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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.
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| 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. |
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
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