? I seem to have learned Pilates breathing too well--it's all upper chest and no abdominal breathing. It's so ingrained that I'm having difficulty breathing correctly to play and think I should work on breathing separately from the clarinet. I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone might have. Liz
Liz Leckey
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Author: Tara
Date: 2008-04-15 02:12
Although I do not have experience with the devices you mentioned, I would recommend the book "The Breathing Gym". I forget the authors, but I'm sure someone here will know. It's filled with great exercises- I have used a few with students, and several of my colleagues do them with both beginning and advanced students.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-04-15 03:07
I have used the power lung and it is pretty good but I'm not sure it's any better than the others; it depends on what you're trying to achieve. It sounds to me that the first thing you need to do is learn to breath from the bottom of your lungs to the top and not fill the upper chest first. An exercise I've been successful with my students over the years is to lie down on a flat surface, stay relaxed and place a book on your stomach, that's used as a visual. Take deep slow breaths expanding your lower diaphragm and watch the book go up and down. Do not make the book move with stomach tension, only with the air filling your lungs. Once you get the feeling of the air filling up in the lower part of your lungs, as if you’re bring the air in from your legs, you can sit up and try to copy the feeling. Continue this exercise over time until you can breath low all the time. It's a matter of copying the feeling until it becomes natural. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: eac
Date: 2008-04-15 14:42
Bear with me as I try to define "Pilates breathing". Pilates is an exercise program that was developed by Joseph Pilates after WWI which emphasizes training what he termed the "powerhouse" (what is now called the "core") muscles of the abdomen, lower back, hips and buttocks. One of his principles was breathing with the core engaged. While Pilates breathing emphasises breathing deep into the lungs, using the back and sides of the lower rib cage, it also emphasises keeping the muscles of the abdomden and pelvic floor engaged (or taut). As I understand good breathing technique for the clarinet, it seems that one can let the abdominal muscles be loose (not engaged) while inhaling. The exhaling phase for both emphasises complete or full exhalation, using all one's breath. And I find that breathing for the clarinet requires a much deeper breath and longer sustained exhalation. (As I type this I wonder if my Pilates breathing couldn't also use improvement.) In any case, I was just curious if any of the devices or gadgets are useful to separate good breathing technique away from the clarinet.
And I appreciate the references to books or other sources for breathing exercises. My clarinet teacher suggested "Wind and Song" by Arnold Jacobs, who despite having significantly impaired lung capacity, performed professionally on tuba, among his other accomplishements. He clearly understood maximizing pulmonary function. The web site devoted to his career, windsongpress.com, sells several breathing devices. One is a 5 liter breathing bag (looks like a rebreathing bag for an anesthesia machine to me) as well as several other devices. I'm waiting for the the book to arrive from interlibrary loan but it should be an interesting read.
Liz Leckey
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