Do you ever feel like you can’t get a good breathe before playing a phrase? Well, I have a little exercise I have been working on lately with my students, all who seem to have the problem of hiking their shoulders up when they breathe.
You see, breathing should be easy and normal. I always like to say “breathe as you would when you’re standing in line”. You’re just standing there and breathing, not really focused on it. The physical mechanics of this complicated life act simply happen without us much getting involved. It’s when we have a flute at our face and a long phrase to play that we start thinking about it too much!
So I start away from the flute. This comes from Yoga and Pilates: take some good long breathes through your nose and exhale through your mouth saying “shhh” or even making a flute embouchure as you exhale. Just feel the way the body naturally fills with air and expels it. I don’t encourage inhaling only from the nose when playing the flute, but away from the instrument the nose creates enough of a resistance that we can feel the body open up slowly as the air comes in.
Next try blowing the air out while allowing your body to collapse as though you were closing into a fetal position. When you breathe in, simply expand back to a neutral position.
Finally, blow all of the air out. Now, WITHOUT BREATHING IN, lift your ribcage and body back up. This time open your mouth and feel the air pop in. It’s truly an amazing feeling when a vacuum is created and the air comes in without even trying.
It has been said that when the late flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal was asked how he got such good breathes he responded that he just opened his mouth and let the air come in. This is the key. By creating the climate for the air to fill our lungs we don’t need to pull, suck or inhale it (which are very active and thus tighten our much-needed throat, mouth and upper-body muscles) We simply invite it in.
