Six Wind Pattern Applications in Rehearsal

Greetings!

Sam Pilafian leads a band in
breathing exercises.

Back in January I wrote a post titled, "The Transformational Power of The Breathing Gym". If somehow you're unfamiliar with this awesome product, please click on the link to learn about what it is and its effectiveness. I shared some of my stories about individual student breakthroughs or small groups successes. There was a reflective post later on where I briefly mentioned a few other things I had found success dealing with using wind patterns, but until now I haven't written a post that puts it all together in a way you can easily use in rehearsal.

A Wind Pattern is where you isolate the breathing and fix that before going back to the instrument. I also have students finger the instrument while breathing. Playing a wind instrument is almost entirely about the wind. We know that air support causes probably 90% of the problems we have, and Wind Patterns are a good way to isolate that aspect of playing. So here are six situations where you can tell students to Wind Pattern:

Phrasing

The earliest use of Wind Patterns was to help tuba players make phrases. We harp on our players to make four measure phrases instead of two. In rehearsal, if they can't fix it after a try or two, I might have them Wind Pattern this and focus on the inhalation. If that doesn't work, specifically tell them to breathe in for one, out for (example) 15 or 16 counts. This will have them exhaling for six measures in common time. If you have to, remove the fingering and articulation at this point and have them focus on inhaling and exhaling for the correct number of beats. Once they do this to your satisfaction, add in the tongue and fingers so they are wind patterning the rhythm and pressing down the buttons, and still making the phrase. Then go back on the instrument. Not only should they be able to make the phrases much more effectively, but their tone quality will probably be better as well. Don't forget to remind them to keep their breathing exactly the same when transferring back to the instrument! 

Tone Quality 

This is really quite simple. Have them Wind Pattern so you can hear how they're using their air. If it's not fast air, comment on it. It shouldn't be loud per say, but you should hear an intensity to the air speed in the room. Once you have that, go back to playing whatever it was they were playing before. Remind them to keep their air the same when going back to the instrument!

Finger Coordination

When students have to work out tricky finger passages, they almost always back off the air. This obviously compounds their problem. A lot of times, having them wind pattern to beef up the air support fixes the problem by itself. Other times they simply need to rep their fingers, and if its the fingers that are the problem, why add to that by having them try to make a sound as well? 

Sometimes you need to have them play it slow and speed it up to help them hear the line as well, but there have been at least a few instances where this was more effective for students than having them play the metronome game. That said, you can play the metronome game with wind patterns as well if chop endurance is a concern.

Phasing

Do you have your band hiss to hear if the phasing is lining up? You can also use Wind Patterns. It's very easy to hear if articulations aren't lining up when all you hear is wind and "t" syllables. And the students can hear it, too. On sixteenth note rhythms I'll sometimes have them wind pattern and listen for each other's articulations, then line it up, and then replicate that on the instruments. 

This has had varying success depending on the speed of the rhythm. For example, eighth note and two sixteenth rhythms would sound amazing afterwards, but four sixteenths in a row, while it would improve, wouldn't quite get there. Try it in various situations and see what you think! 

Dynamics

This is very simple. When having them Wind Pattern, listen for dynamics. The faster the air, the louder they'll sound. At soft dynamics, have them practice intense/compressed air columns. Listening for air speed allows you to hear various dynamics as well as crescendos and decrescendos. Comment as needed before transferring back to the instrument.

Articulations

Listen hard enough, and you'll hear note lengths, the hardness of attacks, the weight of the air at the beginning of the note, and so on. If you don't hear a difference, then they're probably not doing it on the instrument, either. Make them do it. If it's an accent, you should hear the air faster at the beginning of the note. If it's staccato, you should hear the separation with a rounded end to each note and not chopped off with a T sound. Listen for the softer H sound. Do you see where I'm going with this?

With all breathing exercises and wind pattern work, don't forget to listen to how they're using their air and make them do it the way you want it done before going back to the instrument! Also, don't forget to remind them to keep their air the same on the instrument. For some reason, when we go back to the mouthpiece and instrument, especially if we don't do it fast enough, our brain switches back to the wrong way.

My only word of caution with this is technique is to make sure they don't overblow on the instrument, and that they keep within the parameters of good balance, blend and intonation. This will help fix your intonation issues by helping develop a more mature sound, but obviously not if they start to over blow.

I hope you've found this blog helpful. Wind Patterns are an easy procedure to teach, and the kids will have it down after a few uses. The ones that commit will see real gains in their playing. Do you have other ways you work with breathing with your kids? Have you tried out these techniques? I'd love to hear about your experiences with this in the comment section!

Thank you for reading, and until next time, take care!