The Transformational Power of The Breathing Gym

Greetings!

Buy this. Tremendous gains
await!

I remembered another valuable experience I wanted to share, even though it will interrupt my series of ideas based on El Sistema. So here it is, in the least complex way I can say it.

The Breathing Gym transforms the sound of any student who uses it.

This assumes, of course, that it's being taught and implemented well. I should also say that this blog is not a review of The Breathing Gym products. That said, I can't recommend them enough.

What is The Breathing Gym? Well, a tuba pedagogy of turning phrases into Wind Patterns was evolved by Pat Sheridan and Sam Pilafian into a pedagogy where you practice your breathing in isolation just as you would practice scales, buzzing, counting, sight reading, or whatever. This became The Breathing Gym, which is a collection of exercises to isolate and perfect your breathing technique. Not only do you work on breathing, but you work on various aspects of breathing. For example, you can focus on improving just the inhalation, or exhalation, practice exhalation at different dynamics, or quick inhalation, and so on. Here is a live demonstration I found on YouTube.

There aren't many things I can back firmly with much experience in this blog. Most of it is what I've read, or have seen, and in some cases experienced briefly in my limited teaching time. But this is one thing for which I can vouch. I was first introduced to this as a sophomore in high school, and occasionally taught it to my peers. I have used it in some shape or fashion with every group I've worked with, whether it was just a tuba section, a single player, or an entire brass section. I've been using these exercises to help brass players for years now. And it has had at least a 98% success rate in dramatically improving the quality of sound. The first time I ran into problems with it was at a camp this past summer where a couple of students were on the brink of passing out, or having asthma attacks. The Breathing Gym is a workout, and it can be intense, especially once the students are familiar enough with the exercises that you can move seamlessly from one to the next. Exercise caution with students who have breathing trouble. In the 10 years since I've been familiar with and/or sharing the Breathing Gym, that was the first time I ran into some complications. And even considering that, it still helped the rest of the group increase their tone quality. The brass section made so much improvement on sound production that they went from being overpowered by the woodwinds to threatening to over blow them by the end of the 5th day of incorporating the exercises into the warm up. And it has worked at every level, regardless of whether I went through a full regimen or used it in other ways. 

In a private lesson with a beginning band student just over a year ago, it was a big success. He already had a great sound for a beginner at the end of his first semester. I had him play a line he was comfortable with from his book, then we did a few breathing exercises, and after 20 minutes I had him transfer the breathing to buzzing, then play the line again. At first he cracked notes. This is common. When students suddenly use much faster air, the chops are unprepared. But after a few additional shots at it, he hit all the notes with a dramatically better sound. A surprisingly mature sound, actually. Of course, he was excelling before that. But when I asked, "So, what did you think?" His eyes were shining, he had a huge smile, and in a voice of excitement he said, "Yeah! That was cool!" And all he did was play the bass line of a march from Essential Elements. I didn't have to tell him he sounded better. He knew instantly that it was better, and the excitement came from just how much better it was.

I've helped numerous high school players with their sound production through these exercises, whether one on one, in sections, or full brass. With one brass group I chose not to do a regular routine of exercises, and instead chose just one. More accurately, I only used it as part of a "Breathe, Buzz, Play" sequence. Breathe in for four, out for four, three times - in for four, buzz for four, three times - in for four, play for four, three times, keeping the air speed steady, completely filling up the lungs and completely emptying them out, while remaining relaxed, at all three levels. It's over training. But it works. One director credited this exercise as being the reason that particular band achieved its wall of sound on the 5th day of camp. It works.

It has revolutionized brass pedagogy since it's introduction, in most respects. Not everyone uses it. Brass at Angelo State used to use it more, but in my 4 years in the studio I can't recall that we've ever taken a masterclass to do it, as they had done in the years prior. But it caught on quickly with tubists all over, and eventually with most brass players. It's beneficial for ALL wind players, and vocalists. Of course, it doesn't hurt for percussionists and string players to have a little training here, though I doubt they would need it in depth like wind players would. Anyway, almost everyone is using it.

Drum corps? You bet. One of my friends who marched Phantom Regiment for a few years vouched for that. Of course, they're pretty intense, with close monitoring to catch any poor technique.  

Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian use it with their studios. Professionals use it. Almost everyone who is serious uses it. 

This past semester I put the Angelo State tuba studio through the ropes. One was a fellow BG veteran, another had done it once or twice, but the two players we put it together for were both from small schools (bands of less than 20 members) and had been struggling the entire first half of the semester to produce good sounds. Guess what? After an hour long session they significantly increased their tone production. At marching band later that day, the section leader reported to me that they were both playing significantly better, and the section sound improved dramatically as a result. Neither of them continued to do it independently, so their sound gradually got worse over the course of a week, but neither of them went back to the sound they had before. In fact, the second half of their semester was significantly more successful than the first half, with regard to their private lessons. Their rate of progress increased dramatically. Both were headed for disaster, but thanks to the Breathing Gym session, they both experienced great improvement and success. Too bad we didn't set that up for them at the beginning of the semester like we intended. It could've saved them so much frustration!

90% of problems that occur in wind playing involve air flow issues. If a player is struggling with quick single tongue, or "jackhammer" tongue (either one), chances are it's not because they're using too hard of an attack. It could be that, at least partially, but chances are much more likely that they can fix that problem by focusing not on the tongue, but on moving faster air. We could go on and on in that direction.

Anyway, I envision incorporating breathing exercises as part of the band daily warm up, before long tones. While I have yet to see this done, I have read in 1-2 books that this works really well. I think if students transfer the air flow into the rest of rehearsal, it would save far more time than it would cost. 

To make this easier, Pat and Sam released a sequel to the Breathing Gym, called The Breathing Gym: Daily Workouts. In this DVD they give you routines that take 2-5 minutes, based on the original exercises (with a few new ones, I think), and each routine is designed to focus on a specific aspect of breathing. Follow the promotional video from YouTube. If you're feeling gutsy, tackle the "Advanced Training 3#". It's beastly. See if that doesn't get you ready to play!

This gives you an idea on how breathing exercises can be customized to rehearsal objectives or specific rehearsal situations. What a fantastic set of tools for one's tool box! As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have used wind patterns in the context of a rehearsal, but I've never been able to see its long term effectiveness because I never had the time to develop it into a rehearsal procedure. However, I'm positive it would be effective. It's certainly effective for fixing problems in the practice room.

I should note that I don't think having students watch the video is as effective as leading it yourself. When you personally engage the students, you can get them to work harder, and really commit. It's easy to do these half way, and when that happens, much smaller gains are made. When you lead, you can walk around the room, look them in the eye, correct their mistakes, and reinforce good breathing. It takes a little practice, but I find it to be a lot of fun to really push students with their breathing. Just keep them relaxed and give them permission to drop out when needed. While this is much more effective, I don't think it should discourage anyone from using the videos if that's all they feel comfortable with at first. As long as students are participating, I'm sure they'll get better.

Pat Sheridan is a great guy. I finally met him after being a fan
for seven years. Live Breathing Gym with him is a lot of fun,
and you learn things that aren't on the DVDs.

I'd also like to note that there are a few things Pat Sheridan and Sam Pilafian left out of the book and DVDs specifically so they could have something left to give at their live masterclasses. I was very fortunate to attend a Breathing Gym masterclass with Pat at the 2009 Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma National Convention in Phoenix, Az, as well as watch him conduct the Salt River Brass later that night (a fantastic group whose CDs are a great buy). If you ever have the chance to attend a masterclass with either of these guys, do it!

Anyway, I hope that this has been good food for thought. Perhaps anyone who has not previously been sold on implementing the Breathing Gym with their high school or middle school students are leaning more towards it. Thank you for reading, and until next time, take care!

Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper

Ideas from El Sistema: Private Lessons and Sectionals

Greetings!

This past semester was tough. There were many times where my motivation waned, or doubt crept in. Most of all, I constantly battled a sense of fatigue which seemed to grow stronger. It was to my soul what Nazi Germany was to Europe once they began their march. It wasn't just the semester, or these particular classes, or projects. It was the entire college experience. The past seven and a half years have been a fantastic experience, but the longer it's worn on, the more tiring it has become. While my quality of work seems to be consistent, I get less done in more time simply because I had a hard time finding the drive. Thankfully, there are incredible forces at work in the world from which one can pull inspiration and motivation. One such force is El Sistema in Venezuela. If you're not familiar with The System, here is a trailer for a documentary that was filmed a couple of years ago. It doesn't give you much information, but it will get get you pumped:

For a more in depth look, I highly recommend checking out Jose Abreu's TED Prize acceptance speech, where he explains briefly how The System works, as well as how it is impacting not just the children involved, but also their families and communities. By brief, I mean it is a 20 minute speech. For an added bonus, there is a Part II of this video where their top youth orchestra performs a couple of tunes, the first being the most intense performance of the 2nd movement of Shastakovich's 10th Symphony I have ever heard. In fact, after a week of searching, I cannot find a recording that matches it. You can find that performance here.

As many of my colleagues know, throughout college, since I've had a family, I pull 1-2 (sometimes 3) all nighters a week for study and project purposes. While this has come with a cost to my physical and emotional health, it has allowed me to focus on my family when I get home from school until the time they go to bed. Our marriage remains strong. And my greatest hope is that I won't have to do that anymore to be adequately prepared on a day to day basis for teaching. Anyway, this past semester I regularly sought out videos and information about El Sistema to help get my energy level up after typically a two hour nap, and also to remind me of what I'm doing with my life, to increase my motivation for the task ahead that night. 

So it's only natural that I would wonder what I could do as a band director that was modeled after their program. Unfortunately, I haven't found any books on the subject. I have watched numerous videos, including an hour and a half round table about the system with Gustavo Dudamel which can be found for free on iTunes (through iTunes University). I've read the material on their websites. I've basically scoured the internet for everything I could read or watch for free. As soon as I have some money, I plan on ordering the movie for which you saw the trailer. Anyway, while I can't tell you any details, I can tell you what I've learned about their methodology so far, and speculate as to how it could be implemented into a band/music program.

Three Levels of Instruction

Every student receives instruction on three levels every week: private lessons, sectionals, and full ensemble. According to the official website, the student typically sees the same teacher in lessons and sectionals, which allows mistakes to be easily corrected and good habits to be reinforced. 

Of course, all band programs have full ensemble rehearsals on a daily basis. Sometimes those extend to after school rehearsals. I don't think that's something that needs any exploration. Perhaps the most problematic of those three is private lessons.

Private Lessons

Music teachers who work in the large school world know the importance of private lessons to the success of both the individual student and the full ensemble. I think the saying that "The band gets better one person at a time," is very true. All of the really successful band programs in the large school world have a strong culture of students taking private lessons. 

I myself benefited from a great private lesson experience. In fact, it wasn't until my second private lesson that I learned how to name notes on the staff, and how key signatures worked. I was a sophomore in high school, and had been playing for nearly 4 years. By that point I was also in my high school's top band, and that year we were playing, among other things, all six movements of Grainger's "Lincolnshire Posy". I can't imagine how I would've dealt with playing the Hindemith "Symphony in Bb" my senior year had I not had that crucial one on one instruction. Certainly I would've never made the All-State band the next two years, nor had many of the other positive experiences that ultimately led me to consider a career in music. And by the way, I had excellent teachers, particularly from my Freshman year on. Sometimes a student just falls behind for whatever reason. In my case, it was because I couldn't see the board as a beginner and I was keeping my poor eye sight a secret (I didn't want to wear glasses). I also didn't think I was going to stay in band past that first year when I started. Suffice to say I wasn't even close to the top of the section, which had at least 8 tuba players. I guess you never know how some students will turn out. But back on topic.

Coming Up With the Teachers

Another aspect of The System is it's teachers, and I think this is important to understanding how they pull off the three levels of instruction. Those who are in charge of full orchestras are usually professionals, or paid through the system's funding. I'm not sure. But most of the teachers are former members who have come up through the system and understand the importance of its mission. Also, many of the teachers are current students. In the round table I mentioned, Gustavo Dudamel says that this is why it's called "The System". When a student graduates from the children's choir to the children's orchestra, they also go back and teach the children's choir. When they graduate from the children's orchestra to the youth orchestra, they also teach the children's orchestra. I've also read that while they are teaching children how to play, they're also teaching them how to teach. This way, students who advance to the next level become teachers, even at a young age. The structure builds on itself and can sustain itself regardless of how large it gets.

By the way, this isn't just practical for sustaining the structure. It's considered a crucial component to fulfilling the system's objectives. Remember that this isn't simply music education, it is social reform through music education. The goal is not just to teach music, but also to build a better society by passing on certain values and skills. It gives these kids, 70-80% of whom grow up in poverty, the tools they need to lift themselves up from poverty and lead a successful and happy life. Teaching is one of the primary ways The System imparts leadership and people skills. Dudamel explained this after being asked whether or not it was difficult for him to step up to a leadership position when he was being raised in a group mentality. He said that because of how it works, leading was a very natural progression. Indeed, it was a planned part of the progression.

So why go into all of that detail? Because of small schools. Most large schools have access to either symphony players or college music majors to give private lessons. Most small schools are in the middle of nowhere, and do not have that kind of access.

So what I'm suggesting is, why not have our students give lessons? I don't think it's as crazy as it might sound, if done properly.

Students as Peer Tutors (Lesson Teachers)

I've already blogged about peer teaching techniques. We know that when a person teaches a concept, they have a 90% retention rate (the highest of any method) and gain a much deeper understanding. It's also a great way to differentiate for the excelling band members, preventing boredom. We know all of these things. Here are some other considerations, and possibly requirements if this is to work.

Our schemata must be solid. A schema is essentially how a student organizes information to understand it. Good teachers create structures for the information they present to help students create effective schemata, whether that schema deals with posture, breathing, articulations, musicality, literacy skills, and so on. The rhythm tree is an example of an attempt to help students create a schema. Sometimes a schema is as simple as a checklist, as is in the case with good posture and instrument carriage. If we incorporate peer teaching, where all students get the chance to coach, I think the retention rate would be increased, and they would be in good shape to help out students... on lower levels.

Most small schools I've run across have two bands in the Jr. High/Middle School, and one high school band. Beginning band concepts are so simple that I would bet money that students from the "advanced" Jr. High band could help out beginners. As long as the advanced band players know fingerings (or knew where in the book/binder to find them), know how to count rhythms (also requires that you use and teach a counting system... and the same one at each level), and some basics about tone production, chances are they can be a big help. Then you could have them take weekly lessons from the high school players. But who would the high school players take lessons from?

Good question. Many teachers offer free lessons to their students, especially if they see potential. At least my high school staff did. Either that or they were hanging around after school so you could always ask a question. I think that is perhaps more common. My high school director simply had a sheet on the door to his office where students could sign up. He usually offered two half hour slots per day, and they were usually pretty booked. I think it might be possible for the section leaders or strongest players to help those in their section. My high school section did this without prompting. As the section leader I encouraged everyone to try out for all region band, and a hand full of us would stay after school sometimes to practice. When this happened I was approached to answer questions about rhythms, fingerings, playing tips, etc. But also, we were constantly passing tips back and forth, as some players had skills other didn't. Kevin had a much faster single tongue than me. Rudy had an amazing vibrato technique none of us had. Drake could hit pedal tones nobody else could. It was a really cool environment, complete with inside jokes and other stupid stuff. I'm positive some bad advice was passed along here and there, but most of it was the same stuff our teachers had been telling us for years, and we all improved as a result of the peer coaching. I'll take that, even with the bad habits. 

So maybe for high schoolers it could be a combination of the teacher(s) teaching the top players, and the top players teaching the rest, while they teach the top Jr. High band and the Jr. High band teaches the beginning band. Or perhaps high school players are the only ones giving lessons to any Jr. High player, depending on the sizes of the bands, where the better high schoolers work with the advanced Jr. High kids, and high school kids get a lesson every 1-3 weeks depending on the availability and number of people on the high school staff.  

I don't know. I also imagine such a system would take multiple years to implement. If one's leadership skills are good enough, and there is a strong and inspiring vision in place for the program that the students have bought into, then I don't think it's a hard thing to sell the students on. But you obviously couldn't jump into something like this over night. Then again, a fully realized Nucleo of The System also takes years of development, beginning with pre-school aged children. That said, I think anything is better than nothing, and everyone starts somewhere (wherever that is). Even at small schools, where kids are freakishly busy, chances are at least a few of them would be enthusiastic about the idea of teaching younger students, or even just one a week. 

That's another thing, too. If in a hypothetical world you were able to require lesson teaching and attendance, if each student were teaching/attending one lesson, then really you're only asking for an additional half hour a week per event. A half hour to teach the lesson, a half hour to receive a lesson. That doesn't seem like an awful lot to add. Hmm...

Other Logistics

Of course, the other major consideration is the logistical side. Where would these lessons take place? Some small schools have practice rooms, while others do not. Most that I've seen do, fortunately. But even then, sometimes these practice rooms get filled with other things, like uniforms, unused instruments, flag/drumline equipment, etc. etc. I've never liked this. Teachers complain when students don't practice, but you certainly can't expect them to practice when your practice rooms aren't suitable for use. But then, I also understand the lack of storage space. What is one to do? Especially if you don't have enough, or any practice rooms. It would be very difficult to have numerous lessons going on at once in the same band hall. A listening nightmare, possibly more bad than good. If it's warm you could go outside, provided you had something to hold the music down. You probably can't use a bunch of classrooms, because even if you could get the keys you would probably be required to have a faculty member present. Psshhh. Yeah, right. So then where do you have all of these lessons? 

Or sectionals, or that matter? You could probably apply the same levels but choose the best student available in regards to having sectionals for the younger ensembles. But you'd be dealing with sectionals for at least 3 bands. Is it possible to give each one a sectional once a week? Or even once every other week?

Ultimately, exploring those kinds of details here is probably not helpful. Every situation is going to be different. Unique situations require unique applications. Anyone, such as myself, who would be interested in implementing something like this system into their program would obviously have to do some considerable thinking and research as to what is possible, what they and their students are capable of, and where would a successful place to start likely be. A lot of what I've been writing is thinking more on terms of what it would look like in full bloom, but the starting point would probably be something on a much smaller scale.

Still, I think such a thing would be possible, regardless of the scale. And I think that even on a small scale, with only a hand full of participants, the benefits would be great. 

By the way, also in regards to student run sectionals, I recently ran across something in a book a friend lent me. The book is "Building Strong Music Programs: A Handbook for Preservice and Novice Music Teachers" by Charlene Ryan. It has a lot of practical advice, but mostly ideas, for how to build programs. There was a great idea in there about student led sectionals, in that you should provide a form for them to fill out that includes attendance/absentees, objectives to be met (with symbols on how to indicate the progress made), and a place to note both good and bad behavior. They don't have the training we do, so it makes a lot of sense to provide them with a plan for their section time and a way to help with classroom management if necessary. 

Of course, in a large school setting, all private lessons would be provided by a predetermined staff of professional players and/or teachers at the high school level. The lessons for the Jr. High/Middle Schools could still be provided by the high school players, but the logistical challenge changes from being a location challenge to a transportation challenge depending on whether or not the high school student can drive. 

There would be a lot of details to consider. But again, I think it's possible. And especially when the teaching staff is stretched to it's limits, it would be a great avenue of taking the program further than it could otherwise go. At the same time it would teach students leadership, teaching, and people skills, which will better prepare them for society and a happy, successful life. Aside from it taking some effort to start up, it sounds like an all around win to me. 

Considering how to transfer El Sistema's concepts into the public school world is something I've put a lot of thought into. I meant for them all to fit nice and succinctly into a single blog, but that apparently won't be the case given the way I write. My apologies. But I hope it is good food for thought. Thank you for reading, and until next time, take care!

Musically yours,

Mr. Cooper