Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

vivek wrote:

I'm a relative beginner and see posts where it is suggested to hold notes for 30 seconds.   To me this seems quite challenging.  Are there any hints out there to help develop the techniques and mindsets necessary to enable one to utilize one's breath with more efficiency?  Thanks!

I found that being relaxed is necessary to blow long tones. If you have to use force or generally don't feel comfortable blowing a short note, odds are that you can't blow a long one. Then there is the lip opening. If you use too much air because your mouth is too wide open you end up spending all of your air early on. I had a problem early on where I thought I was blowing all of the air I had but instead I was basically only blowing with the air I had in my mouth. When the air ran out I ended up sort of blocking my throat and it felt like I was chocking. If I stopped blowing and relaxed again I noticed that I still had plenty of air left that I just couldn't get out of my lungs. This problem went away as I got more relaxed. Remember to sit properly so that you allow the air to come out naturally. Do not start to panic or change anything after blowing for a moment. I think it's a common thing to start getting into panic mode after you blow a bit and start to feel like you are running out of air. At this point you may get tense and blowing becomes impossible because air isn't flowing naturally. I found it more productive to only blow for as long as it felt comfortable. Blowing until you turn blue may be more effective way to train, who knows, but I think that learning to blow while relaxed beats losing a few seconds in your blowing time. Eventually you'll notice that the time you can blow keeps going up and you don't get that panic feeling anymore.

You may also want to practice breathing without an instrument. I'm sure that there are plenty of ways to do it but they all come down to just breathing out for as long as possible. I do this by taking a deep breath and letting my stomach expand. After I have all the air I can take in I wait for a second or so. I then begin to blow the air out. You can keep a finger in front of your mouth as I found that it helps to get an idea of how much air is coming out. Keep your lips pretty much like you would when blowing and try to keep the opening narrow. When blowing you should focus on pushing the air out rather than trying to blow like you would if you wanted to fill a balloon. The feeling is a bit like trying to pull your stomach in. The goal is to keep the air flow steady and strong while still not pushing it. Blow until you are out of air but don't overdo it. Turning blue isn't helpful in any way and just forces you to take a break when you start to feel really strange. Once done, wait for a second or so and repeat. I find this to be a useful thing to do when you are in a car, train or just generally sitting somewhere with nothing to do.

Most importantly, don't think that you need to improve your time by five seconds before next Friday. Just keep at it and you'll notice that little by little it becomes easier to blow long tones. I'm constantly surprised by how much longer I can blow than I used to be able to even though I have no idea when my results improved. It just kind of happens if you are having fun. Turning it into a stop-watch sport may be missing the point. I have no idea how long I can keep Ro up and it never hurt me so far.

radi0gnome wrote:

Turning blue and running out of air are two different things. It's good exercise to overdo it and really squeeze as much air as you can out of your lungs.

I stand corrected. I also used to practice blowing until there was nothing left to blow but I felt that often it made me feel so strange after a while that I ended up stopping. By blowing only slightly over the point where it starts to feel bad I've managed to extend the time I practice a lot to a point where I can do breathing exercise for pretty much as long as I want. I do try to also occasionally do what you suggested but I avoid doing it repeatedly. This has worked fairly well for me and my ability to blow long notes has improved a lot. Running out of air while playing is not that common for me anymore on most pieces.

Thanks for the hint on the DVD. I should check it out.

Thanks for the great hints everyone!

Hi,

embrouchure does it all. I do not want to interfere with your teachers leadership, but keeping the muscles at the corners of your mouth tight, yet the lips loose and the jaw dropped usually does the job.

Cheers,

Marek