We all have a specific routine or ritual that we like to employ when we go to practice our instrument. Whether that be long-tones or tonguing exercises, or melodious Klosé exercises. Something that we don’t always consider is the warmup before the warmup. That might sound a bit confusing; what is a warmup before a warmup?
Do you ever get tired too fast during your warmup, or is your air speed suddenly feeling strenuous? That may be a sign that you aren’t warmed up before your warmup. But how do we accomplish that? Some people may do stretches and mental preparation by writing out a plan. While those steps are great at solving some potential issues, we are forgetting something. Breathing. We need to prepare our body, specifically our diaphragm, into blowing through the instrument. Obviously, having good breath support during your warmups is a good thing to have, but if we skip that warmup, we might be impacting our future ability to play long, melodious or technical passages. Although the breath support does eventually catch up, we can shorten that time span of catch-up to almost nothing. How do we do that?
We can start by actively breathing! There are two types of breathing: active and passive. Active breathing is where you are consciously engaging your diaphragm to control the rate, pressure, and amount of air traveling through your body. Have you ever been made aware of your breathing and now you feel like if you don’t control your breath you might pass out. You may have just become aware of your breathing right now. Congratulations! You have successfully transitioned from passive breathing to active breathing. When playing a wind instrument, we are constantly using active breathing to push the air through the instrument, and that starts at the very start: the inhale.
The most important part of the active breathing process is the inhale. Do it incorrectly, and you probably won’t fill your lungs to their capacity. Do it correctly, and you are able to do multiple things. The first, providing a generous amount of oxygen to your body and importantly your brain, allowing you to stay alert and focused. The second, you are allowing yourself full control of your breath, helping you play those long passages that seemed impossible before. If you have ever heard of the term stomach breathing or shoulder breathing, that’s referring to active or passive breathing as well – just in a more complicated way. We need to understand the implications that can arise through active breathing.
In active breathing, shoulder breathing is considered restrictive. It fills up the chest cavity, but there is limited space there and there is still so much room left in the lower part of your lungs. Constantly breathing through your shoulders or chest cavity can lead to other problems, such as muscle cramps, and other injuries! YIKES! Instead, stomach breathing, or deep breathing rather, can bring many benefits including, flushing out of cortisol (stress hormone), and anxiety relieving (a type of grounding technique).
Stomach breathing brings so much more than a good full sound on your instrument, it’s literally healthier for you! This is the type of breathing that occurs though passive breathing! Though not as filling, it is the most natural way that we breathe.
So, before a warmup, warmup your diaphragm with some active breathing! You can even do the following exercises – These are like long-tones! But for your body!
- Slow inhale for 4 counts at quarter-note = 60bpm, fast exhale with the same embouchure you use on your instrument (without instrument).
- Fast inhale, fast exhale
- Slow inhale for 4 counts at quarter-note = 60bpm, hold for four counts, slow exhale through the nose at quarter-note = 60bpm.
The last step for these exercises would be to transfer the same ideas into your warmup!
Happy practicing!
Ricky Latham | June 2024
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