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
