Wind Part 1
Arnold Jacobs, retired Tuba Chicago Symphony
March 28-30, 1991
- "Thin air" (hiss) vs "Thick Air" (hooe).
- Wind as wind, not pressure.
- Waste your breath (air is free, use it).
- Establish normalcy, in midrange, then move it to extremes (high/low, loud/soft, legato/staccato, etc.).
- Think about lips vibrating not resisting air. Lips as vocal chords.
- Vowel sounds "ah" and "oh" lessens resistance in tongue.
- Breath flow important when playing an instrument as opposed to singing. Flow is greater playing than singing.
- Playing good does not feel special.
- AIR:
- Pressure-guard against breath pressure, the upper tube (Throat) closes and pressure is directed downward. This used only in defalcation and childbirth.
- Blowing as wind does not involve breath pressure. Stomach and chest strength not involved in playing instrument.
- Play first note-not as function or meat-but as tone (sound).
- Establish the range of motion of diaphragm by moving stomach out (diaphragm extended) and in (diaphragm contracted). The actual movement will be small (21/2" at most). You cannot feel the diaphragm directly (there are no sensors attached), but by motion.
- Stimuli- Suction is important. Don't expand to breath (mechanical sense) breath to expand (psychological sense). (Ref. also Song)
- We need respiration, but it should not be overdone. We need air for fuel, but fuel is not music.
- Quantity of air then speed of intake.
- Thicker air not more is key factor.
- Consonant T is unvoiced, vowel sound is what you control sound with.
- You don't want pressure to keep diaphragm down. The diaphragm should be allowed to return to its contracted position. Pelvic pressure keeps pushing diaphragm down.
- Wind as wind not pressure. There cannot be wind without pressure so you don't have to add any additional pressure to the equation.
- Relaxation Pressure:
- Like a rubber band stretched and released will return to its original shape with force.
- Your body works in similar fashion. There is a moment when you have finished breathing when the inner and outer air pressure is equalized. Prolong this moment.
- Exercise: Inhale deeply and count loudly onto your hand (1-2-3-4) without letting breath out in between counts. Keep equalized without tension in throat.
- Good respiration spreads work around all muscles.
- Exercise: On an Incentive Spirometer or Breath Builder, Bring ball to top smoothly and gently. Start with maximum resistance and as you reduce it prolong time you keep ball at top.
- Inhale fully to a comfortably full level. Maximal inhalation is used for emergency situations.
- Your body can lie. For example you can move chest and abdominal region and not inhale. If you want to move tissue you can order body to do this-or you can order breath. (Ref. Also Song)
- Brass instrument is for resonance only. Player supplies vibration and air.
- You are built to survive and use muscles as systems not individually. (Ref. Also Song)
- Timing is secondary to quantity of air. How much counts for more than how long it takes to get breath.
- Exercise: Use arm to tie in a physical feature with respiration. Push a column of air into your mouth with your hand. Start slowly then faster. Then vary take in 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc. Always take in a comfortably large quantity of air. This ties in something you can see and feel (arm) to function you cannot feel (respiration).
- Adjust air at lips not throat or body. (Body can lie, but air passing thru lips is truth).
- BREATH: Basis of breathing is slow and in large quantities, then progress to faster breaths (with same large quantities of air.)
- Tongue is a very large muscle (sometimes too large). Object is to get tongue out of the way, make smaller, and certain vowels sounds are useful for this purpose.
- Vowel sounds:
- Patterns established at very early age for speech.
- Syllables ah-oh-ou tongue is at bottom of mouth, out of way.
- Syllables ee-kee tongue is at top of mouth, in the way of a large wind passage.
- Syllables oh -ou produce smaller pointed tongue out of way.
- Syllable a-kee produces wide tongue in the way.
- Syllable thou (starting with tongue out of mouth and moving it in) will set tongue in smallest position.
- Air must be at lips not throat. Pressure at throat results in a bearing down on diaphragm at the same time the abdominal wall is pushing up. This causes a lock in the respiratory functions effecting the exhalation.
- Psychology of playing is based on wind. (Ref. also Song)
- All types of pressure and psuedopressure.
- Go outside the body (breath builder, rebreathing bag, piece of paper, volumetic exerciser, incentive spirometer, etc.) to demonstrate "WIND" concepts. (Ref. also Song)
- All "extremes" are more difficult than "norms". To aid in breaking these barriers try to return to "norm" conditions (found in mf playing in medium to lower register) and take these to extremes. Always play musically! (Ref. #4)
- Bad sounds can be made into beautiful sounds-silence cannot! (Ref. also Song)
- It doesn't have to feel good to sound good! (Ref. #8)
- Greatest volume of air (quantity and speed) moves at the start of respiratory activities. Same way breathing in or out. Then it slows in volume and speed.
- Relaxation pressure: when playing notes little muscle activity is needed because little muscle strength is needed to send air out. It helps if you have large comfortable quantity of air. Harms if you are low on air.
- Take breaths to replaced used air. You don't start a trip on empty and put just enough fuel in car to make trip. Fill up.
- You can also play softly with full lungs. For example just because the tank on a car is full, you don't have to drive fast.
- Stay tall when you play. The optimal position for respiration is standing to worst laying supine. When you sit keep back straight and stay tall.
- Don't get short when you blow air out and tall when you breath in -- Always keep a "Long Spine".
- When you concentrate on the psychology of breath anatomical structures will take care of the physical activity needed to do the job. Most actions we perform are too complicated to think about. (Ref. also Song)
- Exercise: Take In/Exhalation based on a count (steady and slow 5,6,7 or 8). Go from full to empty to full. Feel the air pass the lips. Think about a violin bow moving from frog to tip. Do everyday for at least 6 months. This should no be associated with playing an instrument, it is just the action of a physical being. Wind as wind!
- Use arm to bring outside physical association to respiration.
- When most people breath they order a breath (not quantity, just a breath). You should always try to order a comfortably large quantity of breath (wind). (Ref. also Song)
- You cannot play by pressure. Play with air thought of as a motion phenomenon.
- Diaphragm must move up without internal resistance.
- Never blow from the diaphragm - it lowers pressure to allow lungs to take in air.
- Use both senses of feel and sight.
- Ratio of air pressure to air movement: 4 to 1
- Bring "stomach in" - let diaphragm contract up to let air be released for use- wind, not pressure.
