Here is a practice technique to help with breathing deeper, and not closing off your throat. This allows you to understand how to produce a free flowing air stream, which is such an important component of a great tone.
Finger Breath practice reveals the feeling of completely filling your lungs and it makes you conscious of not tightening up before you start to play.
I think students of all ages can benefit from this exercise.
Getting in Position
Using your left hand – you will understand why later, hold it as in the picture, the tuck your thumb into your palm. When in position for this exercise your Pointer finger will be touching your mouth at the knuckle where it joins your hand.
- In this exercise you are going to inhale and blow out around your hand. To get in position to do this, pull your hand up in front of your face with the pointer finger close to your face and the rest of your hand pointing straight out or away from your face.
- Now, place your lips around your pointer finger at the bottom or knuckle where it joins your hand and slightly open your mouth with the lips touching and sort of around your knuckle. This may feel like you are pushing your lips out to accomplish this.
Ready? – Go!
- Holding your hand in position, first blow out (push out) any air in your lungs – if you can talk, you still have air in you so blow it all out.
- Ready? Let go of pushing your air out and suck in air or pull in air around your finger. It will make a great whooshing sound! That means you have done it right. Do this a couple times, concentrating on also keeping your throat open – not shut or tight, and letting your lungs open deeply like you are taking in a breath to dive into a swimming pool.
- In the next step, get your flute and hold it in playing position using just your right hand. Place your left hand in the finger breath exercise position. Now breathe in around your hand, listening for the whooshing sound. When you are full of air, put your left hand on your flute and play something, noticing the fullness of your lungs and the solidness of your air stream. Practice this a number of times.
- Because the previous step causes you to close your throat to hold your air in while you get your hands in position, we now need to rectify that.
- Now with your flute – this time, put your flute in playing position and take in the same type of deep breath you have practiced. Keep your throat open and immediately play into your flute. Your breath/air stream will go in and right back out. You will feel a different sense of being full of air and of your lungs, now really engaged in your breath support system. This really helps with a more controlled exhale of air and support of your tone and musical phrase.
- As you learn to control this new free, open throated inhale/ exhale, you will feel that you have more control over intentional and accurate starting of the first note of a piece, your dynamics, your tone color and your support.
NOTE: Your goal is to keep your throat and chest open and engage your diaphragm for support. This will result in the most open and full sound and encourage you to use your embouchure and its flexibility for changes to tone color, dynamics and changes needed over the range of the flute.
Basic Finger Breath (1)
Flutist: Aralee Dorough