Hi, i have a really big problem with breathing. No matter how hard i try my lungs just dont seem 2 be able 2 take in enough breath. I am desperate. Any suggestions for possibly helpful breathing exercises?
isla

Isla, the best ever exercise for flute playing IMHO is swimming.
Not only low impact, but highly aerobic.
It's worth learning in case you don't know how to swim. I'll never regret this.
I'm a different flutist when I manage to practice in the pool for 1 hour at least three times a week.

cheers,

Zevang

Besides doing exercises to expand your lung capacity (which are a good idea, even if you don't have breathing problems), you should make sure that you are breathing correctly. It is extremely common for us to "chest breathe" in normal, everyday life. This means you're filling just the upper regions of your lungs, and seems to be a defense mechanism against absorbing pollutants in the air (chest breathing is more common in urban areas). Chest breathing reduces the amount of air that you are holding in reserve at any given time, and makes it difficult to play long phrases. You should be breathing from the diaphragm, using your lungs to their maximum. If you lie down and breathe in, with your hand on your stomach, you will feel your diaphragm expanding. In this position, it is virtually impossible to chest breathe. When you go to play, you should feel your diaphragm acting in the same way. You might also try taking more breaths, using them to top off your air supply rather than completely replenish it. You might also practice long tones, holding the note as long as you can without making yourself dizzy, or losing tone quality. Over time, you will improve your control and air capacity. Hope some of that helps you!

Chris

Well said Chris :-)
I couldn't agree more.

Zevang

I'm glad you liked my response!

My apologies.

Sorry...I just realized it didn't post my whole response. It should read:

"My apologies. I can't claim to know much about musculature of the human body, and I certainly did not mean to pass on false information. The general idea behind that quote remains unchanged, though: That it is virtually impossible to chest breathe while lying down (regardless of which specific muscles might actually be involved), and that proper breathing should be transferred to flute playing. Thanks Micron for catching that."

I know two things I did for this problem:

A)as a band we would all stand up and play a concert Bb and you would sit down when you ran out of air and stopped playing it was fun to see who could last longest but you will still be helping yourself If you ever do this flutes and Tubes run out of air first so try to be the longest player out of all of them clarinets always win It is a lot of fun to do with friends

B) you can stand also you take as big of a breath as you can then make a snake sound (shhhhhhhhh) as long as you can and you count the secounds and see how long you can do it with out getting dizzy and it is a lot of fun when you get better at it and you challenge someone that is not in band or sings and you win all of the time

HEY! i did that game too...both of them. heehee, i lost though. I've noticed how a lot of athleteic ppl do good thing that SSSHHHH game.
Ooh! and if you practice everyday i think you should get better. That's how i got better. i would time myself blowing through one note. and each day i would try to beat it!..^_^ I dunno. and i also swim too. and I think that helped me...umm
Ooh! and i realized my breathing got better when i found a really good embrochure..or..it is the use of air. ehhh. notice how easily confuse i get?heehee

isla2, in the past I have also suggested swimming as the best excercise and I practise it myself.

But I am no longer so sure about how effective it is.

Swimming is supposed to increase the breathing capacity. I had it measured recently and it scored high (6.5) But my wife, who swims even more than me, scored only 4.0. we are almost the same age.

Contrary to me, she had smoked for many years but quitted 20 years ago.

I suggest you get your capcaity measured (it is a very simple, non-invasive test, just blowing in special tube with a propeller inside).

If you get a nomal score (I think for a non smoking, young adult it should be about 4.5 or higher) then the problem (if any), should be in your breathing technique.

Hope it helps.

The tester she used was certainly a flow meter, though I am not sure if it is a peak meter or an integrator.

The doctor told us that it measured to an equivalent of capacity litres. The scale I could see, however, was x000, if I remember right (6500 in my case).

The problem is that doctors may know lots of medicine but little of technical issues. It is however, difficult or even inconvenient to discuss those results with them or to ask too many questions.

If somebody in the Forum could clarify this subject, it would be useful for many of us. in any case it could be used for comparison whatever the unit is.

When I was a child I had many breathing problems, such as repetitive bronchitis. At that time they measured my lung capacity periodically, with a machine they called a "spirometer". As I remember it, it was true capacity tester, probably something like a big cup floating on a liquid or a piston; the incoming air made it rise against a scale measuring in litres.

Most moderate to severe asthmatics have peak flow meters to use on a daily basis. You form a tight seal around the mouthpiece and give a short, hard burst of air. In fact, you do this several times to get your "range" at that particular moment.

Well, my peak flow meters each say that they measure liters/min. The numbers run from 60-800. I'm not sure what good that is since asthmatics monitor their "peak flows" as a measurement against their own personal best. We keep track of green (good), yellow (increase your medicine regime), and red (danger! get immediate medical attention).

Jose Luis, your wife probably has a lower reading than you based on this info:
"Peak flow varies from person to person. In general, taller, heavier people have higher peak flows than do small, lighter people, and men usually have higher peak flows than do women. In general, good numbers for adult men are in the 550 to 650 range, whereas women tend to have numbers in the 400 to 500 range."

I, however, do not care to look at those numbers since they are out of reach of even the top of my personal "green zone"!!

At the Pulmonologist's office my lung capacity (as opposed to peak)is measured with a more sophisticated device that involves blowing as long and hard as possible to empty the lungs (as near as possible). I usually nearly pass out from this and have a real "banger" of a headache for the rest of the day!! What a wimp!!

Yes kippsix, it makes sense.

Interesting enough, the doctor who told us about our lung capacity using the flow meter is a specialist on scuba diving (siving with air bottles). She should know better about tose measurements!. Not the case, it looks like.

We were told to blow all the air we could, not just a short strong blow. That is why I thought it was a kind of integrating device. The scale was nore probably x00 and not x000, but I am no longer sure.


<Added>

we also did the blowing 3 times each of us, but the result was always the same

thank you everyone for your really useful comments!
isla2