I've heard people talking about how they learned tecniques to expand their lungs and get more air. i met a lady a while ago who was like 5'2 but could tank up like i've never seen befor. dose anyone know any tecniques like that?

I really don't know anything about it, but I'll suggest something anyway. You could simply take time each day and focus on taking deep breaths (BIG DEEP breaths, as much air as you can suck in), and then letting it all out (everything, you should be pushing rather hard to get the last little bit out). This would hopefully get your lungs used to their full capacity, and then some, maybe.

First off, there is no way to make your lungs "bigger". They are what they are. Folks that seem to be able to use so much more air at once are simply better at both tanking up on the inhale and conserving on the exhale.

If you want to be better with breathing, there are lots of things you can do. The best thing is to talk to a private teacher about it, so they can see, hear AND watch you play. That will help the most. If you want great advice, find a tuba teacher and take a few lessons from them.

There are also lots of books out there that can help. The one I use quite a lot is "A Singing Approach to the Trombone" by Charles Vernon. If anyone knows about breathing, it's that man.

Other than that, while you work, make sure you are doing 2 things properly.

First, most younger players tend to take very shallow breaths. Watch yourself breath in a mirror and look to see what part of you torso moves first and most. It should be your belly, right above the diaphragm. More than likely, it will be you upper chest and shoulders. Work on this by taking DEEP breaths, all the way down. Think about putting the air all the way to your belly button as you inhale. Put one hand on your belly and the other on your chest, and configure your breathing so that ONLY your belly moves. Once you get good at that, then fill up to the top, but not so much that you tense up. Your breathing should always be circular in motion, smoothly moving from inhale to exhale with no break. Always relaxed, always comfortable.

Second, practice the hell out of your fundamentals. Long tones, lip slurs, and pedals. And use the deep relaxed breathing technique to do so.

Remember, you won't get good at this over night. It takes a looooong time to master air technique. Some would argue you never really master it, you just learn to deal with what you can do, and work to make it better.

Good luck!

Just to add to what Erik said...
In my humble opinion, those players who can play really long phrases are not simply blessed with a large lung capacity. While they may very well be, I think there is something more at work here.
Playing trombone requires a lot of efficiency in the embouchure and breathing mechanism. We waste a lot of energy often blowing too hard, wasting energy with our slides in the wrong places, buzzing wrong pitches, and starting notes and phrases with too much tension. This all causes us to work harder than we have to. Heck, when you're too tense in the embouchure, think of how much extra breath it takes just to get a sound in the first place! If you work on your fundamentals, and focus on relaxation, good technique, and most of all efficiency, you will find that good things start to happen, including the ability to make longer phrases.
YMMV

Thanks Steve, you said a lot of things I left out.

Oh and one more thing... If you think it takes large lungs and large lung capacity to play a low brass instrument, look at the new principle tubist for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Not saying just because she is female, but because she won that spot as a 20 year old college senior. And yes, from the picture, she doesn't look very large at all.

So, it's not how big your lungs are, it's how you use them.

Sorry.


http://www.philorch.org/bios.php?page=jantschcarol

or better:
http://brassfactory.blogspot.com/2006/10/carol-jantsch.html

I appreiciate all of your advice. i think that, that is helpfull. I don't have issues with my breathing. i was simply asking about increasing the volume of possible air in your lungs. when you said that your lungs won't get any bigger, that is true but you can train your lungs to hold more air. my dad's a surgen and he corrected me. you can't "expand your lungs" but your lungs can hold more air when you stetch the tissues "inside" your lungs. he told me to look into cross- country training. I found something close to what i was looking at.
In short what i found said to take the biggest breath you can and hold it. then take a light short sip of air and hold that till you are forced to cough.

Fair enough.
But then my question to you is, how much can you realistically expand? Everything I have read has led me to believe that the answer is not much at all. I still think working on your efficiency will yield better results in the long run.

i agree. i was really just curious if anyone had heard about it. i think it is something i am going to try. i'll post if i have any good results. but the amount of air you can take dosen't meen a thing if you don't know how to use it.
good discussion though

Let me add one thing about breathing efficiency.

When you are not playing, say for instance you are watching TV for an hour or two, do this Yoga breathing exercise. Breathe in through your nose slowly, pause a second and then breathe out slowly, pause a second and breathe in, etc. Imagine your spine is a tube and you are filling it up slowly, then exhaling out slowly. In the begining you may only be able to do each step for 5 seconds. But as you do it you will be able to take longer to breathe in and out.

What is this doing?
This is training your body to be more efficient with your air. It is also training your body to slow down gas conversion(*1). And it is training your smaller muscles to help with support and air efficiency.

*1- When you take a deep breathe a lot of air gets changed into a gas, like carbon monoxide, this is why sometimes you feel you have to exhale even though you think you are out of air. It's poisin gas. The slow, very slow, yoga breathing trains your body to convert less air to gas.

that really makes alot of sence. great input.

because we are on the subject, i learnded a neet tecnique that kinda shows you what a full tank of air really feels like. all you do is breath all of your air out, bend over and let your arms dangle. then slowly start taking in all the air you can while rolling up to a straight position at the same speed. when you are standing up straight continue to breath in and lift your arms up over your head. breath in till you can't anymore, hold your breath. then drop your arms(without letting go of any air). your chest should feel huge and fuller then ever. now that you know what that feels like, you know how to take a good breath befor playing.

Just to add something, a yawn is the perfect natural breath for brass playing. Both air and tone wise.