Breathing

However many brass, woodwind and vocal teachers there are, there are that many theories, philosophies or methods for teaching how to breath; many of them work, however, many of them act in contradiction to nature and the natural flow and beauty that are essential in music. Breathing should be part of the music, but frequently we see it as a contorted fragment of time when the music stops and the performer refills his power supply (air) to restart.

We are an analytical, technically orientated culture; we need to know how things work. While it’s very interesting to know the ins and outs of pulmonary function, sometimes the benefits of that knowledge are dubious; frequently, our preoccupation with how breathing works interferes with our music making. Breathing should be natural and organic to the music and most if the time we find that the music also needs to breathe.

48 years ago in 1957, when I was playing with the Rochester Philharmonic, the orchestra was rehearsing the Strauss Oboe Concerto. Robert Sprenkle, one of my heroes from my conservatory days and the first oboist with the Rochester Philharmonic, was the soloist. There is no tuba in the Strauss Oboe Concerto so I went into the hall of the Eastman Theater and sat down to listen. The very long and lyric opening was wonderful; it was dynamic, beautifully phrased, perfect intonation, profoundly musical and the long, typically Straussian phrase was unbroken because of Mr. Sprinkle’s circular breathing; why was I getting uncomfortable? I was just a nineteen year old boy listening to one of my mentors making beautiful music, who was I to be uncomfortable? I remembered that moment for many years and it wasn’t until much later at another performance of the Strauss Oboe Concerto that I was able to understand what had bothered me. The circular breathing and the unbroken phrase were unnatural, the music itself needed to breath.

Too frequently, we tubists, while trying to continue a phrase when there are no rests written, actually result in distorting the rhythm. In 1968 I got a call from my old student, Mel Culbertsen, who was playing tuba for the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra in The Netherlands. He had just won the position with the Paris Opera Orchestra and needed a replacement in The Hague immediately. He asked if I had any students who might be ready. I told him I had one and he asked that he make a tape and send it immediately, which he did. Ten days later I got another call from Mel and he said, “You’re not going to believe this”, at which time he began playing several of the audition tapes for me over the phone. It was the famous “audition passage” from the Meistersinger Overture. All five versions that he played for me were seriously distorted rhythmically because the players were holding the half note tied to the eighth note all the way through the eighth note, then taking the breath and continuing with the following three eighth notes, which were, of course, late; the whole passage was almost in 9/8 time! Fortunately, my student didn’t do that and consequently won the job.

Think about that: If there is no rest and you play a note it’s full value, then take a breath and start the next note, that note will be late, The time of the breath must always be calculated and taken from the preceding note. If the players that had sent those tapes to The Hague had played the half note, taken the breath on the third beat, those next three eighths would have been on time! The happy surprise here is that the music sounds better with those breaths; the music needs to breath too.

Breathing, is part of the music, it needs to be planned as part of the music and specifically as part of the rhythm. Far more important than our seemingly chronic questions on how to breath, is the question of where to breath; many of the “breathing problems” we encounter simply disappear when we make the decisions where the breath should be. ‘Where to breathe’ is a musical decision and it’s clear the biological function of breathing works much more naturally when it is integrated as part of the music.

There are three simple rules regarding breathing that we need to be conscious of:

1.            While performing, just as in just day-to-day living, the movement of the air should be constant; many of the breathing problems players develop come from the habit of taking a breath and holding it before we start a note. For best results both musically and biologically the air should be in motion at all times whether inhaling or exhaling.

2.            We need to remember it takes more air to play in the lower register. In fact, at the same dynamic, each octave down takes twice the air as one octave above. If middle C on the piano, the tuba’s high C, takes four liters of air per minute at mf, an octave lower takes eight liters. One octave lower, our low C, takes sixteen liters and pedal C takes thirty-two liters per minute. Although we all know the low register takes more air it’s surprising how many players forget this while playing!

3.            Whenever possible we should play within the first 66% of our air capacity; the last third of our air is never as stable as the first two thirds. As tubists we may have to go into that last third occasionally but we should make an effort to minimize it. Taking a deep full breath every time we breath is the best way to be sure we are in the first 66% as much as possible.

A forth rule could possibly be called musical breathing or perhaps rhythmic breathing. It’s not only a question of where to breathe and when to breathe but also the duration of the breath. Depending on the tempo, the breath could be through an eighth note or a quarter note. For example: If an entrance comes on the first beat of a 4/4 measure, the entrance will probably be more beautiful if the breath is taken through the preceding fourth beat. Further, if an entrance comes on the second half of the third beat, taking a breath on the second half of the second beat will set the rhythm; the music actually starts before we hear any sound.

Of course, it’s useful and very interesting to know how breathing works but there is a very real danger when we begin to be preoccupied with its function. When breathing is calculated and organized as part of the music it is amazing how naturally things work.

Tokyo, Japan, May 5, 2006

Revised November 8, 2008

Revised again June 30, 2012, Tokyo

Choosing an Instrument

Every story is different when we tell how we chose the instrument we play; it’s almost a magical thing and that choice affects us for the rest of our lives. The way we view music and even life itself is very different if we see it from the viewpoint of a flutist or as a tubist, certainly, one is not better than the other but the difference it makes in the way we perceive the musical world we are entering is enormous.

One of the most fascinating questions a musician can ask himself is: Are we the way we are because of the instrument we chose or did we chose our instrument because of the way we are? I’m still working on the answer to that question. And there is also another very interesting question: Has the instrument you play changed your life?

But after that magical time when we chose which instrument we want to play comes another equally important choice; which instrument, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium or tuba do you want to buy? Now the question is less magical, less esoteric. It has to do with our level of musical performance and it has to do with economics. We must make a good decision.

I have a good friend, a very well known brass teacher, who has an excellent student who just went out and bought a new instrument… without trying different instruments or asking advice from his teacher. He ended up buying a rebuilt instrument that looked beautiful, but was stiff and stuffy, which frankly didn’t sound nearly as good as the old school instrument that he was replacing and cost more than some of the new instruments that are available on the market! My friend is agonizing as to what he should do now to help the unfortunate student.

Let’s take a look at the obvious; He can’t say to the student that his new horn is terrible, that he sounded much better on his school’s old horn, which he was using before. He can’t say that the price he paid was extraordinarily inflated. What can this teacher do?

I have heard this student, my friend, his teacher, is very proud of him and we both deeply feel the frustration; this young player is at the high point of his learning capacity and we both agree that his progress will be severely retarded because of this purchase. Without a doubt the student will sooner or later come to realize that buying that instrument was a very sad mistake and that he will have to find a way to correct it. Buying any instrument at today’s prices is a very scary thing and saying that we need to be careful is a huge understatement; but how can we protect ourselves and be sure of making a good decision?

Of course, that prevailing question of what type of instrument we need will always be present. However, once those basic decisions are made and we are test-playing an instrument that we may consider buying, how to test-play it is something we need to think about very seriously.

  In the various venues where I have taught, whether permanent or just a master class of a few days, I have always tried to discuss and simulate the process of choosing (test-playing) an instrument. I would like to offer a few suggestions that might be the best and safest way to pick any instrument, woodwind or brass that you will probably be using for a number of years.

1.         Try to define as much as possible what you want the instrument for. Should it be an all-round instrument that would serve you well for symphony, band, small ensembles, solos, jazz etc. or should it be more of a specialty instrument. In any case, try and have a clear idea in your mind of what you want.

2.         Choose a reasonable reed or mouthpiece and use the same one throughout the testing.

3.         Test the instrument with people you trust listening; use their feedback to help you in formulating your own opinions.

4.         Try as many instruments as possible.

5.         Be patient; take your time even if it takes you a few weeks to be sure.

6.         Do not allow yourself to be pressured by the salesman or anyone who might profit from you buying a certain instrument.

7.         Ask if you can take the instrument that interests you most for a few days and try it in your personal musical environment.

8.         It’s very easy to get confused when we try a large number of instruments. Use some kind of organized testing form to help you keep track of all the different instruments you’ve tried; sometimes it is useful to let your listeners fill the form while you are test playing.

9.         Choose specific passages for the various aspects you are testing, middle, low and high registers, loud soft etc. and play the same passages on each instrument.

10.    Finally, play music! See how the instrument responds to your style.

11.    TAKE YOUR TIME!

Choosing the instrument you will probably be using for many years is a very important step in your musical life. We are blessed today with a rich market full of wonderful instruments; try as many of them as possible, educate yourself as to what is available, and avoid extremes. Be careful and take your time.

Below is an example of a testing form that I organized for tuba; it would not be difficult adapt this testing sheet for any wind instrument. The important thing is to keep a clear memory of what you’ve tested and your impressions of them.

February 3, 2006, Kyoto, Japan

Revised June 28, 2012, Tokyo

Enlightenment in BBb

I was fifteen; it would have been 1953, when I made the change from BBb to CC tuba. It seemed like I had been liberated, the response was quicker, the tone was clearer, the low register was actually better and, of course, the high register was much easier; it was simply more fun to play and I never looked back. Around the same time my good friend Tommy Johnson made the same change. We would talk to each other about our fantastic discovery and how we felt sorry for those players that were still struggling with the encumberments of BBbs. During the next years we watched as most tubists made similar changes and little by little CC tubas became the contrabasstubas of choice by most tubists in the United States.

It was in the 60s and 70s that several America tubists with CC tubas started winning positions in European orchestras and many more were pursuing positions in Europe. Very quickly the tuba communities in Austria and Germany began requiring tubists to play BBb tubas for all auditions. Of course, deductive reasoning led one to the conclusion that the German school tubists were using this requirement to assure that only German school tubists would win the jobs. Certainly to some degree that was true but there was more to it than just that.

I have been in many situations through the last five decades when I’ve had the opportunity to listen and compare the sounds of the CC and BBb tubas and in every occasion I have favored the CC but in light of an experience I had recently in Detmold, Germany, while giving a masterclass at the Conservatory, I have to face that I may have maintained that same kind of prejudice and dogma on behalf of CC tubas that I have accused the Germans of having for BBbs.

In an ensemble masterclass my colleague professors and I heard a five trombone and tuba ensemble playing an arrangement of a Bruckner piece. The Meinl Weston 195 Fafner 4/4 BBb tuba that was used was strikingly rich, clear, gloriously beautiful and exactly the right instrument for that music; it was instantly obvious that there was a valid use for a BBb tuba that I had not seen before, further it was clear if I still had a few years of symphony orchestra work ahead of me I would feel a strong need to have such a tuba. My colleague Anne Jelle Visser, a CC tuba oriented player with the Zurich Opera and who shared this enlightening experience with me has subsequently ordered two of these tubas, one for the Zurich Conservatory and one for the Zurich Opera Orchestra. If I played in a symphony orchestra I would probably not use it more that 5% of the time but those times when I needed it I would have to have it.

There is another issue of hard realism here: If we tubists want to be like our trumpet playing colleagues and own several instruments in all keys and sizes for all occasions, we would either have to be rich or have generous benefactors, such as orchestras or conservatories to possess all these instruments. Economics is a factor in all our lives but as artists it should at least not let that limit our thinking and our vision.

However, I try to imagine the reaction of a symphony tour manager while being informed that for the next tour we will need to carry four of five instruments or filling my personal vehicle with all the instruments I might need for a studio job! Sometimes it’s tough to be a tubist.

Tokyo, May 6, 2009

Revised June 26, 2012, Tokyo

Embouchure is a verb

“Embouchure: noun

Music: the way in which a player applies the lips to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument.”

So the dictionary states! However, lips alone are useless without air to generate a vibration, but how that air meets and passes through the lips has almost infinite possibilities. The calibration between the lips and air is almost a spiritual thing; it’s a matter of thought and result. It’s our human nature to analyze but for the embouchure, analyses will never be sufficient. Second only to breathing, there is a sad history of lasting problems caused by embouchure hyper analyzation. Let’s just say embouchure, in the modern meaning, is the air meeting the lips, and the way that that air meets the lips. Embouchure then, is a verb!

The embouchure is an active thing, it is in constant flux as we change registers and dynamics, and as we play music, the aperture, air pressure and flow rate (cubic liters per minute) are all in perpetual adjustment. Similarly, we can analyze speech in the same way, the movement of air meeting the larynx, creating the vibration and the subsequent manipulation of our tongue and oral cavity to create vowels and consonants. Still, our analyses will not help us to speak better, not to mention successfully reading Shakespeare.

The lips and the air movement are a collective and active function in brass playing that cannot be separated. It’s very similar to a hose with a nozzle; adjusting the nozzle itself is useless without also adjusting the water pressure. If we want to make a 3 meter arch of water that is smooth and non-turbulent, not a spray, not a dribble, we must adjust the nozzle, AND the water pressure until we get the 3-meter non-turbulent spout that we want. If we want to change to a 5-meter spout we have to recalibrate both the nozzle and the water pressure. It’s quite the same making a tone on a brass instrument except the adjustment is constant and fluid. The mix between our lip tension and air volume is what determines the tone quality, dynamic and register. Further, how quickly the water reaches, how fast the water is turned on and its impact with the nozzle would correlate to articulation.

That’s a lot to think about, in fact, it would be impossible to keep all those aspects of delivering air to the lips in our consciousness as we play. Imagine, for example, carrying an extremely full bowl of water across a room and not spilling a drop; how can you do this? (Please See "WATERSLOSH" on rogerbobo.com) You can say to yourself “I’m going to keep my wrist and arm rigid so that there won’t be any spilling; I going to walk slowly and if I see the water is going to spill to the left I will tilt the cup to the right to compensate and visa versa: This would probably leave many wet spots on the floor. Or you can just walk carefully using your instincts. You will probably spill no water at all.

It’s very much the same while playing: You can take a breath, tighten your lips to exactly the correct tension, tongue it exactly in the right place, use exactly the right amount of air, and if you are out of tune you can lip the note up or down, this will probably leave a lot of missed notes on the way! Or you can use your ears as a reference and play instinctively. Most likely you will play well!

And once again we arrive at the same conclusion; chronic analyzing gets in the way. Listening is the only way to control these micro adjustments that are necessary for a fluid embouchure.

In all aspects of brass playing as we develop our playing tool chest, it’s our ears that determine the final adjustments and the final results.

February 8, 2007, Tokyo, Japan

Revised June 23, 2012, Tokyo, Japan

Art and Income

Art and Income quickly proved to be a weak, narrow and incomplete premise for the subject I wanted this essay to address, but maybe it’s a good start. Perhaps economic hard times can serve as nourishment for the creative force, but not always. That grist for the creative mill necessary for the traction of progress takes many forms: competition, economics, family, love, and health or just about any other aspect of life that we allow to become obsessive. What would Shakespeare have been without the tensions of love, or Hemingway and Mahler without their obsession with death?

There is a huge difference in the artistic product between what comes easily and what takes the action of work. We can see that in the history of our civilizations on this planet. Those civilizations where life was easy simply didn’t evolve; why should they, when the most demanding thing in life is reaching up to pick a banana? Where as those civilizations that depended on intelligence and cunning to hunt, build a fire, make tools and clothing simply to stay alive, and to form architecture, cities, art and music, developed and flourished. Yet we can’t forget those civilizations that simply faded away because the harsh conditions, weather, nutrition needs, and other hostile environments, were just too overwhelming for survival.

This certainly can’t mean that what comes easily in the creative process is less good than that which requires intense labor; certainly the music of Mozart came easily to him with no negative affect on greatness, but one has to wonder at the profound difference in Mozart’s Requiem, written from his death bed, compared to most of his other works.

Today the question has to be asked if the integrity of the creative force is diminished in greatness since much of our creativity is inspired by its potential of economic reward, i.e. will this project bring income --- will it make money? Is the film soundtrack music of John Williams any less good than if he had written it simply because of a powerful visceral need to compose? Does music created specifically for maximum sales have soul?

More poignantly to the personal perspective of an instrumental musician, is artistic integrity compromised by many symphony orchestras calculating programs for an entire season by ticket sales? Is it possible economic necessity is compromising that artistic integrity?

Now comes the really difficult question: Are we instrumental musicians really creative artists? Painful to contemplate! Is the music we play in our various gigs true art, are we instrumentalists worthy to compare ourselves in any way with the likes of Shakespeare, Mahler, Hemingway, Mozart or even John Williams? Is playing a single line instrument in a symphony orchestra, a single sonic fiber, perhaps of great beauty, but only one colorful thread in a rich tapestry of sound, where real individualism and creativity is frequently discouraged, an art form? Or are we really just a kind of sonic soldier repeating our sonic tasks. And again I find myself forming uncomfortable questions that I avoid or am unable to answer.

I remember occasionally hearing great moments of magic from certain symphony musicians but it seems to me that today, that little bit of individualism, where we occasionally get to shine, has become a non personal non spontaneous approach to music making, i.e. the Sonic Soldier Syndrome.

If so, I personally will fight my hardest to not to fall in that category and hopefully the fight itself might enhance my creative forces beyond that of the rank and file. Musicians need a soul.

Kyoto, Japan, April 2005

Revised June 19, 2012, Tokyo