Calling all Former "Breathe Dah Students"

[Kamarag]

Wayne Downey (who this guy also shoots down) also agrees.(I asked him)

I think this tells you pretty much all you need to know about this guy. Best ignore him.

Neither of the brass lines I was in used breath-dah. Frank Williams taught a much more organic way of breathing (where breathing is EVERYTHING), and as was stated earlier, at the Blue Devils it was essentially The System.

But without question breath-dah has it's merits, and I use elements of it in my teaching today. I tend to teach a mix of organic and breath-dah.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Kamarag

[CrownBaritone]

After being taught it for the past two years at Crown and giving my knowledge to students that I teach, I think "breathe-dah" is a very good foundation. If you can get kids to understand this idea, then you can go beyond that with confidence.

[PaNors77]

Are you sure you want him working with you guys in that case?

Well....of course I'm trying to "go along to get along" and now he says he'd let the upper lead players use their own mouthpieces instead of 3C's and such. He does have great marketing ideas and a plan to get some horns per the board,etc. He points to the hornlines he worked on telling me all of em are doing this system....ok fine, but I told him his soloist who'd played some nice G's that if we could put him behind the xray machine you'd see his tongue arch for that note, LOL.

I definitely need some guys with recent experience of course, but again was asking here if I was misunderstanding something about this "dah" thing. Certainly I'm all for breathing together,etc. BUT I'm also all for utilizing a full rest measure to breathe before the attack too. Plenty of time to set and breathe in that case,etc. :)

[PaNors77]

I used to teach a method to a few small/mid-sized locals corps (remember those?) back in the mid '80's. Expel/relax on counts one and two, full breath on count three, embouchure set on count four and dah attack (open throat, warm air) on count five. Should have called it "Breathe, Dah" and patented the #### thing! Duh....

Heh.........back in the 80's I was busy being a new dad, LOL. I always teach my private students to set first then breathe. Gives more time to get the set going,etc. However many counts that emcompases depending on the music. The more counts you have to play with the easier it is to "set....breathe....play",etc. But according to this guy that's all wrong. He seems to call anyone in private lessons, or pro studio players "soloists" and in that regard cuts down the entire industry. He doesn't recognize playing in a big band trumpet section relevant to anything for example, heh.

[PaNors77]

After being taught it for the past two years at Crown and giving my knowledge to students that I teach, I think "breathe-dah" is a very good foundation. If you can get kids to understand this idea, then you can go beyond that with confidence.

I'm not neccessarily totally against it mind you, just that it's physically impossible to play a high note on trumpet with the tongue in the "aaah" postion. Breathing together, attacking together, being full of air....all great things of course. So I'm thinking maybe this system is a low brass technique which with this guy wants to force it on the high brass kids,etc. He also thought anybody screaming high notes like Maynard or Lynn Nicholson was "disgusting" so whaddya do with that eh? haha. To me...trumpets need to sound like trumpets in the first place and not try to turn them into a side section of flugels or mellos. Love lot's of low brass but also don't want to turn the trumpet section into middle/low brass either.....if that makes any sense?? :)

[CrownBaritone]

I'm not neccessarily totally against it mind you, just that it's physically impossible to play a high note on trumpet with the tongue in the "aaah" postion. Breathing together, attacking together, being full of air....all great things of course. So I'm thinking maybe this system is a low brass technique which with this guy wants to force it on the high brass kids,etc. He also thought anybody screaming high notes like Maynard or Lynn Nicholson was "disgusting" so whaddya do with that eh? haha. To me...trumpets need to sound like trumpets in the first place and not try to turn them into a side section of flugels or mellos. Love lot's of low brass but also don't want to turn the trumpet section into middle/low brass either.....if that makes any sense?? :)

Absolutely! Obviously I am not a high brass player, I play trombone in college and baritone in running band. When I teach my kids "breathe-dah" I first tell them to think that "dah" is the articulation they use. It forces them to pay more attention to the way their oral cavity is shaped. Then I ask them what they feel in their throat, and most of them realize that it's much more open than it was before.

I don't know if this is what the good people at Crown intend when they teach us this technique, but think of it like this;

Many people have problems playing in a group or sounding well individually because of how they take their breath, and how they store that breath before they play. The first thing I learned when learning "breathe-dah" was that the air never stops moving, and that you never hold your breath (exactly what my trombone professor tells me). After months of learning this technique I realized that I articulate the same exact way I always had; but the openness of my throat had changed, both when playing and breathing. An open throat can make a world of difference, and that's what the difference is for me.

TL;DR I think of breathe-dah as not an articulation, but a method of breathing and staying open.

[PaNors77]

Absolutely! Obviously I am not a high brass player, I play trombone in college and baritone in running band. When I teach my kids "breathe-dah" I first tell them to think that "dah" is the articulation they use. It forces them to pay more attention to the way their oral cavity is shaped. Then I ask them what they feel in their throat, and most of them realize that it's much more open than it was before.

I don't know if this is what the good people at Crown intend when they teach us this technique, but think of it like this;

Many people have problems playing in a group or sounding well individually because of how they take their breath, and how they store that breath before they play. The first thing I learned when learning "breathe-dah" was that the air never stops moving, and that you never hold your breath (exactly what my trombone professor tells me). After months of learning this technique I realized that I articulate the same exact way I always had; but the openness of my throat had changed, both when playing and breathing. An open throat can make a world of difference, and that's what the difference is for me.

TL;DR I think of breathe-dah as not an articulation, but a method of breathing and staying open.

Thanks......but actually this guy was talking both breathing and articulation even after I showed him the film showing the tongue in the EEEE position on a trumpet players high note. The flourescope xray doesn't lie, LOL. He was actually denying that the tongue arch even existed, despite actual film footage showing it. Certainly we all need to play open/relaxed throat. Maybe it's more prevelant in young low brass players closing off? One excersize I'd seen a local corps style youth band do was turn the horns around put the bell up to the face and say "haaaaaah" and keep trying to mist up the bell. That also seemed to work to open throats,etc.

He also thought Lynn Nicholson's high note video was "disgusting and tinny". I guess he hates high notes, LOL.

Edited January 14, 2013 by PaNors77

[critter]

I never played in an ensemble that specifically taught the "breathe-dah" technique, but it did play on a baseball team that used a "catch-throw" system. That seemed to work pretty well.

[PaNors77]

I never played in an ensemble that specifically taught the "breathe-dah" technique, but it did play on a baseball team that used a "catch-throw" system. That seemed to work pretty well.

Bwahahahahaha............I like that one!! Thanks for reminding me I'm not imagining things after the decades of playing I've put in, heh.