Frank Campos' chapter on breathing

[TimTheTrumpeter]

So I was unsure at first whether to put this here or in Fundamentals, but I think it's suitable here since I'll be talking about playing high and breathing.

I read most of the stuff in Frank Campos' trumpet technique book. Probably the chapter that helped and inspired me the most was the chapter on breathing. I read this chapter twice through but there are a few things that are unclear to me still. It's pretty obvious that we always want to take in fairly full breaths (not completely full) and it's good to take in the air without any sound happening, because this means the air is entering freely without resistance in the throat and/or chest. It's good to think of filling from the bottom up - all of this makes perfect sense to me. What I'm still trying to understand is the exhale... while it's pretty obvious that tension is bad, I don't get how to compress the airflow itself without tensing up muscles. He talks about how the abdomen shouldn't firm up, and I understand WHY that is necessary when playing in the upper register (because firm muscles are only restricting airflow, right?) but don't understand HOW this concept is applied. I'm sure I could play to the top of my range without being too firm/tense, but I'd probably only be able to accomplish this at a pianissimo dynamic, and that wouldn't be of much use in performance.

Any thoughts on this, by all means add as you wish. After reading this (which was sometime like a year ago, and then again recently) and practicing, I realized that I was not consciously paying enough attention to my breathing, and noticed in immediate improvement just by the way I was taking in air. While I learned many things from this, I feel like there's still a key point or two that I'm missing...

I also watched that video of jim manley on youtube recently with him and another guy and he said some things about air use and sound, and using the resistance of the horn and am wondering if any of that stuff ties into this.

-Tim

[PAB]

In regards to exhalation, Frank used to tell us (his students at Ithaca College) to just blow. Don't think about what to do with your abs or anything else, your body knows what to do if you just blow.

Hope that helps.

Ben

[kalijah]

[tpang]

I realize this thread is a bit old but if you're still looking for stuff, try reading Frank's articles on the Reverse Breath. They should be able to help you understand and achieve that firm abdominal without the side effects (i.e. Valsalva maneuver)
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Tom Pang

[trombino]

Also, take a look at the Urban Agnas clips on youtube. He talks about and demonstrates a less physical, more relaxed way of blowing. I bought his book and the combination of the book and watching the videos has helped me a lot.

[nyctrumpeter]

[Al Innella]

Breathing in is always the same. When I exhale in the low or middle register, I think of exhaling as if I were talking to someone nearby. When playing above the staff I think of them as being a little further away. As I go higher I think of them being even further away. When playing above G above high C I think of them being across the street. The trick is to still think of talking not yelling. By doing this you can feel slight increases in abdominal pressure without over tensing.

[PacoTheTrumpeter]

You shouldn't be trying to "compress the airflow" (whatever that means). You should simply be imagining the sound you want to make and blowing your full breath into the trumpet. And the idea is not that you shouldn't have firm abs during playing, but that you need to find a balanced way to play wherein the firming of muscles and direction of your energy is a byproduct of initiating the sound, not a conscious clenching action.

[trpthrld]

Frank is a truly wonderful player, excellent teacher and great guy. Very humble, too (a very nice character trait).

What he says is right, but if you want probably the best and most simple explanation, get a copy of Don Jacoby's book "Jake's Method." He got the simplest explanation of breathing and how it relates to playing wind instruments that I've ever read. I highly recommend it to all my students.

To condense what Jake says, and this I think goes along with Frank, is the higher the note you want to think the farther away it is from the front of the bell. In other words, for higher notes you blow your air farther in front of you (following any natural down or up-angles your air may have). Blowing farther means your air is also going faster (it naturally compresses)...faster air / higher notes. All the compression happens naturally and sub-consciously, something we don't wanna mess with.

Very Bill Adam. Very easy. Very right on the mark.

Pender's has it. $35, but it's got all great stuff in it.

www.penders.com/p/13571200/jakes-method

Something I always keep in mind, and this came from studying with Charley Davis, is "Let the sound fix the physical." And I think it was Herseth who said "If your sound is good it's because your air is right" or something like that.
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Tim Wendt

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=148173&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER-

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

[nyctrumpeter]

edited.
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[trpthrld]

[dbacon]

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