LFP 004 |Flute Tips for Better Breathing

Podcast Transcript

Well welcome to this Learn Flute Podcast episode 4 where I, Rebecca Fuller will be taking you on yet another little journey towards better flute playing.

In the last episode we talked about finger coordination, and I gave you a couple of exercise games you could play at any time of the day in order to combat those slow, clumsy feeling fingers.

We flute players get pretty good at learning to control many different parts of our bodies in order to find beautiful tone and an easy, relaxed sound.

Today we’re going to be talking about breath control.

Now, I know this is a big, huge issue for many flute players – I know this because I am one of them! And, in teaching literally hundreds and hundreds of flute students, I have found that there is definitely a process to getting that breathing under control.

I very vividly remember when I first started playing the flute many, many, many years ago. I had issues with being dizzy all the time. The funny thing is that now that I teach – I have figured out why I was so dizzy back then, and how to fix it fast so that enjoyment can be had instead of spinning frustration.

So, most flute players are constantly working on their sound production and their tone. It’s an ongoing process – forever. Any musician who tells you they have learned it all isn’t telling the truth because it just seems to be an innate desire music students have to always be progressing – even until the end of time I suspect. We can always improve!

Most students put too much focus on the actual instrument rather than on the operator of it. In most cases, that flute can only play as well as it is being played!

Breathing and breath support is the brick foundation we players have for producing beautiful, clear tone.

Today I’m going to give you a couple of hints that will help you on your way to lasting longer, and sounding more clear.

We’re going to start with posture. What is posture? Well, we’re going to think of it as our bodies being the most effective by finding a straight line from our tailbones all the way up to the tip of our heads. Just visualize that for a second here.

One important hint for today is for you to think of where you are holding your head by finding your chin line. Is it being held upright above your back or are you consistently dipping your chin below shoulder level?

Once we achieve good posture, it’ll be very comfortable and normal. Try visualizing with me that you are a puppet with a string connected to the crown of your head and stretched straight up to the ceiling and tied there.

Now, if you’ve visualized it properly, it should do the trick.

Let’s recap:

number 1: keep your chin above your shoulder line, and number 2 straighten up by visualizing a string tied to the top of your head and attached rightly to the ceiling.

Once we’ve straightened up enough, we’re ready to learn to breath. Yup, I said we’re ready to learn to breath  as if you already don’t know how, right?

If we’re going to learn to play like a pro, then we need to learn to breathe like a pro as well, don’t you think?

It definitely is kind of funny to have to talk about how to breath, but you’d be surprised at how many people come up with funny breathing habits when they are learning to play a wind instrument.  These funny habits usually comes from ‘over trying’.

Did you know that it takes more air to play the flute than it does the tuba? It’s true!

But, no worries, I’ll help you learn to manage that air stream so it won’t feel like your flute is as big as a tuba. We’ll get it. I’ll help you.

Remember that in the video lessons in the different learning modules I have over at the LearnFluteOnline.com website, I show you exactly what I’m talking about as well as give you the note exercises and tunes you need at the appropriate levels for learning. It’s so much fun.

Ok. One more hint today for breathing. Now, this is a big one.

One trick that great players use is to learn to fill every little space and crack of their long lungs. Most students tend to only think of filling the upper part of their chest with air – they don’t even know or realize that there is 3 times that much space reserved for air lower down.

A really, really good yawn will do the job.

Yawning instead of a traditional breath will create so much expansion in your lung area, it just can’t be beat. We have to take in so much air in a very quick amount of time. Do it next time you are practicing. You won’t be sorry. You may find yourself yawning more often after that, but that’s okay – it’s just your body’s way of telling you that it has room for all that air.

 Taking a really large breath and filling all the way down to the bottom of your lungs combined with really great posture will be a perfect way to start learning to hold together beautiful, clear tone.

Of course, the recipe is more than just this – but, one step at a time. I got your back.

I can’t wait to show and teach you even more about learning to play the flute. I hope I’ll see you soon in a learning module on the website, or in the comment section of a video or blog article of course leave a comment and a five star rating here in itunes or if you’re listening on my website. You’re going to be great! We’ll see you next time.