Laugh at this if you will, but I am wondering if any of you guys smoke? Maybe thats “part” of my problem. I have see the clips of MT play , M. Eskin and others & just wondered. I may have to stop “not likely” or be content to play slow tunes.
I’m guessing you’re asking because you think it might be affecting your lung capacity for certain tunes?
Smoking will certainly have an adverse affect but probably not so big you can’t improve it in other ways. If you’re not ready to quit then doing more exercise will help.
Of course the other thing that will probably help is more whistling 
Actually, slow tunes are harder than fast ones if you’re lung capacity challenged. The long phrasing, y’know.
That just shows how little I know
I find it being the opposite.
More space for breathing. While in dance music you only have a short time to inhale.
But maybe the thread creator is more inclined to cough unexpectedly, rather than not having big enough lungs, so then I would agree.
I hope they don’t ban newbie users arguing against the pro’s… 
No coughing, Im not a lunger yet, but I am just trying to eliminate possibilities. I play harmonica passably, not great mostly I play stringed inst.
I have just never taken so long to even get passable on a instrument. It is frustrating and alluring. Hearing you guys get these beautifu ltones , seemingly so effortlessly. Ill keep working. Pardon the crazy questions
Steve
Length of time for inhalation has very little to do with the lung capacity. Indeed, the time is shorter, but it doesn’t really matter - for that matters if your lung capacity is very high.
I’d second MTGuru here - longer tunes need bigger capacity, if you keep it easy flowing (many times, surely not always).
To the first question - here, around 0:50: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=482RwpkuHiY
can be easily seen that smoking doesn’t kill the ability to play (it’s Seamus Ennis I believe)…however - could it be the reason why he was later seen playing pipes so much? 
On the other hand - one example doesn’t make a proof (well, it does, but a proof of different kind) - so it can be a problem I’d say.
I’m not saying that inhalation speed corresponds to lung capacity.
Just that if someone has a bit limited or normal lung capacity, it’s easier to run out of air than if you have big lungs, meaning you have to make effective use of every opportunity to inhale, meaning that the opportunity to inhale deeply helps greatly.
If a person on the other hand has higher lung capacity, he/she doesn’t have to utilize breathing opportunities as often.
That’s my experience. It’s easier for me in this aspect to play slow tunes rather than dance music.
If you stop smoking, you’ll probably live longer, and have that much more time to play…
I work in a hospital OR as a nurse, and let me tell you, if you could see the crud on a smoker’s lungs first hand, you’d be sick to your stomach.
There are SO many things out there that want to kill you and you have no control over them: why not avoid one that you CAN control.
Lecture over…
In my opinion, playing the harmonica takes way more lung capacity than whistling. At least the way that I play both instruments. I quit smoking ages ago. I think breath efficiency will come with experience.
I picked up the harmonica after my heart surgery to do my breathing exercises. I picked up the whistle when I needed the accidentals that I couldn’t achieve on a harmonica.
I also accumulate way less condensation now than when I began playing the whistle.
Yes and no. The speed with which you can take a breath depends primarily on diaphragm control and strength, not lung capacity. Typically in playing the whistle, you’re usually not going to deplete your lung reservoir to lower than around 30% anyway. (If you routinely go lower, you’re breathing wrong.) Any adult should be able to fill the remaining 70% capacity they have in a fraction of a second. And the inhale speed should be approximately the same if the tune is slow or fast. If you are using long breath pauses and inhaling slowly in slow tunes because the “notes seem slower”, that’s a real beginner’s mistake.
Of course, in sean nós type slow airs - played in free tempo and not strictly metrically - long pauses can be part of the expression, and they allow more relaxed breathing. But the breath pauses are motivated by the music, not vice-versa.
That’s true. But that’s exactly why faster dance tunes are generally easier - because they present many more opportunities for breathing, and those opportunities are spaced closer together. You also use breath pauses as a part of the rhythmic pulse of the tune, for emphasis. By contrast, in slow tunes the phrases are usually longer, and spaced farther apart because of the slow tempo. So lung reservoir capacity is a more critical factor.
These observations apply to both high and low whistles - but especially to low whistles, which usually deplete your air at a faster rate.
I hope that explanation helps.
By the way, too big lung capacity can be a problem too!
I have a wooden whistle made by local maker, and it “eats” so little air, that in breaks I have to exhale first, and then inhale (which is rather bad). If the air is too long in lungs it gets useless (not wanting to go throught technical details), and it has to get out
The answer to that problem is to adjust your embouchure not so tight, and allow some air to “leak” from your lips around the mouthpiece as you play. Then you can deplete your air down to a comfortable level before you take a breath.
This is also a problem with high-backpressure winds like double reeds (oboe, bassoon) and capped reeds (crumhorn, practice chanter), with a similar solution.
you can leak through yer nose
Ewwwww!
Yes, that works too.
it’s a lot easier than the, ah, ears!
Yeah, that’s it, ears…
Sure does. If it’s true that a normal person doesn’t sink below 30% of his lung capacity, and fill the lungs very quick with the diaphragm.
I can’t do that though, but I guess it’s a matter of training.
you could try a yoga class, they know a lot about breathing
or any wind musician, swimmer, etc…