CG Breathing vs "The Wedge"

redface · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 1:07 am Post subject:

Recently I was having a chat with a friend who had some lessons with Roger Ingram. Roger showed him (and then he showed me) this method of breathing where you pop your stomach in and out and then fill up, really raising the chest and keeping the chest up. You then use the "abdominal wedge" created with this posture to unlock lots of power.
This seems very, very similar to CG's `chest up' instructions althought presented in a much more complicated way.
I have also heard that singers are told to keep the chest up while singing. Is there any connection between these three (similar) methods??

Jeff_Purtle · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 4:58 pm Post subject:

I believe Roger Ingram learned his breathing stuff from Bobby Shew. Sometimes people call it a "complete breath" and I have read about it in Yoga breathing instructions.

This is not the same thing as Claude taught. Some people also incorrectly think that Claude taught to raise your shoulders up and down and/or breath from the chest. The point is that the chest stays up ALL the time. Once your chest comes down you will suffer a loss in power. For some people their stomach may move. Claude would say don't worry about it. If the chest is up you cannot breath incorrectly. This, like all of Claude's approach was pretty no-nonsense and to the point.

Check-out the sound file on my site of Dr. Larry Miller talking about breathing and the diaphragm. Larry's work is included in Claude's Brass Playing is No Harder Than Deep Breathing book. Larry is a cardiovascular surgeon and "knows" what the diaphragm is like first hand by touching it and seeing it everyday in his work. He also is a great trumpet player and long time student of Claude.

Jeff
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oj · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2003 11:15 pm Post subject:

It is from Bobby, definitely. Roger is one of Bobby's students.

Btw, here is how Bobby does his "6-step" breathing (scroll down to find it):

http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/ntf/nr2-99/Clinic.html

If you observe Bobby when playing, you will see that most of the time he does not lift the shoulders. Only when he need some extra power for very high notes. This lifting help you get a bit more air, but it also "works against the wedge" (when lowering the shoulders, you get more compression) - this is at least how I feel the effect.

Ole

MF Fan · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 12:20 pm Post subject:

Jeff, where on your site is the Dr. Larry Miller sound file?

Jeff_Purtle · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 5:21 pm Post subject:

Here is the page:
http://www.purtle.com/jeff_sound.html

It is the third one down on the list of lectures from Claude's Brass Camp.

Jeff
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Jeff Purtle
Trumpet Lessons Online since 2004, teaching since 1983
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+1 864-354-3223 iPhone w/ FaceTime
Skype: jeff_purtle

John Mohan · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 5:21 am Post subject:

Though the description of "The Wedge" seems a bit complicated to me, I find the final result to be the same as what Claude taught in that both involve the idea of standing with good posture, and keeping the chest up while blowing. The first time I saw Bobby Shew playing live, it was with Louis Bellson back in the late '70's. I noticed then how he could have been a model for what Claude was teaching me. His chest was nice and upright as he played in a position of good posture.

I prefer Claude's description of how to breath and blow correctly as it is simpler and easier to follow.

Sincerely,

John Mohan
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