Posted by Rick Denney on February 21, 2004 at 21:54:22:
In Reply to: Increase lung capacity - How? posted by CharlieJ on February 21, 2004 at 21:19:49:
Sorry, but you're stuck with the vital capacity you have.
You can, however, train yourself to take bigger breaths, and to routinely keep your lungs more full than empty instead of always chasing the next breath. You can also train yourself to breathe very quickly (which is my big weakness).
Remember that many great players, with Jacobs being the premier example, have played with health problems and into their older years and have endured large losses in their vital capacity. Jacobs's vital capacity before he retired was perhaps half of what Gene Pokorny's capacity was when he replaced him, but he managed to make music at a very high level. The trick was finding musically appropriate opportunities to breathe as often as necessary, and to take in a lot of air in a hurry.
The great players have also developed their tone production efficiency to a high level, such that what air they have is not wasted on fuzzy and uncentered tone. Pokorny reminded us at his Army Conference master class to never stop working on long tones, because being able to produce a consistent and controlled long tones was the foundation of being able to product lyrical melodies and dynamic expressiveness. I think long tones exercise our efficiency if we approach them correctly.
Rick "who has only an average vital capacity for his age" Denney