monoemono Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I'm gonna have to guess that some other great horn lines don't do this? I'm having a hard time imagining a BD soprano line thinking "dah" when they articulate a high note. It's a matter of musical context, I'm sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayM Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I'm gonna have to guess that some other great horn lines don't do this? I'm having a hard time imagining a BD soprano line thinking "dah" when they articulate a high note.It's a matter of musical context, I'm sure. Maybe not "dah", specifically, but certainly something derived from "dah", such as "dee". I would guess that good breath support and firm articulation are qualities that all of the really great hornlines share. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I'll represent the Troopers from 85, 86, and 87 - I heard "breathe dah" from Donnie himself. B) Good luck Blue Stars - I'll be looking for you this summer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liebot Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) I think that everyone who has ever been in a really great ensemble is a "breathe dah" student.It just seems sort of funny to me to give a name to such a basic fundamental and attribute its popularity to one group or one brass staff. Any band director who's worth his/her salt is probably teaching this basic fundamental, whether or not he/she knows the name of it. Quoted for truth. The concepts of breathing "Dah" and "one motion air" are pretty widely taught. It just seems kind of funny to be making such a big deal out of something that most corps hornlines are taught in one way or another. - Brian Hunt, Breath "Dah" student since 2004. Edited January 26, 2006 by TTitans909 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared_mello Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) I heard "breathe dah" everyday in the summer of 04 with none other than Chad Pence... Im pretty sure he marched Star and i think Cadets too, then he taught tuba at the Cadets for a while, was brass caption head of Magic in 03 then brass caption head of Capital in 04. Then he returned to Cadets in 05 and is still there...Im not exactly sure where he picked up his teaching techniques but i definitely heard "breath dah" and "poh ho!" every-single-day... whatever he did worked tho- we jumped 5 places in 04! B) b**bs I'll assume that by "brass caption head at Magic in '03," you mean "tuba tech at Magic in 03." I'd wager a guess and say that most of his teaching techniques probably came from what he learned from Gino at Cadets, Magic, and now Cadets where once again he's serving as a tech underneath Gino (I don't mean "underneath" condescendingly). That's where most, if not all, of your 2004 warmups, chorales, and chord progressions came from. I think that everyone who has ever been in a really great ensemble is a "breathe dah" student.It just seems sort of funny to me to give a name to such a basic fundamental and attribute its popularity to one group or one brass staff. Any band director who's worth his/her salt is probably teaching this basic fundamental, whether or not he/she knows the name of it. Exactly my thoughts on the matter. I can't tell you how many different instructors I've heard say "breathe together, play together." It's by no means an exclusive or even unusual aspect of brass/drum corps pedagogy. Edited January 26, 2006 by Jared_mello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Plays Music Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Crown is all about the breath dah sine '03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacco Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) ... Edited February 2, 2006 by Tacco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idontwan2know Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Much of the confusion is because people think of it as a system of playing, which it really isn't. As others have pointed out, good breath support, not capping the breath and coordinating embochure tongue and breath in time is just fundamental good brass playing. What "breathe dah" seems to me to be is a philosophy and/or system of instruction. It breaks brass playing down to the simplest level and provides a keystone phrase that you use to drill concepts that it might take hours to explain if you went into full detail. The strength of the whole concept as I've seen it is in the way it gets a uniform and quality approach to tone production out of wildly different levels of musician. Star even in it's heyday was not drawing a corps full of college music majors; Crown isn't either. I've been told by people who marched with Star even in 91 that they had some folks in the hornline who were "real honkers", but by drilling the "breathe dah" concept, they were able to become contributing members to a fantastic brass ensemble. If you get everyone taking a full breath in time so that the exhalation occurs exactly on the beat without any capping of the breath, and coordinate the embochure and tongue stroke with the breath rhythmically, then you're about 85% of the way to being a very good hornline. As for BD or a few other great hornlines not using "breathe dah" and achieving excellent results, you have to realize that they're dealing with a different type of musician. BD nowadays is not going to take such a keystone, building blocks approach to teaching because the brass players they're working with are much more advanced. That doesn't mean they ignore the fundamentals...but the students they're working with come to them already very well-schooled in the fundamentals of tone production, and they're free to focus on more advanced concepts and techniques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malibu Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I know Crossmen's hornline used it back in '79,'80 & '81 and I believe they continued to use it for a long time. Don was one of the brass instructors for the '79 season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Quoted for truth.The concepts of breathing "Dah" and "one motion air" are pretty widely taught. It just seems kind of funny to be making such a big deal out of something that most corps hornlines are taught in one way or another. - Brian Hunt, Breath "Dah" student since 2004. Much of the confusion is because people think of it as a system of playing, which it really isn't. As others have pointed out, good breath support, not capping the breath and coordinating embochure tongue and breath in time is just fundamental good brass playing.What "breathe dah" seems to me to be is a philosophy and/or system of instruction. It breaks brass playing down to the simplest level and provides a keystone phrase that you use to drill concepts that it might take hours to explain if you went into full detail. So what specifically might a "breathe dah" hornline do that is different than what a non "breathe dah" hornline would do? And does a "breathe dah" hornline typically breathe for just the 1 beat before the initiation of sound? Or do they breathe for 4, or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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