So I’ve really been kicking it into high gear on the playing (the new Olwell helped). We just got done with Chinese New Year and I probably spent at least 3-5 hrs a day playing (roughly). I’ve been able to get a really good tone, and my fingering is improving with the help of Grey Larsen, however, I’m finding that when I play, I seem to always be out of breath. I know I’m supposed to breath with my diaphram, but I’m still struggling. Does this go away eventually with more playing? Are there excercised one can do?
Has anyone ever experienced this (dumb question)–what did you do?
M.I.C.
I think everyone who’s ever taken up the flute has experienced this. It’s not (primarily) that you’re not breathing in enough, it’s mostly that you’re expending too much air, possibly that you’re not breathing often enough. There are a few things you can try to accelerate using less air. Here are a couple that my teacher gave me:
Play long notes in front of a mirror, with your head tilted back so that you can see the opening of your lips. Experiment with different things, like drawing down the outer parts of your mouth. Try to find something that gives the smallest opening still with a decent sound.
Spit rice. Take a grain of rice into your mouth and, blowing out through your lips, spit it out. It just so happens that the same shape that spits the rice the farthest also will give you a strong tone and use very little air.
Mostly it’s just practice, but these two got me into some good habits and were a good launching point. I’m still a couple of bars away from playing phrases as long as I’d like, but I can usually get through one part of a reel or jig on only two breaths. The problem is when the good breathing places aren’t located conveniently – if I try to go five measures I can usually make it, six is seldom, and there are simply some times when you need to go six measures. In this case, it’s that I’m not getting enough in a breath, though, rather than using too much while playing.