Playing a Wind Instrument – It's All about Breathing

Articles on Musical Instruments | Topics: instruments, instrument

by Kristine Kim

The fundamental principle behind breathing for a wind instrument is to completely relax, and take in as much air as you can within a short time frame. There are three techniques used to teach young students proper breathing.

The Cool Spot: If you inhale through your mouth, we feel the roof of your mouth become cool. Now you should inhale through your mouth and try to push the cool spot as far in the back of your throat as possible. You can get open throat similarly if you try to make yourself yawn. Notice how open your throat becomes as you begin to yawn. That amount of openness is what is necessary in order to take in a lot of air in a short time frame.

The Gasp: Is exactly that – a gasp. Gasping can make you take in a large amount of air, filling the lungs to capacity, in a very short time frame. This is precisely what is necessary to play a brass instrument.

Distention: This requires you to take a deep breath until your lungs become entirely full. Your stomach will distend the more air you inhale. This is the feeling you should get when you breathe properly while playing a wind instrument.

How do the most renowned musicians of wind instruments perform through the longest and most difficult pieces of music without taking in air? The all share the same technique – circular breathing. This technique is vital for anyone who wants to be successful in the competitive field of music. This is not a hard technique to master but will require some practice on your part. Circular breathing is skill of the instrumentalist to blow air out though their mouth while breathing in through their nose. This sounds absolutely, impossible and not doubt as you are reading this you tried and decided that circular breathing is impossible – keep reading.

The fundamental principle:

Puff up your cheeks

Close off your throat

Breathe in though your nose while pushing the air in your mouth out your lips with your cheek and tongue.

Circular breathing is a lot like snorkeling for the first time you may have never blown out your mouth while breathing in, but you can do it. Here are several exercises that will help develop circular breathing.

Historical Quote

But when to mischiefmortals bend their will,
How soon they find fit instruments of ill!

—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

Fill a tall drinking glass half full of water. Now get a straw so you can blow bubbles. Start blowing bubbles with your breath. Now puff your cheeks and close off your throat. Inhale through your nose and begin exhaling again. The goal is to keep a constant stream of bubbles going.

Take a big mouth full of water and squeeze it out through your lips very slowly while at the same time breathing in though your nose. The resistance of the water lets you see how the cheeks and tongue must move to compel the water out and spitting water obviously closes off the back of the throat.

Place a balloon in your mouth and blow air into the balloon. Now attempt to inhale though your nose while you fill the balloon with air. If you do this exercise for more than ten minutes you will discover muscles in your cheeks that you had no idea were there.

These exercises will help you with the mental portion of doing two things at one time that are not usually connected to one another. They will also show you what the physical aspect of each part of your body should be doing during each step of the process. Practice these exercises several times per day and soon you will have circular breathing perfected.

Each wind instrument requires a different breathing technique, for instance the oboe requires the least amount of air by the musician than any other wind instrument. Therefore, when the musician is taking air into their lungs they do not want to inhale as much air as they can. Consider the way you take in air when you are swimming underwater this is the same technique you would use when you are playing the oboe. Once your stomach is expanded and the intercostals muscles are constricted to push the air that you have drawn in at through the oboe reed the resonance is created.

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