No matter what wind instrument you play the key to good tone is playing from the “diaphram”. Or so we’re told.
Thisisn’t an attempt to argue that point so save it for another thread. What I want to know is, what the heck does it mean?
Let me rephrase that. Instead of saying, play from your “diaphram, a collection of muscles between the abdomen and chest cavity” why not explain it in terms of how it feels when you do it correctly.
I’ve never quite figured out what it means but in 30 years of playing I know that if I push out with my stomach muscles instead of merely my lungs I have a better tone. Not sucking in the gut but letting it out like a big sigh. It’s like your whole torso is involved.
Hmmm, I push out (all around) on the inhale. Actually, more like pulling out. Pull the abdominals in toward the spine) on the exhale. FWIW. Same way my body works for talking or singing. I’d find it very difficult to do it as you seem to be describing.
And therein lies the problem. Everyone’s description is different and I think somewhere along the way somebody decided to say “diaphram” and let it go at that.
I don’t bloat out when exhaling which wouldn’t make sense, but it’s not a contraction of the whole organ cavity either. Oh well.
Try looking through the book Jeffrey Allen’s Secrets of Singing: Male (Low and High Voice) or the female version. Appendix 1 covers breathing, and the movement of the diaphragm in Inhalation & Exhalation.
"The diaphragm is, however, undeniably the most important muscle of inhalation and contributes in no small way to breath control. The lowering of the diaphragm makes room for the lungs to inflate. And how slowly the muscle returns to its place of rest is largely the measure of breath control.
A trained diaphragm becomes coordinated with the support muscles to allow for faster, deeper, and more controlled inhalation. This contributes to the elimination of gulping or panic breaths which are common amongst inexperienced singers."
I have had the misfortune to have a vocal cord paralysed by intubation (anaethesia) for surgery. After a few months of problems after the surgery, I since undergone speech therapy (since I could not walk & talk at the same time). Due in part to the loss of coordination between the various support muscles used for breathing (they paralyse the diaphragm and breath for you in the operating room).
I’ve had considerable accommodation back towards some sort of normality through the vocal exercises, breathing exercises, and some physical therapy to strengthen my back muscles. I can now sing (not as well as I used to), and play some flute (still get out of breath easily).
At my last Ear-Nose-Throat exam, my vocal cord moved, probably for the first time in 18 months, so I am hopeful of further recovery.
I think everyone could benefit from some singing instruction (books or a live instructor), and such activities as meditation, hypnosis, or body work (like Feldenkrais, Rolfing, etc.).
I played brass instruments for years (mostly trumpet and french horn), and now whistle. To me, breathing from the diaphragm means using your stomach muscles to regulate the air pressure to get an even, pure tone. Most beginners blow with their chest muscles, and get an uneven tone that can’t be sustained long, and dies off at the end of notes. A weak “toot toot” sound, instead of a pure stream of notes.
So, to get the feeling of playing from the diaphragm: Take a medium sized breath, feel like you’re breathing into your belly. Hold your breath, feeling your stomach tense up, like you’re preparing for someone to punch you in the stomach. Then open your lips slightly, and press out a thin stream of air using the same stomach-tensing feeling. You still feel that “holding back” sensation in your neck as if you’re holding your breath. Feel like you’re saying “oooo” without vocalizing. See how long and steady the stream can be.
For comparison, try pushing the air out in a slow thin stream using just your chest muscles. It feels more like saying the letter “H” with your throat wide open. It’s very difficult to keep an even stream, and it peters out quickly.
that does work. but its not particularly good breath support. by pushing your stomach towards your spine when breathing out, you are actually funnelling more of that energy towards your intestines than needs to be, wasting pressure that could be spent on your lungs. its better than using just your chest, however.
the way that flyingcursor describes it is the way to have the best possible air support.
it is more difficult because it uses a slightly different set of muscles than which you describe, meaning they are probably not as well developed because you have not practiced. i wonder if you also found it difficult at first to press your abdominals in, just as you now find it difficult to press them out.
i suppose its hard to convince yourself to try it out if you cant see an immediate benefit. i thought my flute teacher was crazy when he told me to push out. once i learned the piccolo, it made sense. there are certain notes that i literally could not hit (though in retrospect the pitch is so obscenely loud and high it was nice to be unable to hit them) unless i pushed out with my stomach when my teacher indicated. then, going back to the silver flute, i noticed there were places i could not get notes in tune without pushing out. also, while playing in the 3rd octave, the majority of the difficulties i had in switching “registers” was because i did not push out with my diaphragm.
the context for irish music is less clear, however, because there is little occasion to use the 3rd octave (though more reason to have better support while using it). it becomes more apparent why pushing out is better when considering several things.
good breath support is good breath support is good breath support. which means: it helps you play more in tune and play louder; without good air support it is impossible to play softer while remaining in tune (nevermind steady).
the thing, however, that has the most IMMEDIATE impact on irish music with proper breath support (here meaning stomach pushing out) is that you can play longer on each breathe and that you can breathe in quicker. the second part of that is quite simple. if your stomach is pushing out while exhaling, when you inhale (which kevin describes accurately as pushing out your stomach) there is no wasted energy or movement; you merely continue the movement of pushing out that you are already doing; “an energy in motion stays in motion”. while pushing your abdominals towards your spine, you waste energy by putting undue pressure on your intestines as well as wasting energy by having to stop pushing in to push out so that you may breathe in.
I guess we’re hoping for some recently-discovered shortcut to breathing properly. This ain’t it.
I used to worry too much about this until I figured something out:
When you’re breathing in, think of filling up a balloon. The very center of that balloon is behind your navel, two inches in, and an inch or two up (does not apply to Jessie ). Now, if you keep the balloon in the right place and fill it reasonably full, support is no problem. You’ll know that the balloon is in the right place if you feel the muscles in your mid/lower back get a bit tight on a full (>75%) breath.
I’ve played flute for years and never really gave any thought to breathing from my diaphragm. It seems like if I were to attempt using my diaphram for vibrato it would be useful to pay attention to it. I could be wrong, but it seems to me if your breathing relaxed your diaphram is doing its job. I think to breathe from your chest cavity would feel like what people typically do to take a deep breathe before going under water.
). Now, if you keep the balloon in the right place and fill it reasonably full, support is no problem. You’ll know that the balloon is in the right place if you feel the muscles in your mid/lower back get a bit tight on a full (>75%) breath.