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CliniC

Frank G. Campos, Column Editor

Hara and tHE rEvErsE BrEatH, part ii

By

Frank G. Campos

March 2011 Page 49

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CliniC

Frank G. Campos, Column Editor

Clinic addresses a wide variety of teaching and playing issues. Ideas and suggestions should be directed to: Frank G. Campos,
Clinic Editor, Whalen Center for Music, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850 USA; clinic@trumpetguild.org

Hara and tHE rEvErsE BrEatH, part ii

By

Frank G. Campos

belly out. Notice that this is the exact opposite movement of

f the simple suggestion to take a bigger breath helps a
normal breathing: the front of the body is going in for the
students sound and overall performance immediately (as
inhalation and out for the exhalation.
it usually will), then clearly there is potential for improveThere are different names and variations of this kind of
ment in the students breathing habits. Focusing on the breath
breathing including paradoxical breathing, mid breathing,
is one of the most direct avenues to improving our trumpet
intercostal breathing, Taoist breathing, and reverse (or
performance, both in the moment and long term. Making the
reversed abdominal) breathing. It is a type of breathing that
breath slow and deep, for example, is the time-honored first
everyone knows and uses every day. The body automatically
recommendation to move a player out of the fear zone into
switches to this kind of breathing when we
more relaxed music making. Physical
are shouting, laughing, or crying. It is the
control of the breath is absolutely
necessary to the mastery of the trum- Practicing simple breathing powerful breathing that we employ when
pet. A little time spent each day exercises over many months the body is engaged in sustained effort, such
as when pushing a stalled car or lifting
strengthening the breathing muscles
can result in surprising gains in over- can result in wonderful something heavy. We use this kind of
all performance ability.
improvements in range, breathing when we are under great distress,
such as when grieving. Feldenkrais says
The daily practice of breathing
we use paradoxical [reverse] breathing
exercises, known as breath work, endurance, and sound.
whenever we must make a sudden, violent
improves every facet of physical pereffort, even if we are not aware of it.2 Shouting Ha, which
formance. Breath work can bring a heightened sense of power
activates paradoxical breathing, was reportedly used to excite
to the body and new vigor to the tone. Practicing simple
ancient armies to a higher spiritual and courageous level
breathing exercises over many months can result in wonderful
before a battle.3 Although we use paradoxical breathing every
improvements in range, endurance, and sound. Given time,
day, it is usually only for short periods. Paradoxical breathing
breath work automatically fixes poor posture, eliminates
is not recommended as our everyday breathing. Individuals
unnecessary tension in the body, builds core strength and
who rely solely on paradoxical breathing are often suffering
power in the breathing muscles, and teaches us to use the
from psychological or physical injury.
bodys energy center properly. Just through being persistent
We use a form of paradoxical breathing when we pant like a
with the practice of simple breathing exercises, we may realize
dog. Panting requires exquisite control over the breathing
one day with a pleasant shock that our performance ability has
muscles and is itself a superb exercise to strengthen and conimproved and certain limitations have fallen away. Improvetrol the breath. Try panting and notice the solar plexus area is
ment is a step-by-step process that begins or ends with our pertensed and tucked up and in for both the inhalation and
sistence.
exhalationwhat we might call the pant position. Notice
There are many types and ways of breathing. Normal everythat your whole chest, including the sides and back, are
day breathing happens automatically, and it is constantly
engaged when you are panting. Notice your neck and shoulchanging. Feldenkrais and others have pointed out that for
ders have no tension in them, and that your throat is comevery emotional state, there is a pattern of breathing that corpletely open. Now slow down the rhythm of the pant and
responds to it. We change our breathing habits when we hesbreathe more deeply. Notice the strength and control you have
itate, become interested, startled, afraid, doubtful, make an
over your breathing. Be aware that you have not lapsed into
effort, or try to do something we breathe in different ways
abdominal breathing by making sure the abdomen is sucked in
when we are asleep, running, singing, or swimming.1
upon the inhalation and pushed out upon the exhalation. This
With normal, everyday breathing, known as abdominal
is paradoxical breathing.
breathing, the belly bulges out slightly as we inhale and it goes
In paradoxical breathing, the muscles of inspiration and
slightly back in when we exhale. Right now, take a few easy,
expiration are pitted in opposition to one another, producing
full breaths. Notice that your belly goes out when you inhale
an isometric muscle pattern. There is a feeling of tensed conand goes back in when you exhale. Now try this: when you
trol over the muscles of the rib cage and the front of the body,
inhale, suck the belly area in, and when you exhale, move the

2011 International Trumpet Guild

March 2011 / ITG Journal 49

as well as a feeling of broadness and strength in the back. The

reverse breaths you can do in one session will increase the more
external and interior intercostal muscles, commonly referred
you practice it. Over time, the reverse breath (and panting)
to as the accessory muscles of respiration, are used to
will reveal to you a stable and strong posture that allows you
increase and decrease the volume of the thorax. They are capato inhale and exhale without a lot of rocking or head moveble of sucking air into the lungs and blowing it out all by
ment. Take that new posture to the instrument and try it out.
themselves. That is how we breathe if the diaphragm is
Many sources suggest an important part of doing the reverse
stunned or injured: with paradoxical breathing, we can breathe
breath is the closing of the Huiyin, or the contracting of the
without the diaphragm.
anal sphincter muscle when inhaling, and releasing it at the
Panting is the first breathing exercise I recommend to you.
exhalation.5 Compare this to Dizzy Gillespies famous advice
about supporting the tone: Pretend you have a quarter
It takes strength and endurance to maintain panting for more
between your buttocks and dont make change, and If the
than a few seconds, so you may not be able to do it for very
asshole aint tight, you cant win the fight! Look at images of
long at first. Try a little panting a few times daily for a month
Dizzy playing and notice his stance and breathing posture relor two and see what happens. Please be very careful of dizziative to these points. His advice, when applied, results in a verness with all breathing exercises. Excessive panting will likely
sion of paradoxical breath support, and that is certainly why
lead to hyperventilation, so use it with care. Please do not force
Dizzy recommended it.
this or any breathing exercise. Less than thirty seconds of pantIn previous writings, I have suggested that paradoxical
ing per session is usually sufficient at first.
breathing was to be avoided because it locked up the muscles
Paradoxical breathing is known as Taoist or reverse breathof respiration.6 I now feel that view is incorrect. In fact, paraing in India and Asia. It has been practiced for centuries to
doxical breathing is necessary for optimum air support on
strengthen and energize the body. At the famous Shaolin
brass instruments because it allows a greater measure of conMonastery in China, the tried and true practices that began
trol and power than any other known form of breath support.
over 2000 years ago are still taught today. The Shaolin monks
There is more than enough evidence to
are renowned for their amazing displays
of highly developed skill and phenome- a very large number of the be able to say with certainty that a very
large number of the worlds greatest
nal strength and endurance. Mastery of
martial arts (and ultimately every other worlds greatest brass players brass players are employing some form of
paradoxical/reverse breathing when they
physical discipline) requires the mastery
are employing some form of perform,
especially when playing in the
of the breath, so the young monks are
taught to focus on breathing from the paradoxical/reverse breath- upper register.
There are significant advantages to
beginning of their study. One of the
using paradoxical breathing on a high
first things they are taught is the reverse ing when they perform
brass instrument. When we tuck the
breath, which is known to confer many
belly in upon the inhalation, the internal organs are pushed
wonderful health benefits including great breath power,
against the underside of the diaphragm. This pressurizes the air
superb control of the breathing muscles, and the strengthening
in the lungs and creates a more highly compressed air stream,
and reinforcing of good posture.4 Practicing the reverse breath
can generate a great deal of energy in the body quickly. This
which is absolutely necessary for the upper register (many lead
exercise must be used with caution, especially by those who
players generate even more internal pressure by leaning backhave not been exercising regularly or are under a doctors care.
ward as well). It makes sense to control the air with the musIt is very easy to hyperventilate and become dizzy after only a
cles around the thorax. If we try to support from the lower
handful of reverse breaths. Initially, do just a few at a time
belly, we often unwittingly activate the Valsalva maneuver
until you know your bodys response to practicing this kind of
(which is when we tighten the lower abdominal area and the
vigorous inhalation and exhalation exercise.
throat or glottis closes).
Heres how to do the reverse breath: sitting or standing,
Another advantage of using paradoxical breathing when
inhale through the nose and suck the belly area inward, exactplaying a brass instrument is that the throat always remains
ly like a paradoxical breath inhalation. You will end up in the
open, even when we are greatly exerting ourselves. The Valsalfamiliar pant position, with the muscles of the mid torso
va maneuver is not activated in paradoxical breathing. Try it
contracted inward and tucked or wedged at the solar plexus
and you will see that when you are holding your upper thorax
as if panting. The shoulders will naturally rise and your back
firmly with muscles against muscles, such as in the pant posiwiden as you fill to the top of the lungs. Exhale through the
tion, you can speak with no strain in the voice. This firm feelmouth bringing your shoulders down as you move the belly
ing is the sensation that a previous generation of players wantout toward the belt buckle. The back of the neck and shouled to convey to us when they said to tighten the gut.
ders hold no tension whatsoever. Practice reverse breathing so
How do we learn to use paradoxical breathing to support the
that it is a smooth, continuous motion and you will see that it
air stream on a brass instrument? For 36 years, renowned
is essentially the same as paradoxical breathing.
soloist and teacher Bobby Shew has been teaching a form of
When doing the reverse breath, an ancient martial arts text
paradoxical breathing he calls Wedge Breathing. Shew
suggests you imagine a pearl in your belly button that moves
learned it from Bud Brisbois and Maynard Ferguson, two of
toward the spine when you inhale and moves outward to the
the greatest high note players in history. It is currently used by
belt buckle when you exhale. When you practice this exercise,
most of the finest lead players in the world, many of whom
breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. One
have studied with Shew or with Shews students. Roger
source suggests it is desirable to have the exhalation longer
Ingram, one of the worlds top lead players, has written about
than the inhalation when reverse breathing. The number of
wedge breathing in his book.7 Ingram said he learned of it
50 ITG Journal / March 2011

2011 International Trumpet Guild

from lead great Lynn Nicholson and later from Shew.8

Wedge Breathing and paradoxical/reverse breathing have
common elements but are slightly different. With Wedge
Breathing, the inhalation starts with the abdomen going out
very slightly before sucking it in. Shew characterizes this as filling only about 5% of the total inhalation from the lower belly.
Paradoxical breathing does not allow for a very deep inhalation, so to get more air with Wedge Breathing, the gut is
relaxed at the beginning and we take just a little air in at the
belly before the sucking and tucking.
Shew then instructs us to pull the abdomen horizontally
inward toward the spine and tuck in the solar plexus area,
wedging inward as far as possible. He says to lift the shoulders at the top of the inhalation and keep the chest, shoulders,
and neck relaxed. From this description, wedge breathing
seems to be just like paradoxical/reverse breathing, but there is
another big difference.
The other difference between the reverse breath and Wedge
Breathing is that with the wedge, you maintain the abdominal
grip when you blow. In other words, upon the exhalation, we
hold the wedge or tucked-in position as we drop the shoulders and blow. With a wedge exhalation, we do not push the
belly toward the belt as we do with the reverse breath. Instead,
we hold the inward tuck at the solar plexus (without moving)
and blow.
Another way to understand Wedge Breathing is to inhale
5% at the belly and then go right to the pant position. In the
pant position, we are tucked in at the solar plexus for both the
inhalation and the exhalation. The pant position is the same as
the wedge position. Then we drop the shoulders and exhale
while holding the pant or wedge position firm.
Look at video clips of the incredible Doc Severinsen, one the
greatest trumpet players of all time, and notice how he raises
his shoulders at the top of the breath and then drops them to
blow. There is no question that he uses paradoxical breathing
to support his magnificent, vibrant tone. Most animals that
low or roar, says Feldenkrais, use paradoxical breathing
and by this means produce a loud sound. Perhaps it is no surprise that lions, tigers, and great trumpet players use the same
technique to roar.
Try Wedge Breathing in your trumpet practice. Shew suggests that you do sixty wedge breaths each day for twenty-one
days to learn to do it in one motion and establish it as habit.
With persistence, you will soon hear the difference. Your
sound will ring with vitality and power. It will sound like what
has often been referred to as a well-supported tone.
To begin incorporating these new breathing ideas into your
playing, just do a little breath work every day and see what
happens. That is the only way to make these new breathing
movements strong and automatic. Practice breath work daily
and dont think about posture or breathing at all. Your habits
will start changing naturally as you keep the breathing exercises in your daily routine. The breath is the best teacher of all
things relating to the breath. Though most breathing exercises
take only a minute or less, only a few players will actually put
them into action.
The wonderful Pilates exercise known as the plank
strengthens the whole body and all of the breathing muscles.
The plank is just the up position of a push-up, with the body
long and straight and the eyes looking at the ground in front
of you. Breathe in through the nose and out through the
2011 International Trumpet Guild

mouth and hold the plank long enough that you are finally
brought to the point of fatigue. At some point your body will
automatically begin using paradoxical/reverse breathing.
Inhale powerfully through the nose and exhale with vigor
through the mouth. Do not lock the breath or break your
form. When the breath becomes labored and the body has
reached its limit is when the greatest reward is found; the
breath work you are doing is the most valuable at the end of
your endurance. Even when greatly fatigued, elite athletes and
dancers are still in control of the breath. We must maintain
our good form and keep the breath unlocked to the endthis
is the most important part of the exercise. Try using reverse
breathing with other exercises such as sit-ups, walking, running, light calisthenics, or stretching exercises. Always breathe
in through the nose and out through the mouth.
One of the best things about long tones is usually overlooked: they require us to blow an absolutely steady air stream
until the air is exhausted from the lungs. Long tones are breath
control exercises. Cat Anderson, Duke Ellingtons lead trumpet and one of the physically strongest lead players of all time,
said that the secret to playing high notes was to play a second
line G like a whisper for twenty minutes every day. Many
have heard about Cat Andersons twenty-minute G exercise
but few have tried it. Play one or two extremely soft long tones
to the very end of the breath every day for a month and you
will know the value it has for you. Time yourself to see how
long you can hold a second line G like a whisper. Most of
my students can barely hold it for thirty seconds initially.
More than two minutes may seem impossible, but it is quite
possible if you strive to improve your best time every day and
keep at it.
It takes dogged persistence to replace established habits with
better ones. This is because when you hold the instrument in
your hands, it is very difficult to deviate from your learned skill
path. Doing breath work, especially combined with light physical exercise, can initiate changes that will move you toward
more efficient performance without having to think much
about it. With minimal effort, it can have the effect of turbocharging your trumpet playing.
About the author: Frank G. Campos is professor of trumpet
at Ithaca Colleges Whalen Center of Music. For many years
he served as a member of the ITG Board of Directors. Campos is the author of Trumpet Technique (2005) published by
Oxford University Press.
Endnotes
1. Feldenkrais, Moshe. Awareness Through Movement. New
York: Harper Collins, 1972, 1977. 162, 164.
2. Ibid. 165.
3. Yang, Jwing Ming. The Essence of Shaolin White Crane:
Martial Power and Qigong. Jamaica Plain, Mass: YMAA,
1996. 197.
4. Ibid. 196.
5. Ibid. 196
6. Campos, Frank Gabriel. Trumpet Technique. New York:
Oxford, 2005. 41.
7. http://www.rogeringram.com/clinicalnotes.php
8. http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/
viewtopic.php?p=1080163
March 2011 / ITG Journal 51