In daily life, we rarely fill up the lungs to the maximum capacity (maybe only when yawning). Employing everyday breathing, students commonly use only part of lungs' capacity when playing the horn. Here’s an illustration:
The most important line here is at 30%. At this point the pressure in the lungs is the same as on the outside. Even though there is some air in the lungs, it doesn’t want to escape. Now, take a breath to, say, 60% of your capacity. You’ll increase the pressure inside your chest and the air will come out.
Now, come back to your baseline (30%). You can push the rest of the air out. It is the effort of your muscles that does the job.
Ideally, we want to increase the amount of air that “comes out by itself” and reduce the “pushing” part. Therefore, we want to avoid going under the “baseline” as much as possible. Here’s an illustration:
In other words, we want to raise the range in which we operate from 30-60% up to 50%-100%. Then, even if we play a very long phrase, we can capitalize on the fact that the air comes out effortlessly.
But…
You’ll notice that the intensity of the air stream will decrease as you come closer to the “baseline”. But you need to keep a steady sound… You will need to gradually transition from one type of blowing to the second.
Ideas
- Check out breathing tools for ideas on how to take a fuller breath
- See Yawn and Sigh
When filling up to 60% of the capacity
Visualise. Illustrate how much capacity the student is using and can/should be using (self-assessment 0-100%, illustrate with a diagram)
Learning Activity: Find your lung capacity
- use [a breathing bag or a spirometer]