Does anyone have any suggestions for increasing lung capacity or other breathing techniques to improve tone?

Thanx

Your gonna think Im crazy but this works. Get a empty a bread bag and get a straw. Hold the open end of the bread bag in your hand and make sure all the air is out of the bad. Now put the straw in your mouth and breath in as much as you can. Quickly put the straw in the open end of the bread bag and hold it tight. Blow all your air into the bag and see if you can fill it up. keep trying. It took me a couple of weeks but you`ll get there. E-mail me

Try blowing up balloons. At first you may have difficulty blowing up a new balloon, but after awhile it will get easier, and you will notice that you are breathing deeper.

The bread bag is a really good idea, it`s like a make-it-yourself breathing bag, which they sell for about $30. It gives you a visual of how much air your using.

Also, don`t be afraid to breath from your chest, just don`t let your shoulders go up and down too much.

Good luck,
Gumdrop

My private teacher had me improve my air capacity like this:

1. Learn to breathe from the diaphraghm rather than the chest or throat. Sit up straight, and rather than raising your torso up and extending the spine, inflate outwards--think of trying to fill your belly with air. You should feel your diaphraghm (the large muscle that extends your lungs and pulls in air like a vacuum) start to lower down your rib cage. Get somebody to help you with this stage if you don`t understand--private teachers are great for it.

2. Once you master breathing from the diaphraghm, practice playing long tones between about low G and high C. Play them out forte and hold them for as long as you can without TRYING to hold them for a long time--in other words, don`t conserve air just so the note lasts longer, but do play the note as long as you possibly can without losing the speed of the air stream.

3. If your air stream is too slow, take a piece of cigarette paper that you use to clean your flute`s pads, stick it on the wall, and experiment with how far away from the wall you can stand and still hold it up on the wall with just your breath. It`ll take a really fast air stream!

4. Practice "huffing" notes while playing a scale--create staccato tones without your tongue by pushing the air out fast in a `huff` to increase the strength of your diaphraghm.

Hey ,

i would like to know from where i should inhale (mouth or nose) while im playing the flute ?

cheers ,
Barak .

Your mouth.

unless you choce/chock/choque (i can`t spell okay! ) when you gulp air through your mouth...then breathe through your nose...are you confused yet@?
Katherine

Choke. It`s Choke ...Watch out for saliva. If you have excess saliva when you inhale, it can go down the wrong pipe and you will end up coughing.

You can actually inhale through both mouth and nose which can get you more air. Keep throat open as if you are yawning while playing and keep tongue out of back so that the inhale will be quiet.

~Bilbo