Quiet Breathing

[ttf_anonymous]

For me, after decades of working on breathing (breathing tubes, yoga...), I finally stumbled on a technique change that has improved my personal playing. Just thought I'd share.

If it is helpful to someone else, great. If it is not helpful to you, no worries, I'm not telling anyone that I have found the answer, just an answer for me that may be helpful to someone else.

The basic idea is that I aim for a silent breath. The mechanism for this is to relax the facial mask and concentrate on the air coming in at the lips. I end up breathing in a way that feels much slower (but gets the job done about as fast)  than I used to but brings in a ton of air. Air tends to enter my nose too because with relaxation my soft palette and the back of my tongue drop.

The two things that led to this change were seeing the Viilage Vanguard Jazz Orchestra live for the first time last week (I was four feet from the stage and didn't hear a single breath all night) and as I am learning to run this summer I am learning to relax and breath in a different way than ever before. I put the two things together and, so far, really like the results.

Again, just a personal reflection on a new personal habit.

[ttf_Paul Martin]

I agree with this wholeheartedly: whether you can precisely explain or isolate the requirement mechanics, aiming for a noiseless breath will assure that the breath is relaxed.

You can train this: try exercising with noiseless breathing!

[ttf_Paul Martin]

I agree with this wholeheartedly: whether you can precisely explain or isolate the requirement mechanics, aiming for a noiseless breath will assure that the breath is relaxed.

You can train this: try exercising with noiseless breathing!