Nose Breathing. Have I been living under a rock?

[Andy Del]

There’s a saying, never argue with an idiot… etc.

So before I take the plunge, have I missed something over the past quarter century?

I have a collection of students in band, all with the same private teacher, who all swear they are taught to breathe through their nose only while playing. If they breathe through their mouth, they must remove the mouthpiece from their lips. So they don’t. Ever. These kids are playing at a pretty rudimentary standard. I am, to be honest, gobsmacked.

I am happy to call issues out, and when I do, let kids know their instrumental teacher, sports coach, maths tutor, etc are welcome to call me if they have a problem with what I have said. (Only ever had one call, from a p!ssed orthodontist. Guess he didn’t like being questioned over his Fiji holiday patient…)

So, kind reader, before I open my mouth… have I missed something!

Cheers

Andy
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so many horns, so few good notes...

[JayKosta]

Do you believe that the student's 'nose breathing' is limiting their ability to inhale adequate air for playing? Does that appear to inhibit their playing progress?

Are the students trying to 'sniff' small amounts of air, or are they also doing 'deep inhales'?

Do the students seem to take an unusually long time to establish their mouthpiece placement? Can they quickly re-establish position after removing the mouthpiece.

I have seen / read instructions about not removing the mouthpiece for breathing, but perhaps that is only in the context of while doing a specific type of training exercise.
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[Billy B]

I wouldn't take the student's word on this. Talk to the teacher and get the rest of the story.

I often have students breathe through the nose for periods of time in their development.

Also if I have a group of students from the same school I will have them practice the same things so they may reinforce the concept to each other.
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Bill Bergren

[abontrumpet]

[astadler]

[Steve A]

[kalijah]

[trpthrld]

This:

www.brasschats.com/interviews/brass-chats-episode-30-jim-pandolfi-live
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www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=146827&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER--

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPWAJqghk24&feature=youtu.be

[Andy Del]

To answer the questions...

Yes, I do think it is limiting them. They all share little to no ability to articulate, play incredibly softly, can't start a note clearly, and are unable to play more than a few beats without needing to sniff in a little more.

They find taking the mouthpiece off their face, or breathing through their mouth by opening their jaw a little before resetting and playing almost impossible.

I've quietly verified this across all the students, who play in a number of ensembles. (there is one kid taking lessons from a different person. Their expression of WTF was almost funny to see. They also play rings around the rest.)

Asking the teacher - well, one can't get a straight answer from them. There are explicit expectations they are contracted to - maybe I'm just too finicky with trumpets, it does feel all they either miss these expectations, or pay lip service to them and go about their merry way.
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so many horns, so few good notes...

[astadler]

[Billy B]

[kehaulani]

For me, evaluating/micro-managing the topic, is a waste of time and it's making something simple (for me) into something unnecessarily complex. More to think about, more "paralysis by analysis".

If you need to conctrate on it, do.

Here are the reasons I can see, if worrying about nose breathing is necessary or not:

*If you are doing Caruso's 6 Tones.
* Your horn keeps slipping from position after removing it and putting it back on.
* Some pedagogues say that nose breathing. somehow, adds some extra strength/efficiency chemically to your system.

Personally, I have never gotten into analyzing it when there wasn't an issue to begin with. I'm a great believer that your body remembers things if left alone. So, if my body knows where the best embouchure placement is, all I have to do is put the mouthpiece on my face and muscle memory does the rest.

Ever watch Freddie Hubard play? He will completely remove the horn from his face, even for a few beats, then come back in on a Double G without resetting, anchoring or what have you.
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[kalijah]

Billy wrote

[trompette229]

I wouldn't call nose breathing a bad thing but another vote to keep it out of the "primary" camp. As we gain hundreds, thousands of hours to our practicing, habits are formed which can be very hard to break. One head cold and your primary source of breathing isn't possible, or severely problematic.

There could be reasonable arguments on both sides but as common as a blocked nasal passage can be for many people makes this a non starter. At a minimum it can be integrated with breathing through the mouth but not as the primary method.

I've been playing professionally and teaching for decades and feel this is just common sense and hard to argue (No, I'm not looking for an argument:)

[Irving]

It can be a useful tool. For soft exposed entrances for example. If you have loud passages especially in the lower register, then it wouldn't work. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

[kalijah]

1.Unless due to a health issue, the nose is ALWAYS available for inhalation. And it alone is sufficient for most musical situations for the inhalation preceding a note or phrase. (One is not required to inhale the air volume on the very last beat or 2 before most musical entrances.)

2. In the musical instance or requirement of a short-duration/ high-flow inhalation, the nose AND mouth-corners concurrently is superior to mouth alone. (most already do this without realizing it)

If you can escape the habit of denying the nose you can realize the benefits. Again, I am not suggesting one never allow the mouth to contribute for certain situations (see 1 and 2). But EVERY inhalation can and should involve the nose. There is no logical reason otherwise.

Nose inhalation is also the natural and healthy way to inhale.

[Vince.Green]

I feel pretty lucky in that I don't get colds and congestion often but know many of my students (and colleagues) suffer from them frequently. I can also think of times where I have had to perform with a stuffy nose and can't imagine what I would have done if I were used to primarily nose breathing and then having to only breath through the mouth on an important performance.

On the other side, I think most players allow some flow through the nose when breathing through the mouth. Temporarily putting a nose clamp or swimming nose plug on is interesting to really see how much you already rely on this is an interesting experiment.

[Nathan.Sobieralski]