Hi folks. Ive been reading a facinating book about the health benefits of breathing always through the nose rather than the mouth. Now I know it feels instinctive when playing flute to take sharp intakes of breath through the mouth because it feels easier to quickly fill the lungs…but has anyone here tried getting into the habit of inhaling quickly through the nose? I’ve been trying this this morning and it feels difficult, but I wondered if any flute players have mastered it and found it advantageous for their breath control overall?
I’m just happy to get through a tune!
I think taking a walk for an hour could confer far more health benefits than plying the flute for an hour, and for me considering the health benefits of playing flute are sort of like considering the vitamin content of chocolate
Maybe it’s due to my geezer age and occasionally stuffed sinuses, but if I tried to draw the same amount of air into my lungs through my nose that I can do through my mouth, you’d hear a loud snort that would be very distracting!
That said, there is one method of nasal breathing used for wind instruments, and that’s the “circular breathing” method to play a continuous sound without appearing to take a breath. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing
It’s a traditional wind instrument technique in some cultures, but don’t know if any famous ITM flute players use this method. Getting a good Irish rhythm pulse and volume on flute as well as overblowing the bottom D into harmonics takes a fair amount of wind reserve in the lungs. I don’t know if circular breathing is compatible with the ITM style.
Circular breathing is also known as “the glassblower’s trick” and requires significant resistance to the flow of air in order to work. It is used by classically trained oboists and is practicable on other high-pressure low-flow instruments. The flute is at the opposite end of that spectrum.
Hatao has done it on both whistle and flute:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekIIn_BY3e0
But think it’s more of a party trick on these instruments and not the most musical thing to do when breathing’s normally an integral part of the rhythmic style!
One of the problems is that at any given time we’re usually breathing much more through one nostril than the other. A lot of people find that one side of their nose always feels stuffier than the other because the septum’s not exactly in the middle, so if you happen to be breathing on that side (the brain swaps from one to the other through the day as part of a natural cycle), it might feel really difficult.
I’ve known Balkan style clarinetists who’ve used circular breathing to great musical effect when holding an impossibly long note at the beginning of a solo, particularly one that’s got tension with the chord or riff being played underneath- which often causes excitement at a live event to go off the charts.
It’s definitely trickier to do on instruments with less resistance- like flute- and even more difficult to keep heavy rhythmic accents going- you’d have to time it well between the accents in order to really use it, if that’s a style of playing you’re going for.
I hadn’t seen the clip of Hatao doing it on whistle and flute- that’s impressive. Can’t help but notice that tho he’s quite capable, I’ve never seen him actually use circular breathing (aside from this vid) otherwise in his hundreds of Youtube vids.
In general, breathing thru the nose in at least classical woodwind playing is discouraged because those lovely hairs in the nose that filter the air also substantially slow down the inhalation- not something we’re usually going for when trying to fill up the lungs in the middle of a piece.
Oh, there’s at least one more earlier one at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWpv7w5kNk4 as well as related discussions on The Session. But you’re otherwise quite right; it’s not something he really uses for trad, and I certainly want to hear the rhythm that comes with the breaths.
Circular breathing is completely possible on flute, whistle, recorder or really any wind instrument. It’s more difficult to master on lower pressure instruments but still something most people could learn in a few weeks of daily practice.
I learned circular breathing on brass instruments at music college and have had no trouble applying it to folk flute.
You will never be able to take in as large a volume of air thru your nose as quickly as thru your mouth. Whether that’s a problem for your playing probably depends a lot on your style and what you’re playing. I’m not sure how it could improve breath control.
Know that inhaling thru the mouth is standard practice in the classical world for all winds. Playing an instrument is a specialized and transient activity with extra requirements.. I’m not sure it makes sense to try to apply the rational of passive day to day breathing to it.