The Dynamic Musician Series Blog

Breathing Devices

Breathing devices to strengthen breath

I have heard from clients who have had some success with using breath trainers for their playing and even in reducing snoring. I am skeptical of such devices but was curious enough to try some out for myself. When searching the web for such products, I found a plethora of possibilities. Some are very simple with a hole that can be varied to adjust the resistance and others very expensive for training endurance athletes. What to do?

I purchased a “Powerlung,” which is a small, tube-like device with diaphragms that allow adjustment of the resistance for inhaling and exhaling. I also ordered an “Incentive Spirometer” and a “Voldyne 5000” from Windsong Press.

The “Powerlung” had an immediate effect, which I attribute to my reaction to the resistance from the device. There could have been no muscle training effect in that short time. Continuing on, I did experience a training effect making inhaling easier for me when circular breathing. One word of caution: I noticed when the resistance was set high; I tended to contract parts of my body that weren’t necessary. If you use such a device, be very attentive to extraneous movements in your own body.

The “Voldyne 5000” showed me how my lung capacity can vary according to how I feel and how my breathing apparatus is functioning in the moment. The “Incentive Spirometer” can be used to practice increasing and controlling rate of flow while in- and exhaling. You can also attach your mouthpiece to the device and practice while buzzing.

Are these devices useful or necessary? They can be useful, but I’m not sure they’re necessary. There are many good players who don’t use such things.

If you have experience with using breathing devices, I’d be curious to hear what you’ve found. And be sure to check out the free DMS podcasts, Feldenkrais mini lessons for musicians and speakers.

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http://web.mac.com/john.tarr/iWeb/DMS Podcast/Podcast/Podcast.html

If you have any specific breathing questions or comments, send me e-mail and I’ll try to respond in a future blog. Until then, breathe well!

Expanding vital lung capacity

Many musicians who come to see me in my Feldenkrais practice report that they feel limited in their breath capacity. Observing how they breathe at rest and playing or singing, I often notice that they exclude part of their body while breathing. One common way is to hold the chest still while breathing. Many musicians have been taught that diaphragmatic breathing is the best way to breathe. Even though this is partly true, holding the chest still limits lung capacity.

In her book, “The Anatomy of Breathing,” (available from Amazon) author Blandine Calais-Germain discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this type of breathing. She also goes on to describe different types of diaphragmatic breathing. I highly recommend this book for all music teachers and those who are interested in knowing more about how breathing really works.

When my clients discover that they have untapped potential by utilizing the elasticity of the chest, they find that breathing is easier and fuller. There are also other reasons why the elasticity in the chest can be limited. Another reason can be related to posture. Being slumped forward or overly upright can also limit the ability to expand and contract the thorax. Movements that make posture easier will also have an effect on lung capacity. Stress and various emotional states will also influence lung capacity but may be more difficult to influence over the short term. If you would like to experience this for yourself, you can listen to the DMS podcasts at:

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If you have any specific breathing questions or comments, send me e-mail and I’ll try to respond in a future blog. Until then, breathe well!

Volume 2 is now available

Just a quick post to let you know that,

I am very pleased to announce that “The Dynamic Musician Series: Dynamic Stability and Breath, Volume 2” is now available.

This Volume continues where Volume 1 left off and contains four Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® lessons (on 2 CD's) that focus on different ways of breathing. Even if you use a specific kind of breathing for performing, these lessons will help you to refine and deepen your breathing technique.

Each volume costs $34.95 or you can order both together for $64.95 from amazon.com.

Go to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/index.html/104-8747048-4491938?sellerID=A39GS1UH5NNTSQ

For more information, to order in Europe, excerpts from both volumes, articles and free podcast lessons, go to: www.dynamicmusician.com

Watching what we say

In a master class with a voice teacher, one of the students came up to sing and sang well, but it wasn’t very moving. When I began to work with him, he was lying on his back and I noticed that his head was lying a bit to his left from the center. I mentioned this to the observers but sensed that it wouldn’t be comfortable for him to have me put his head in the “middle.”

To demonstrate this, I gently lifted his head and placed it in what would be the middle of his body. By this I mean a line bisecting his right and left sides. As I expected, he didn’t find this very comfortable. He said his head felt as if it was off center. I put his head back to where it was and this felt better.

For him, a revelation that his head could be slightly to one side and this was OK. He had been trying to center his head because people had told him he needed to have his head in the middle in order to sing correctly. Ironically enough, he was actually over correcting causing him to have undue tension in his neck. Realizing this, he sang again with his head where it felt most comfortable. The performance was entirely different. The listeners were moved, the accompanist played much better and the whole feeling in the room was unmistakably changed.

Of course we worked with finding his middle, but it was another reminder just how important our feeling of well-being is while performing. And more importantly, how what we say can be mean something very different to the person who is listening. Our singer friend had been told to center his head, but that caused him to go too far to the other side. He had no way of knowing what was center from the outside. When he was directed to sense his feeling of center, he was much more comfortable and effective as a performer.

Lifting shoulders, why?

One of the most common complaints I hear from musicians is that they tend to lift and hold their shoulders up when under stress. I often wondered why this might be. First off, there is a connection between stress and holding shoulders up. If you look at people hurrying and rushing, you might see this. If you watch someone working under pressure at a computer, you will probably see the raising of shoulders.

I had another idea as well. Have you ever watched a child inhale when they’re told they should breathe with a lot of air? Well, they often scrunch up their little faces and lift their shoulders up to their ears. How many times have young wind instrument students been told that playing an instrument takes of lot of air? Maybe there’s a clue? In a later post, I’ll talk about why raising your shoulders does, in a funny way help breathing and how it takes more energy to do it than it gives.

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Abdominal breathing

Many musicians are taught the importance of breathing abdominally. Of course this is very important, but I see many musicians who hold their chests still in order to breathe more into their bellies. There are even some schools of breathing that advocate holding the chest still. Doing so limits lung capacity and stiffens the ribs and thoracic spine. There are a multitude of other reasons why holding the chest still is not recommended. Some are: The shoulders and arms loose support and range of motion. This can lead to poor use and even injury. The neck is less free and that should be fairly obvious why that is not beneficial. It requires more energy, i.e. muscles working to hold the chest still. I’ve even heard from doctors who will say that tightness in the chest can even be detrimental to the heart. I could go on, but will stop for now. I will write more on this theme later.

If you have questions or comments, please e-mail me at: john.tarr@dynamicmusician.com

Gesture and body organization

During a master class with a singer in Bern, one student was singing an Aria while looking towards the ceiling with his eyes. This caught my attention and I made a note to address it when I worked with him. His teacher worked with him first and had him look at his hand and imagine that it was a beautiful picture. Because the lyrics described what he was looking at, his eyes and visual attention were now brought down to a more functional height. When I worked with the student, I worked with breathing and let the eyes go because they took care of themselves with the gesture.

As is often the case, when musical expression is clear, the posture and gesture will follow along. This applies to instrumentalists as well, but as I mentioned before is less obvious.

Gesture and musical expression

I’ve been working with a voice teacher, combining Feldenkrais and voice teaching in a sort of master class situation. It’s interesting and inspiring to see just how important posture and gesture are for singers. As instrumentalists we can forget that we are also playing music to communicate something. Even though it’s not as direct as singing, gesture and posture are still of utmost importance.

For example, tonight during a rehearsal, some of the members were standing kind of casually with their hips cocked to the side, sort of like teenagers who act as if they don’t really care. It was very audible in how they were sounding. For most of us, this is obvious from the outside but we have a harder time recognizing it in ourselves. The good news is that when we become more engaged in the music, our posture usually changes automatically. We can also consciously change our posture and change the way our music sounds. Sometimes we know we need to change something or we are told to do so but don’t know how. This is where the Dynamic Musician Series can be helpful. With the lessons from Volume one, you will be able to recognize ineffective postural patterns and begin to change them into more effective ones. In Volume 2, you will be able to explore different ways of breathing, possibly expanding your lung capacity and refining your breathing skills.

To find out more, go to: www.dynamcimusician.com

Background Information

For those of you who are new to the DMS, I self-published a book and 2 CD’s in 2004 called “Dynamic Stability and Breath, volumes 1 and 2” This book is intended for musicians who use breath to produce their sound. However, I have heard from other musicians and even non-musicians as well who find the lessons very helpful and interesting. The lessons are Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement Lessons designed especially for musicians.

If you have comments or specific questions about breathing and posture for musicians, I will try to answer and discuss them here.