[TPIN] confusing breathing advice.

[Peter Sokolowski]

Chris,

You're getting a lot of confusing advice.

Here's one way to find a baseline of sanity.

You can speak with no inhalation of air. You can YELL with no
inhalation of air. Try it.

Yell HEY.

Did you go: "inhale-to-make-the-stomach-expand-tighten-the-abs-but-keep-the-throat-open-with-the-
tongue-down-and -the-jaw-open-and-the-teeth-aligned----HEY"

Or

Did you just go: HEY!

Try it on the horn. Pick up the horn, let ALL of your air out and
relax completely. Relax your stomach/ab area in particular. More.
Relax more. A bit more. Don't hold any tension around your middle.When
you truly relax your abs you'll feel your bellybutton drop or "let go"
a tiny bit. When this happens, play a 3rd space C. Try other notes
this way. Just like when you talk without inhaling. Simple.

I *bet* your attack and tone were surprisingly good. I'm willing to
bet that they were better than your "normal" sound and attack.

This means you have too much tension in the *breathing* part of your
playing (as opposed to the embouchure part, which may have too much
tension too, but we've isolated these two elements).

As John Daniel recently pointed out (he's brilliant at explaining
things) we trumpet players have well-developed muscles for exhalation
but weak muscles for inhalation. This means, in part, that we often
have *tension* during the *inhalation* that is making all kinds of
problems for us.

No offense to Jon Trimble, but he's at a much more advanced stage. He
said to tighten your middle. You'll get to that later. For now, START
to breathe by doing the above and *relaxing* your stomach/ab area so
that the lungs can expand into them.

I myself have made more progress in two months than in the previous
ten years by going back to this baseline. Try it.

Thanks to Jim Manley.

--Peter