How to breathe while playing an instrument of wind?
Flute, clarinet, saxophone or trumpet: they all demand low air but each person spends it differently. Exercises and keys to better breathing and frying without running out of air.
To play an instrument of wind you will be breathing as to be singing: low air, without climbing your shoulders, expanding your waist, low ribs and back. The difference lies with what comes after: the air has to come out with the speed and pressure requested by each instrument, and the inhalation has to be quick, silent and without breaking up your mouth.
In this guide you will find what each instrument requires, what support is in the wind, exercise with a metronome and how to decide where to breathe within a sentence.
To sum up
- Inhale by the seams, quickly and low, without raising his shoulders or breaking his mouth.
- Each instrument wants something different: the flute spends a lot of air, the oboe, little but with a lot of resistance, the trumpet, fast and firm air.
- The support is to maintain expansion as you blow so that the air column will be stable. It's not to tighten the abdomen.
- Long and slow notes are the best daily air monitoring exercise.
- He plans his breathing at his score and takes his time from his previous note, but his next note.
The base: low and low breathing without tension
When they get air, their shoulders don't come up: they expand their waist, their lower ribs and their back, for the diaphragm descends. It's the same breathing of the singing, we explain in detail [breathing exercises to sing]](/blog/ejercicios-de-respiracion-para-cantar)We're focused here on what changes when you have an instrument in your hands.
- The weight of the instrument should not put your shoulders up. At the saxophone, tighten the strap so that the nozzle will reach his mouth without bowing or stretching his neck. At his flute and his trumpet his arms hold without shrugging his shoulders.
- Sitting at the band or orchestra, put up at the front half of the chair with his feet on his ground. To his back his abdomen remains compressed and his air goes half way through.
- The throat, openA closed throat makes noise by inhaling and choking the sound by blowing.
What each instrument wants
All winds use the same breathing but not the same air. The difference is how much air each and how much resistance puts at the exit.
| Instrumento | How much air you spend | Resistencia | What to look at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flute | A lot: some of the air gets lost on the edge | Baja | Breathe more often and plan the pauses well |
| Clarinet | Moderado | Medium to high | Constant and fast air and uninflamed cheeks |
| Saxophone | Moderate to high, more tenor and baritone | Media | Open throat and generous air, without pushing |
| Oboe | Poco | Very high | Drop the remaining air before inhaling again |
| Trumpet | Moderado | high, on his lips | Fast and firm air and the pressure puts them up with the air, but with the nozzle |
| Trombone | Mucho | Media | Wide and high air inputs into serious registration |
The oboe's case teaches something useful for everyone: sometimes the problem isn't a lack of air but an excess. If at the end of a sentence you feel that you're choked though you still have air, let go first of all old air and then inhale.
What's support in the winds
The support is to maintain the expansion of the waist and ribs while you blow, so that the air will come out with constant pressure and velocity. The result is a stable air column: the sound doesn't tremble, it doesn't fall at the end of the note and the tuning holds.
A picture using many wind proffes is the air temperature:
- Warm airas to purge a glass: slow and wide, useful for serious registration and soft and dark sounds.
- Cold airas to cool a soup: quick and focused, useful for acute registration.
In both cases the support is the same, and what changes is the air's velocity and that's adjusted with his lips and his mouth's shape, and his neck isn't tighten.
How to Inhale Without Faking The Buttocks
In the wind, inhalation has to be quick, silent and without undoing what you put with your lips. Each family resolves its own way:
| Instrumento | How to inhale |
|---|---|
| Clarinet and saxophone | The upper teeth and lower lip have been put at his place at his nozzle with his upper teeth and his upper teeth and his lower lip at his place. |
| Flute | A little lower his jaw and opening his curfew without pounding his plate from his chin. |
| Thrompette and thrombone | For curfew, or barely separating the nozzle from the centre of his lips without completely withdrawing it |
| Oboe | First by exhaling what remains and then by inhaling through the curfew |
Inhalation as part of passage: Inhales with a single pulse with [methonomic]](/herramientas/metronomo) ringing and once again playing at the next pulse without delay. If a snoring or a pounding is heard at inhaling, his throat's closing.
Wind breathing exercises
Do them at the start of practice with the methonomer at 60 and about ten minutes are enough.
| Ejercicio | How To Do It | What's his job? |
|---|---|---|
| Inhalations shorter and shorter | Inhale at 4 pulses and blow at 8, and then inhale at 2 and after at 1, while keeping his breath at 8. | Take fast and low air, as in an actual sentence |
| The blade on the wall | Hold a paper sheet against the wall with your air jet, from a paddle as long as possible | Constant and focused air |
| The picket | Blow through a thin pitcher for 8 pulses with an even flow | Keep pressure against resistance, such as that of cane or lips |
| Blow the sentence | Do the digitations of the passage while you blow only air into your hand, breathing where you're going to do it while you play | Planning breathing before playing |
| Long notes with regulators | A note of 8 pulses: crescendo for 4 and decreasing for 4 | Support monitoring throughout the volume range |
On the long notes, put a [tuner]](/herramientas/afinador) To make a crescendo and reduce tuning tends to move. At the flute, for instance, it goes up as you play strong and low as you play soft. Learning how to keep the needle still while changing the volume means training support.
Where to breathe: air at the service of the sentence
- Fold the breathing at the score with a coma or a "V." with a pencil before you play the play, and not while you play it.
- He breathes where a musical idea ends: at the end of a sentence, in a silence or after a long note. Breathe amidst a group of quick notes cuts the sentence as a broken word.
- It takes time from the previous note, not from the next note. It cuts the note a little before breathing so that the next one will come in time.
- Breathe before you have to. If you wait to run out of air, the last note of the sentence will sound weak and low.
- Adjust the quantity to the sentence: For a short sentence an air sip is sufficient and for a long, complete inhalation.
One more resort appears in the band: step breathingWhen a note or chord lasts longer than your air reaches, musicians who play the same voice breathing at different moments, coming and entering with softness, and the public hears a continuous sound. If you are thinking about joining one, read wind bands in Colombia: how to start with.
Common mistakes and tidal
| Error | What's with them? | Corrigendum |
|---|---|---|
| To put up your shoulders while inhaling | Pressure on his neck and arms, air that barely lasts | Inhale in front of the mirror with his hands on his waist |
| Inhale late, just as you come in | Outlays and half air | Inhales at the pulse before entrance with a methonomic |
| Take too much air | Uncomfortable pressure and a feeling of choking | Inhale after the words: and at oboe, let go of old air first. |
| Expand the air to the last drop | Fingerwords with a weak and nontuning | Breathe first and plan the pauses |
| Start note with your throat | Attack with blow and bad sound | He starts with his tongue, as with his words "you" or "du" |
| Input cheeks | Less air jet control | Stopped police stations and check them in the mirror |
At [saxophone classes]](/clases/saxofon)as with those of flute, clarinet or trumpet, the teacher looks at your breathing from the outside, where you can see things that you don't see: rising shoulders, late inhalations or a tense neck. If you touch a metal, complete this guide with [how to start with the trumpet's embocture]](/blog/embocadura-de-trompeta-como-empezar).
Frequently asked questions
Do you breathe through your nose or mouth while you play an instrument of wind?
Almost always by mouth, by cissures, because so more air enters in less time without untiring his mouth. The nose serves in long quiet to get some air with calm but it's too slow for most phrases.
How to have more air while playing?
More than have more, it's about spending better: low inhalation, stable support and planned breathing. With regular practice of long notes and metronome exercises, long phrases become more comfortable.
What's circular breathing?
It's an advanced technique with his nose as his cheeks push his air into his mouth and play without interruption. It's used by some saxophonists, trumpetists and oboists but it's a high priority at first: first there's a well-controlled regular breathing.
Do the breathing exercises for singing serve the winds?
Yes, the base is the same: low breathing, support and control of the exhalation. What adds the wind to the instrument's resistance, quick inhalation by the curfew and the need to avoid movement of the mouth while breathing.