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Stagger Breathing


buckeyemusicman

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Hey I was wondering if anyone could shed some insight into how the corps teach / discuss / implement stagger breathing? Maybe share some insight on their philosophy as well? I know it will be different from corps to corps but I'm just curious!

Thanks!

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WHhen I teach stagger breathing, I emphasize sneaking in and out of the breathe. Decrescendo to the release; starting at the soft dynamic you ended before the breathe, crescendo back to the required dynamic. Obviously, you let them know they shouldn't breathe the same time as the people on either side of them.

I'm sure someone will reply with some good details and tricks.

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WHhen I teach stagger breathing, I emphasize sneaking in and out of the breathe. Decrescendo to the release; starting at the soft dynamic you ended before the breathe, crescendo back to the required dynamic. Obviously, you let them know they shouldn't breathe the same time as the people on either side of them.

I'm sure someone will reply with some good details and tricks.

Cool! I could see that working in certain situations. My thought has been (and I haven't had the opportunity to try this out yet with students) is to have the students take their normal deep breath, and when their personal power gets below 75%-65% have them take a quick 2 count breath, and legato tongue and re-enter. But I haven't had the chance to try this out like I said, and everything is good in theory until you try it.

I hope we hear some other ideas as well! Thanks!

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Cool! I could see that working in certain situations. My thought has been (and I haven't had the opportunity to try this out yet with students) is to have the students take their normal deep breath, and when their personal power gets below 75%-65% have them take a quick 2 count breath, and legato tongue and re-enter. But I haven't had the chance to try this out like I said, and everything is good in theory until you try it.

I hope we hear some other ideas as well! Thanks!

:thumbup:

the 2 count breath is based off tempo right? I also do breathing exercises inhales in 4,2 and 1 count. Teaches young players how to "fill up" with differnt inhale counts.

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:thumbup:

the 2 count breath is based off tempo right? I also do breathing exercises inhales in 4,2 and 1 count. Teaches young players how to "fill up" with differnt inhale counts.

Of course its based off tempo! I do the same thing with my breathing exercises I use as well. When I teach breathing (doesn't matter 5th grade or College), I have them put their hand over their belly button and breathe in thinking about pushing their belly button to the floor. This USUALLY forces a low breath from the diaphragm. I also like the using a similar technique having them lay down, and push their hand in the air when they breathe.

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Of course its based off tempo! I do the same thing with my breathing exercises I use as well. When I teach breathing (doesn't matter 5th grade or College), I have them put their hand over their belly button and breathe in thinking about pushing their belly button to the floor. This USUALLY forces a low breath from the diaphragm. I also like the using a similar technique having them lay down, and push their hand in the air when they breathe.

Where are you located?

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Where are you located?

I'm in Columbus, Ohio. Yourself?

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Chicago.

Never been to Chicago.... well i've driven through it once, and past it another time. I need to go at some point. Are you in school, teacher?

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  • 1 month later...

*bump* :thumbup:

You two are talking about breathing (good ideas, too, although a little over-analyzed for my tastes these days), but not much about stagger breathing.

There's a couple tricks to get players to start thinking about stagger breathing --

Sneak out and sneak in. Decrescendo out like MelloHorn said, and crescendo back in. I would suggest learning how to attack... sorry, "attack" is a fairly aggressive term, so I like to say "begin" the note without using the tongue. Learn how to do it relatively quickly, too, so the neighboring player isn't left waiting for a full measure or two to get their breath.

"Don't breathe on the bar line." It's not 100% musically correct to carry a phrase over the bar line, but it gets them to think about breathing in unusual places.

More pointers:

If the situation allows it, have them watch each other for breathing. If the player to your left takes a breath, keep playing until you see them re-enter, then take your breath. They don't have to be bouncing up and down, either -- you can see their body move (chest expands, mouth opens and comes off the mouthpiece, etc).

"Buddy up" if necessary. If you've got someone next to you often, pay attention to each other for breaths and don't worry about the third person on your other side.

If needed, and if possible, you can set counts for people to breathe. I've been in a contra line of two, and for some parts of our show, we said, "Okay, you breathe in the second half of the bar and I'll breathe in the first half."

If the music is moving along (i.e., no sustained chords), besides breathing where it makes sense for the phrase, breathe in a way that you don't sacrifice the timing of the next note. Better to release a hair earlier if it means you can reliably attack the next note in tempo.

Extreme dynamics make a big difference, both at the loud and soft ends. It's nigh impossible to sneak out & in if you're playing as soft as physically possible, and it's hard to blend a blastissimo tone quality and keep it from sounding like people are dropping out.

And for heaven's sake, don't tell them, "Play until you run out of air and then take your breath." If they do this, most of them will be running out of air at nearly the same time, so they'll be left scrambling for their unique breathing point in the span of two or three beats. Stagger breathing a long phrase works really well if a few players start the "chain" or "cascade" of breaths by breathing very, very early -- say, within the first two beats.

I'll illustrate that point like this: Say that the longest a player can sustain a particular note is eight counts, but it's written to be 24 counts long. You have a section of ten players. You can have everyone try to sustain as long as they can before breathing, or you can have a couple get their first breath very early (by count 3), then their neighbors take a breath (which means they get theirs by 5-6), so that when the last breathers take theirs, everyone else is already back in the sustain.

And, lastly, it's just like how you get to Carnegie Hall: "Practice, my boy, practice." Remove the distraction of moving parts by holding a sustain -- and hold it long enough so that EVERYONE has to stagger breathe repeatedly. Tubas stagger breathe all the time, but trumpets sometimes never learn because they don't have to breathe as often anyway. Play a chord instead of a unison so players can't hide (unisons hide a lot, really). Start with mezzo-whatever volumes, then over time, work up to holding chords at fortissimo levels (don't worry about FFF+++) for a whole minute or more… WITHOUT letting the smooth, sustained sound break down.

Stagger breathing properly and seamlessly is an art form in itself.

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