Posted by Roger Lewis on February 23, 2004 at 08:03:44:
In Reply to: Increase lung capacity - How? posted by CharlieJ on February 21, 2004 at 21:19:49:
I use a trick I learned from Freudis Vekre (sp?) the Horn Virtuoso in a masterclass some years ago, and I teach all my students to do this especially those a bit up in age. At the start of a phrase and other places when you get the opportunity, take two measured inhalations. The first is a "loading" breath and the second is a "top-off" breath. This will ensure that your lungs are full, but you must practice this to learn to control it, otherwise when you start the exhalation you get an explosion of air and a nasty sounding start to the note. What you may find is that you have the capacity, you just aren't using it fully. Mr. Jacobs said that when you are 20 if you have a 6 liter lung capacity, by the time you are 40 you will have a 4 liter lung capacity. I find in my case that this isn't true. When I was 20 I had a series of pulmonary tests done and was measured at 6 1/2 litres. Three months ago I went through the same battery of tests and was still measured at over 6 liters. What this points out to me is that if, as you get older you get lazier in your inhalations and the way you play, your capacity will dimminish. If you constantly demand that your body do what YOU tell it to, aging will have much less of an effect.
There is also significant savings in air use if the embouchure is performing effectively. When you buzz the mouthpiece, you get 2 noises. The sound of just the air whistling through the throat of the mouthpiece and the buzzing sound. If there is too much of the air sound, then the energy of the air stream is not effectively being turned into work at the embouchure. This makes you "need" more air to play. I have found, for me, that roughly about 60% of the buzzing sound and 40% of the air sound is a good mix for optimum playing with good embouchure efficiency. To develop this practice your buzz.
Just my observations.
Roger