the dynamics of breathing

5/27/2018 The Dynamics of Breathing

1/56 Australian Clarinet and Saxophone

An Instrumentalist Classic

The Dynamics of BreathingReprinted from The Instrumentalist - December 1998

Kevin Kelly

When Arnold Jacobs died on October 7,

1998, he left a legacy of concepts and former

students that few have equalled. During his

lifetime Jacobs drew an endless parade of

musicians to his studio, from the obvious

tuba players to professional singers and

woodwind players. Because he suffered a

childhood i llness that left him wi th dimin-ished lung capacity, Jacobs began to study

the mechani cs of breathi ng. Thi s soon

became a lifetime pursui t that was never

an end i n i tself, just a means to play well

wi thout the hinderance of improper breath-

ing habits. Indeed, after extensive instruc-

tion on correct breathing, Jacobs would then

admonish students to just match the sound

in their mind with comments such as Have

Herseth in your head or You must have a

tape recording in your head of what you

want the sound coming out of your horn tobe like.

Descripti ons in arti cles about playing

wind instruments general ly contain more

errors than truths on how to breathe. Dur-

ing the late 1970s The Instrumentalistdeleted all such descripti ons unti l it could

obtain and print the defini ti ve explanation

of what moves air in and out. That art icle

fi nally appeared in the December 1983

issue in a joint interview with Arnold Jacobs

and David Cugell , then di rector of the pul-

monary functi on laboratory at Northwest-

ern Memori al Hospital in Chicago, I ll inois.

In memory of Jacobs lifetime of achieve-

ment as a teacher and performer, we reprint

substantial portions of that classic article.

At some time every student of a windinstrument is instructed in the correctmethod of breathing. If he studies withtwo or three different teachers, he prob-ably learns two or three different meth-

ods, all presumably correct. I studiedwith six horn teachers and learned fivebreathing methods, each slightly differ-ent and none especially helpful.

The problem is two-fold. First, few

teachers ful ly understand how the bodyregulates breathing, let alone how thebreath is used in wind instrument play-ing. Second, those who have at least apartial understanding teach it in thewrong way, through attention toanatomy. The teachers incompleteunderstanding is conveyed to the stu-dent, who becomes confused, disillu-

sioned, and perhaps even immobilized.The standard art-of-playing books foreach instrument help l ittle, because feware coherent on the subject, and evenfewer agree with any other text.

In an attempt to understand thisproblem I conferred with two notedauthori ties on the subject of breathing:David W. Cugell, Bazley Professor ofPulmonary Diseases at the North-western University Medical School inChicago, Illinois, who also heads the

Pulmonary Function Laboratory atNorthwestern Memorial Hospital; andArnold Jacobs, principal tubist emeri-tus of the Chicago Symphony Orches-tra and a world-renowned teacher, whois sought by students and professionalson all wind instruments, primarily forhis approach to the psychology ofbreathing.

Wind instrument players are con-cerned with the creation and mainte-nance of a moving column of air, whichis the responsibility of the respiratorymuscles alone. Many of the muscles ofthe abdomen and chest, and some inthe neck, are involved in moving air inand out of the lungs. The diaphragm isthe muscle most frequently mentionedin connection with wind instrumentplaying and the one least understoodby wind players. It is popularly con-sidered a main element in the conceptof breath support we are often told

to support the tone from the diaphragm as if the diaphragm were active inexpiration (blowing air out). It is not.

The diaphragm is a muscle ofinspiration (taking air in), Cugell says.

Located around and above the abdo-men (see example 1), it is uniqueamong the muscles of the body in thatit contracts not from one end to theother, as the muscles in your arm, leg,or back would, but in a circular fash-ion, so that a contraction of the dia-phragm will reduce its size whileflattening it out. The diaphragm is con-nected to the lower ribs in such a man-ner that when it contracts, it movesdownward. Its one muscle, but like allmuscles its made up of multiple fibersthat contract synchronously. When itcontracts, the effect is that it pushesdownward.

The active part of breathing is theinspiratory portion. In order to moveair into the chest and expand the lungs,an active muscle effort is required, andthat means contraction of the dia-phragm. Now you can produce a little

bit of breathing by contracting othermuscles such as the strap muscles in theneck. When you see someone complet-ing a hundred-yard dash, theyre gasp-ing and tugging with their neck musclesas well as with their diaphragm, butthats the agonal gasp of the subject whois in extreme physical activity, which isnot the case when youre playing amusical instrument. You may need tobreathe in a hurry or you may need abig breath, but coordinated and

planned breathing is not assisted bycontracting some of these other mus-cles, which contribute relatively littlecompared to what a healthy diaphragmcan do.


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Cugell points out that the diaphragmfunctions only to assist with taking theair in Its the other muscles, part icu-larly in the chest area and the abdo-men, that we use to exhale and thatcollectively develop the air pressure youneed to play.

When someone sustains a high Cin a proper way using the diaphragm

as opposed to someone who does itimproperly it really has nothing todo with the diaphragm. It has to dowith how the person contracts othermuscles in the abdomen and chest. Thisinformation has been translated intothe lingo of singers and wind instru-ment players assuming that exhaling isaccomplished with the diaphragm,when in fact it is done by contractingother muscles.

There are two overlapping layers of

muscles between the ribs called theintercostal muscles; some contract dur-ing inspiration and some contractduring expiration. If I inhale in a hurryand I want to stop at a certain point,before I actually stop, the muscles thatmove the chest in the opposite direc-tion begin to work. It is this interplayof the muscles that moves things inopposite directions, which provides thefine control.

Professor Arend Bouhuys of the YaleUniversity School of Medicine, towhom Cugell referred frequently in ourdiscussions, offers a good illustrationof how the breathing-in and breathing-out muscles cooperate in wind playing:

The respiratory muscles help to gen-erate most of the energy that goes intoplaying a horn. They act on the chest,which is, for our purposes, an elasticbellows. When the chest (that is, thelungs in it ) i s ful l of air, the chest tendsto collapse as it relaxes. Just try it for

yourself: inhale as far as you can, relaxall muscles, and exhale with a sigh. Nowtry the opposite, which is more dif ficultto do: breathe out as far as you can. Nowrelax all muscles, and the air flows in.The resting position of the chest bellowsis somewhere in between, roughly in themiddle of the volume excursion rangeof the chest. The respiratory muscleshave to work with or against these elas-tic forces, depending on what the chestvolume is and what pressure we need toplay the horn.

If we first want to breathe out slowlywith very little pressure, after breathingin as far as possible, we must use con-siderable inspiratory force to keep theair from going out with a sigh. Again,

try it for yourself. Breathe in deeply, andlet the air out very slowly.

You have to brake your exhaling,using inspiratory muscles to hold back,to keep the chest volume from decreas-ing too rapidly because of its own elas-ticity. When you continue, you reach apoint where you are relaxed. Now con-tinue to breathe out slowly, and you findthat you now have to push with expira-

tory muscles to move the air out at thesame slow rate. (Arend Bouhuys, Physi-ology and Musical Instruments.Reprinted by permission from Nature,volume 221, number 5187, page 1200.1969, Macmillan Journals, Ltd.)

The amount of control the windinstrument player has over this proce-dure is limited by what is called thepressure-volume diagram of the chest,which says that greater pressure isrequired to move air at volumes below

the resting lung volume than at vol-umes above the resting point. As Cugellexplained it, In the lung the pressure-volume relationship is linear over themid-range that is, I get equal volumeincrements for equal pressure incre-ments. Once I reach the elastic limit,no matter how much pressure I apply,I dont get any more volume.

With no conscious effort to facili-tate things, the pressure is greatest whenthe lungs are largest. Similarly, whenthe lungs are largest, the conscious con-traction of the muscles produces thehighest pressures. Active expiratoryeffort is, of course, needed wheneverthe required mouth pressure for theinstrument is higher than the relaxa-

tion pressure at the prevailing lung vol-ume. As the lungs get smaller, they areno longer going to contract and gener-ate pressures on their own. You have todo it by squeezing with the muscles.

For example, if you inf late the lungsto their absolute maximum and thenplay a high C on the trumpet at maxi-mum volume, you havent used muchair, but the volume of air in the chestis reduced considerably because youvehad to squeeze so much. You compressthe air in the chest just as much as theair in the mouth. Whether you have an

instrument that has a low pressure, forwhich youre going to need a high airflow to get a large sound, or youre play-ing an instrument that has a low flowat enormous pressure (one that uses asmall mouthpiece), the effort requiredof the player is essentially the same. I nother words, youve got to squeeze withthe muscles to generate either a highflow or a high pressure.

The vast difference is that if youdont need much pressure you can play

with the entire usable portion of thelung volume. However, if you need alot of pressure you can only use a smallportion of the lung capacity becausewhen the lungs are partially empty itsnot possible to generate the pressure,as shown in example 2. You can gener-ate the maximum pressure when thelungs are full, and you want to do thatto play a loud, high note; but afteryouve exhaled some air, the lungs are

smaller and then its not possible tosustain as high a pressure. So there is alimited period of time when a playerhas both the volume and the pressureto produce the sound. On the otherhand, the time during which an oboistcan sustain a note is not limited somuch by the air pressure and air flowrequirements of the instrument as byhis breath-holding time. If you dontneed much pressure and you dont needmuch flow, then youve got all day; but

theres only so long you can hold onbefore youve got to breathe again.

The point that Cugell insisted uponthroughout our discussions is that,given all the facts of breathing anatomy,each player will discover the practicalapplications for himself. The compen-satory pattern of breathing that peoplespontaneously adopt will represent theminimum work that is required, and itis probably incorrect to impose a dif-

ferent pattern. I think a person play-ing a wind instrument fi ts into the samecategory. I f hes got to grab a breathbetween two passages, hes going to doit in a way thats best for him; I doubt


3/58 Australian Clarinet and Saxophone

that there would be any purpose inimposing a different pattern. If theplayer did it once and ran out of air,the next time hes going to breathe alittle more because he knows he has to.

Cugell referred to the Nature arti-cle, which describes the test Bouhuysconducted on four flutists playingDebussys Syrinx. One of these men was

first chair in the ConcertgebouwOrchestra of Amsterdam, one was agood amateur, and two were young pro-fessionals. Recordings from a pneumo-graph (an instrument designed tomeasure chest movement during respi-ration) showed four slightly divergentreadings within the same general pat-tern, with slight tempo fluctuations.With the exception of one man, whohad a slightly smaller lung capacity andtook one extra breath, the performers

adhered to the phrase-breath markingsin the music. This test showed theextent to which the music determinesa players breathing pattern. So if wesubscribe to the concept, with respectto instrument playing, that we willspontaneously assume the most effi-cient and effecti ve pat tern, saysCugell, then it certainly makes goodsense not to concern yourself with itso you can concentrate on all the other

aspects of your playing.Anatomy and PsychologyArnold Jacobs bases his teaching on

all these other aspects of sound andphrase the products of music. Hemakes the distinction between anatomyand function through what he calls thecomputer activity of the brain, whichis separate from the thinking part ofthe brain.

When you go to the product ofwhatever youre trying to accomplish,

youl l fi nd the physical action requiredto do it is based in the computer activ-ity of the brain. In other words, theconscious levels of the brain, wherevolitional thought takes place, handlethe product. Another level of the brain,the thinking part, will handle motorimpulses carried by nerves throughoutthe body. The firing up of the systemsis handled at subconscious levels, justlike the ability to walk or to talk or torun. The muscle activity will result

from what youre trying to accomplish.With all machines there is a set of con-trols, l ike an automobile, which has com-plex machinery under the hood butsimple controls in the drivers

compartment. Theres nothing as com-plex on this planet as the human being;but man has magnificent controls, andhe functions through this control system.

By this I mean that there are divi-sions in the brain that are going to con-trol all sorts of physical functions:cutting up food, bringing it to themouth and chewing it, handling the

body for sleep at night, or even goinginsane. The thinking part of the brainis free to cope with life around us, itdoes not have to cope with life withinus. Its with the thinking part of thebrain that we begin to establish whatwe want in the way of product.

This, of course, is what players areup against; i n music, so often a teachermakes the mistake of altering themachine activity rather than alteringthe product or what he wants accom-

plished. The instructor is givingmachine methods of how to do it, andpeople cant work that way. None of uscan. We have to look for the easyanswer all the time. It is so simple. Ifyou want a lot of breath, just take a lotof air. Dont worry about where it goes.If you want to blow, just blow. Withstudents a teacher should always try forthe simple answers that bring out theproper motor response. That idea

belongs not in the realm of anatomybut in psychology.The concept that Jacobs introduces

students to is what he calls the phe-nomenon of wind the idea of blow-ing air out through the instrument toprevent pressures from building upinside the lungs. Most students whocome to Jacobs have acquired the habitof thinking about air pressure insteadof air in motion. Because these habitsare difficult to break, he uses psychol-

ogy to create new habits, to get studentsto use their muscles for the proper func-tion.

The respiratory muscles are involvedin three ways. One is respiration, thesingle complete act of breathing in andout. The second has to do with pelvicpressures when the upper end of theairway is closed, forcing pressure down-ward for such events as defecation andchildbirth. The third has to do with theisometrics of physical function, the

kind of static muscle tighteninginvoked in weightli ft ing and wrestli ng.

A musician has to make sure thathe is using the right approach whenplaying an instrument, Jacobs says.

He doesnt want the one that immo-bilizes, and he doesnt want the one thatcreates great isometric contractions thathave no movement potential. Becausea continuous flow of air requires move-ment, the player should go to respira-tion.Move Air as Wind

The psychology of bl owing is

always to blow outward, to work withwind rather than air pressure. The psy-chology of it is important. Take yourhand, hold it at a distance, and blowonto it. Now where the air lands is thearea to concentrate on. Some teacherswill have the player blow through theinstrument or through the far wall. Itdoesnt matter what the technique is tomotivate a student; the psychology ofit is to move air as wind, not air pres-sure.

Wi th wind there is always air pres-sure. With air pressure, there is notalways wind. If you just concentrate onthe air pressure which can happen inany body cavity the danger is that youmay have stimulated the Valsalvamaneuver (in which you try to breatheout with your mouth and nose shut)or the pelvic pressure syndrome, or theisometrics, which do not involve move-ments of air.

But an instructor is never going toget this idea across by telling studentsto push with this muscle or that mus-cle. I get them to blow. Away from theinstrument I let them observe theirbody. I use special equipment, or I mayhave students blow up balloons or blowout matches, and then show how quan-tities can be taken from any part of thethorax (the body area between the neckand the abdomen). In other words wego through a certain amount of per-

spective training away from music tobecome acquainted with the body, sothat the studies of air in life areinvolved.

The confusion of many teachersabout both the role of the diaphragmand the idea of abdominal support ofair is largely responsible for many stu-dents preoccupation with the kind ofpressures resulting from misdirectedmuscular tensions. First of all, theterm support raises questions in itself.

Many people make the mistake ofassuming that muscle contraction iswhat gives support. The blowing of thebreath should be the support, not ten-sion in the muscles of the body, but the


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movement of air as required by theembouchure or the reed.

You go into the mechanics of move-ment and confusion arises; its a causeand effect relationship. When a playerblows, the body undergoes certainchanges. There will be increasing pal-pable tensions that can be felt just bytouching a person. Toward the end of

a breath, there wil l be a certain numberof f ibers that are stimulated. There willbe increasing motor activity in orderto get the air out, and this variesaccording to the length of the phraseand the amount of air in the lungsoriginally; but support is never tightmuscles, whether youre silent or blow-ing, or in a diminuendo or crescendo.In other words its simply a static, con-stant, isometric type of contraction thatso many people call support. This is not

support at all.Support is always a reduction phe-

nomenon. Wherever the player is goingto build pressure, according to BoylesLaw, he is going to have a reducedchamber. Now the chamber can bereduced anywhere it is enlarged. I t getsbigger when you take air in, it getssmaller when you move air out. When

you blow, the brain will deactivate thediaphragm, normally. Expiratory func-tion will normally deactivate inspira-tory function. If you are using air tocreate pelvic pressures, the diaphragmwill not deactivate it will remainstimulated. Abdominal muscles thatwould normally be expiratory will startcontracting, and there will be a closure

at the throat, tongue, or lips whichcauses the air pressure to bear down ona downward-contracting diaphragm toincrease the pelvic pressure for expul-sion of fecal matter. Of course, to by-pass this we have to have a blowingphenomenon that is different. You see,you have to form a new habit, and anew habit does not come right away. Anew habit takes time to reach the sub-conscious level.

Jacobs uses a wide variety of non-

musical exercises to get players to feeland hear the difference between blow-ing air out freely and blowing out in achoked manner that results in a tightchest and abdominal muscles. For ex-ample, blow onto the back of the handusing a tight hissing sound throughyour teeth, as loud as possible. You willfeel very li ttle air. By blowing out freely

onto the hand, you feel a considerableamount of air under low pressure. Thehiss is under high pressure, but there isli ttle quantity. By closing the lips in themidst of the hiss and then releasing thesound explosively, you will have feltconsiderable pressure behind the lipsand also behind the tongue. As soon asyou open the lips, you have an imme-

diate shortage of air.We see these closures in students all

the time, Jacobs says, coming from asibilant s (the hissing sound) or at theback of the tongue, and even somewhere the larynx and epiglottis start tocome together. I f I have a studentwhose tongue is blocking the air, allow-ing very little air movement but at highpressure, I immediately encourageusing an open vowel form such as ohor ah. All through life you have lan-

guage; language involves the tongue.Over the years you have built up reflexresponse for shape that is very power-ful. You hear a trumpet or a bassoon,but it sounds like a singer singing oh.Listen for that sound and the tongueshape will be correct. This pertains toany need to open up the airway.

Following one of Jacobss recent


5/51 0 Australian Clarinet and Saxophone

masterclasses at Northwestern Univer-sity, a woman asked how to help a bas-soon student who lets the air get likea brick wall constricted and tense which apparently resulted in quite ahorrible sound.

First of all, he said, get her awayfrom the bassoon. You dont have to usethe reed; just put something in her

mouth. Have the student start blow-ing or start blowing against somethingin order to see that the air will do some-thing where it lands. The importanceof this approach is not to correct whatswrong, but to establish what should beright.

I would give her a couple of strawsand have her blow at the pages of abook and watch what happens on theother side. H ave her blow at somematches or blow up a weak balloon, but

always with the thought of becomingacquainted with air, rather than airpressure. Studying childbirth andcoughing gives the picture of what airpressure will do. H owever, when youstudy a burn and cool it by blowing onthe hand, or when youre doing what Iused to do, blow peas at people with apea shooter, then you get a differentpicture of what air will do.

Start mechanical movements with-

out the instrument so the studentexperiences change in the abdominal-diaphragmatic relationship. Deliber-ately have her create massive motionsin the abdominal region, sucking thebelly in, forcing it out, pushing it upand down this is the region whereshes been stabilized. Now deliberatelydestabilize it. Start the muscle activityof change in front of a mirror so thesenses work together to strengthen eachother. Dont tie it into music, though,

or else shel l have to fight her own hab-its.

Then tie in the movements of airby using motion every day blowingout matches, taking in lots of air andenlarging. Allow a few weeks, where shehas to be practicing this every day. Inthe abdominal region where the studentwas stable, she will begin to establishmobility of function. It has to be rec-ognized in this manner before youapply it to the bassoon. Then you do it

with just some reed squawks, but withexaggeration.

Exaggeration is one of the impor-tant tools. Doing things just right is not

what you want. The recognition is notthere so you overchange. Youre notdoing it with the music, so theres nodamage.Its the Tone

But wind is finally only a minorpart . Tone production is the major. Youuse the wind as fuel. With a windinstrument, the horn resonates sound

waves; its reacting to sound andamplifying it according to acousticalproperties. Our air isnt used to fill aninstrument, its used by the embou-chure as energy so the lips can vibrate.

So players certainly shouldnt worryabout the air, but about the quality oftone. When you get the tone, you willhave all the requirements of tone; youwill have all the requirements of toneat the subconscious levels. The blow-ing is an incidental part; the tone

doesnt exist without the blowing, butthe blowing can exist without the tone.As an artist you go for the product the product is sound and phrase andall the emotions in music you usethought processes that stimulate motorfunction, but you dont worry about thefunction. You worry about the sound.You will use the breath as needed. Youwill do it primarily without awarenessof air. The air should be used freely

waste it, do anything you want. A play-ers awareness is of the communicationof sound to whoever he is talking to.

There are, of course, many ways stu-dents and professionals have of inhib-iting their ability to express soundfreely.

Probably the most common is poorposture. Posture is very important,Jacobs acknowledges. Were structuredso that the maximal use of air comes inthe standing posture, as if you would

run or fight for your life. Standingoffers the greatest ability to move largevolumes of air in and out of the lungs.The closer you get to the supine, thepoorer it becomes.

There is no such thing as a fullbreath without the use of the sternum(the compound ventral bone and car-tilage that supports the ribs). If I leanback on the chair and reach over myhead, the motion pulls the rib cage up,which is already in the expanded posi-

tion. That means I cant use it forbreathing in or out. If I bend forwardover my belly, pressure in the abdomi-nal region under the diaphragm is such

that 1 have great difficulty usingdiaphragmatic function.

If you need large volumes of air, youwill use the entire respiratory system.If youre playing an instrument thatdoesnt require as much air, youre nevergoing to use a full breath; however, youshould be able to. Performers have totake sufficient air in to be able to com-

plete phrases. This involves taking inquantities of air based on judgementsof how much air wil l be left at the endof a phrase. Standing while seated is thebest posture because players have thegreatest ability to move air in and outof the lungs. However, if you arebreathing with comfort, the posturedoesnt have to be that way. As long asyou are in the upright position, youshould have more than enough air. I fyoure a large person with large lung

reserves, posture is not that important;however, people who have small lungvolumes must stay upright and makeuse of whatever nature gave them.

In this art form, Jacobs concludes,we are dealing in sound. Respirationis made too much of. We need suffi-cient quantities of fuel so that we canuse it easily as I say, waste it, i ts free but dont make a big deal out of it.We dont start anything with skill; skill

is developed over a period of time inspite of yourself. We have to recognisewhat were trying to accomplish; theorders that come from various parts ofthe brain must be based on the soundof the instrument. We have to makesure that we dont take the level of thebrain at which we have volitionalthought and try to take charge of thehuman machine through its individualcomponents. We cant handle it . Youvegot to get out of the way and allow your

body to function for you. The point isto try to sound great when you play.

Kevin Kelly earned degrees in musiccriticism and English at NorthwesternUniversity, where he played horn in themajor wind performance ensembles.

1998 The Instrumentalist Co.Reprinted by permission. SubscribetoThe Instrumentalist(200 Northfield

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the dynamics of breathing

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