WILL KIMBALL » Breathing

Pinchas Zukerman Masterclass: A Few Notes

wkimball — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:19:42 +0000

World-famous violinist Pinchas Zukerman gave a masterclass at BYU last week. He worked with 3 violinists. There were, of course, plenty of technical things that he talked about, particularly about bowing—bow hold, bow angle, bow speed, etc.—that don’t apply directly to brass playing. One overriding concept, however, was very relevant. In every case, he slowed the students way down (to very slow quarter notes) and worked on getting a full, relaxed, resonant sound. Nothing else mattered until that was in place.

As I mentioned, bowing seemed to be a point of emphasis. I grew up around violin playing—My mother and 5 of my siblings play/played—so I realize this is a big deal. Mr. Zukerman emphasized a natural, relaxed, open approach. For brass and woodwinds, bowing translates roughly to breathing (the thing that gets the vibration started), which is something that’s a little harder to scrutinize for us because it’s mostly hidden. We can, however, work on taking full, relaxed breaths and using air in a relaxed, efficient way. The bottom line, and the concept I really took away from the masterclass, is an overarching emphasis on a full, relaxed, resonant sound. A great reminder for all musicians!

Reduced Lung Capacity with Diabetes

wkimball — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:11:23 +0000

A study published in Diabetes Care in April 2008 found that people with “adult onset” diabetes (type 2 diabetes) experience reduced lung capacity. All adults experience a natural decline in lung capacity (and lung function in general) after it peaks in a person’s early 20′s. However, this study, along with a growing body of medical studies, shows a greater decline for those with diabetes. The study can be found online here, along with a review on a general medical site here. Evidence has shown that lifestyle adjustments such as diet and exercise can help prevent type 2 diabetes. Just another reason for wind players to take care of their health!

Breathing: Pulmonary Function Calculator

wkimball — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:30:57 +0000

Johns Hopkins now has a free online pulmonary function calculator that computes predicted values for some of the most common breathing measurements. Predicted values are simply the amounts that medical professionals would expect, based on basic individual data–in this case, a person’s age, height, and gender. They are extrapolated from broad demographic studies; you will notice that the Johns Hopkins site actually includes multiple possible values, based on the various separate studies.

Two particular measurements, vital capacity and FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 second), are of special interest to brass musicians, as discussed in articles elsewhere on this site. They can be measured relatively easily on your own with a pocket spirometer and a peak flow/FEV1 meter. Predicted values for these measurements simply provide a means for comparing your breathing measurements with those of the average person of your same age, height, and gender.

Breathing Improvement

wkimball — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:02:49 +0000

Here’s an update at the end of the second phase of my little study:

•After 3 weeks of measuring 30 vital capacity breaths a day, peak measurements improved from 6.6 liters to 7.3 liters.

•After 3 weeks of measuring 30 peak expiratory flow/forced expiratory volume maneuvers per day, peak measurements improved from 720/4.75 to 735/5.00.

In both cases, a significant measurable improvement, especially given the limited amount of time! The final phase, which I’ll start tonight, will be combining the two: measuring 30 vital capacity breaths and 30 PEF/FEV1 maneuvers per day for 3 weeks. It will be interesting to see if combining the two will result in similar improvement, superior improvement (resulting from a sort of optimization), or lesser improvement (from over-taxing muscles).

Update and conclusions in 3 weeks!

Breathing Experiment

wkimball — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:40:32 +0000

Scientific studies have shown that certain aspects of breathing can be improved through respiratory training. This is the basis of one of the articles I’ve posted on breathing on this site. The underlying physiological concept is that the respiratory system contains skeletal muscles that can be strengthened just like any other skeletal muscles in the body; these are the muscles that drive the respiratory bellows (the lungs themselves containing no muscle, of course).

Based on these and other studies, I have decided to try a little experiment, using my own breathing measurements. First, measuring 30 vital capacity maneuvers per day for 3 weeks, using a spirometer. Second, measuring 30 PEF/FEV1 (peak expiratory flow/forced expiratory volume in 1 second) maneuvers per day for 3 weeks, using a digital PEF/FEV1 meter. Third, combining both 30 vital capacity maneuvers and 30 PEF/FEV1 maneuvers (a total of 60 measurements per day), again measuring daily for a 3 week period.

Vital capacity, by the way, is a person’s usable, voluntary lung capacity. Peak expiratory flow is how fast a person can exhale air. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second is how much air can be moved in one second. All three of these measurements would seem to have applications for wind musicians.

This is not a tightly controlled medical experiment, of course–it is just slightly better than anecdotal. However, I was curious to see what measurable benefit I might personally experience. Essentially what I’m trying to see is whether an active professional wind musician can make similar improvements to those that have been made in the studies on “normal” subjects. I am in the middle of the process, just finishing up the third week of PEF/FEV1, and it looks fairly promising. The vital capacity measurements were especially surprising: in the course of 3 weeks, I improved from 6.6 liters to 7.2 liters, a fairly significant increase.

I’ll post updates as I finish the PEF/FEV1 phase and the combined phase. Eventually I’ll post a summary of everything and discuss what possible conclusions can be drawn!

Breathing on Feldenkrais Method Blog

wkimball — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:03:25 +0000

My article on improving breathing is quoted extensively, by permission, on John Tarr’s blog, The Dynamic Musician (here). The blog deals with the Feldenkrais Method, a method that appears to be somewhat akin to the Alexander Method (although I should stipulate that I know little about either method). At any rate, I appreciate the link on John’s site and his effort to track down sources and give credit to his references.