Reprints from the

to promote communications among trumpet players around the world and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching,and literature associated with the trumpet

International Trumpet Guild Journal

The International Trumpet Guild (ITG) is the copyright owner of all data contained in this file. ITGgives the individual end-user the right to:

Download and retain an electronic copy of this file on a single workstation that you own Transmit an unaltered copy of this file to any single individual end-user, so long as no fee, whether

direct or indirect is charged Print a single copy of pages of this file Quote fair use passages of this file in not-for-profit research papers as long as the ITGJ, date, and page

number are cited as the source.

The International Trumpet Guild prohibits the following without prior writ ten permission:

Duplication or distribution of this file, the data contained herein, or printed copies made from thisfile for profit or for a charge, whether direct or indirect

Transmission of this file or the data contained herein to more than one individual end-user Distribution of this file or the data contained herein in any form to more than one end user (as in

the form of a chain letter) Printing or distribution of more than a single copy of the pages of this file Alteration of this file or the data contained herein Placement of this file on any web site, server, or any other database or device that allows for the

accessing or copying of this file or the data contained herein by any third party, including such adevice intended to be used wholly within an institution.

http://www.trumpetguild.org

Please retain this cover sheet with printed document.

CliniCFrank G. Campos, Column Editor

Hara and tHE rEvErsE BrEatH, part iiBy Frank G. Campos

March 2011 Page 49

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 iiBy Frank G. Campos

belly out. Notice that this is the exact opposite movement ofnormal breathing: the front of the body is going in for theinhalation and out for the exhalation.

There are different names and variations of this kind ofbreathing including paradoxical breathing, mid breathing,intercostal breathing, Taoist breathing, and reverse (orreversed abdominal) breathing. It is a type of breathing thateveryone knows and uses every day. The body automatically

switches to this kind of breathing when weare shouting, laughing, or crying. It is thepowerful breathing that we employ whenthe body is engaged in sustained effort, suchas when pushing a stalled car or liftingsomething heavy. We use this kind ofbreathing when we are under great distress,such as when grieving. Feldenkrais sayswe use paradoxical [reverse] breathingwhenever we must make a sudden, violent

effort, even if we are not aware of it.2 Shouting Ha, whichactivates paradoxical breathing, was reportedly used to exciteancient armies to a higher spiritual and courageous levelbefore a battle.3 Although we use paradoxical breathing everyday, it is usually only for short periods. Paradoxical breathingis not recommended as our everyday breathing. Individualswho rely solely on paradoxical breathing are often sufferingfrom psychological or physical injury.

We use a form of paradoxical breathing when we pant like adog. Panting requires exquisite control over the breathingmuscles and is itself a superb exercise to strengthen and con-trol the breath. Try panting and notice the solar plexus area istensed and tucked up and in for both the inhalation andexhalationwhat we might call the pant position. Noticethat your whole chest, including the sides and back, areengaged when you are panting. Notice your neck and shoul-ders have no tension in them, and that your throat is com-pletely open. Now slow down the rhythm of the pant andbreathe more deeply. Notice the strength and control you haveover your breathing. Be aware that you have not lapsed intoabdominal breathing by making sure the abdomen is sucked inupon the inhalation and pushed out upon the exhalation. Thisis paradoxical breathing.

In paradoxical breathing, the muscles of inspiration andexpiration are pitted in opposition to one another, producingan isometric muscle pattern. There is a feeling of tensed con-trol over the muscles of the rib cage and the front of the body,

I f the simple suggestion to take a bigger breath helps astudents sound and overall performance immediately (asit usually will), then clearly there is potential for improve-ment in the students breathing habits. Focusing on the breathis one of the most direct avenues to improving our trumpetperformance, both in the moment and long term. Making thebreath slow and deep, for example, is the time-honored firstrecommendation to move a player out of the fear zone intomore relaxed music making. Physicalcontrol of the breath is absolutelynecessary to the mastery of the trum-pet. A little time spent each daystrengthening the breathing musclescan result in surprising gains in over-all performance ability.

The daily practice of breathingexercises, known as breath work,improves every facet of physical per-formance. Breath work can bring a heightened sense of powerto the body and new vigor to the tone. Practicing simplebreathing exercises over many months can result in wonderfulimprovements in range, endurance, and sound. Given time,breath work automatically fixes poor posture, eliminatesunnecessary tension in the body, builds core strength andpower in the breathing muscles, and teaches us to use thebodys energy center properly. Just through being persistentwith the practice of simple breathing exercises, we may realizeone day with a pleasant shock that our performance ability hasimproved and certain limitations have fallen away. Improve-ment is a step-by-step process that begins or ends with our per-sistence.

There are many types and ways of breathing. Normal every-day breathing happens automatically, and it is constantlychanging. Feldenkrais and others have pointed out that forevery emotional state, there is a pattern of breathing that cor-responds to it. We change our breathing habits when we hes-itate, become interested, startled, afraid, doubtful, make aneffort, or try to do something we breathe in different wayswhen we are asleep, running, singing, or swimming.1

With normal, everyday breathing, known as abdominalbreathing, the belly bulges out slightly as we inhale and it goesslightly back in when we exhale. Right now, take a few easy,full breaths. Notice that your belly goes out when you inhaleand goes back in when you exhale. Now try this: when youinhale, suck the belly area in, and when you exhale, move the

CliniCFrank G. Campos, Column Editor

March 2011 / ITG Journal 49 2011 International Trumpet Guild

Practicing simple breathingexercises over many monthscan result in wonderfulimprovements in range,endurance, and sound.

reverse breaths you can do in one session will increase the moreyou practice it. Over time, the reverse breath (and panting)will reveal to you a stable and strong posture that allows youto inhale and exhale without a lot of rocking or head move-ment. Take that new posture to the instrument and try it out.

Many sources suggest an important part of doing the reversebreath is the closing of the Huiyin, or the contracting of theanal sphincter muscle when inhaling, and releasing it at theexhalation.5 Compare this to Dizzy Gillespies famous adviceabout supporting the tone: Pretend you have a quarterbetween your buttocks and dont make change, and If theasshole aint tight, you cant win the fight! Look at images ofDizzy playing and notice his stance and breathing posture rel-ative to these points. His advice, when applied, results in a ver-sion of paradoxical breath support, and that is certainly whyDizzy recommended it.

In previous writings, I have suggested that paradoxicalbreathing was to be avoided because it locked up the musclesof respiration.6 I now feel that view is incorrect. In fact, para-doxical breathing is necessary for optimum air support onbrass instruments because it allows a greater measure of con-trol and power than any other known form of breath support.

There is more than enough evidence tobe able to say with certainty that a verylarge number of the worlds greatestbrass players are employing some form ofparadoxical/reverse breathing when theyperform, especially when playing in theupper register.

There are significant advantages tousing paradoxical breathing on a highbrass instrument. When we tuck the

belly in upon the inhalation, the internal organs are pushedagainst the underside of the diaphragm. This pressurizes the airin the lungs and creates a more highly compressed air stream,which is absolutely necessary for the upper register (many leadplayers generate even more internal pressure by leaning back-ward as well). It makes sense to control the air with the mus-cles around the thorax. If we try to support from the lowerbelly, we often unwittingly activate the Valsalva maneuver(which is when we tighten the lower abdominal area and thethroat or glottis closes).

Another advantage of using paradoxical breathing whenplaying a brass instrument is that the throat always remainsopen, even when we are greatly exerting ourselves. The Valsal-va maneuver is not activated in paradoxical breathing. Try itand you will see that when you are holding your upper thoraxfirmly with muscles against muscles, such as in the pant posi-tion, you can speak with no strain in the voice. This firm feel-ing is the sensation that a previous generation of players want-ed to convey to us when they said to tighten the gut.

How do we learn to use paradoxical breathing to support theair stream on a brass instrument? For 36 years, renownedsoloist and teacher Bobby Shew has been teaching a form ofparadoxical breathing he calls Wedge Breathing. Shewlearned it from Bud Brisbois and Maynard Ferguson, two ofthe greatest high note players in history. It is currently used bymost of the finest lead players in the world, many of whomhave studied with Shew or with Shews students. RogerIngram, one of the worlds top lead players, has written aboutwedge breathing in his book.7 Ingram said he learned of it

as well as a feeling of broadness and strength in the back. Theexternal and interior intercostal muscles, commonly referredto as the accessory muscles of respiration, are used toincrease and decrease the volume of the thorax. They are capa-ble of sucking air into the lungs and blowing it out all bythemselves. That is how we breathe if the diaphragm isstunned or injured: with paradoxical breathing, we can breathewithout the diaphragm.

Panting is the first breathing exercise I recommend to you.It takes strength and endurance to maintain panting for morethan a few seconds, so you may not be able to do it for verylong at first. Try a little panting a few times daily for a monthor two and see what happens. Please be very careful of dizzi-ness with all breathing exercises. Excessive panting will likelylead to hyperventilation, so use it with care. Please do not forcethis or any breathing exercise. Less than thirty seconds of pant-ing per session is usually sufficient at first.

Paradoxical breathing is known as Taoist or reverse breath-ing in India and Asia. It has been practiced for centuries tostrengthen and energize the body. At the famous ShaolinMonastery in China, the tried and true practices that beganover 2000 years ago are still taught today. The Shaolin monksare renowned for their amazing displaysof highly developed skill and phenome-nal strength and endurance. Mastery ofmartial arts (and ultimately every otherphysical discipline) requires the masteryof the breath, so the young monks aretaught to focus on breathing from thebeginning of their study. One of thefirst things they are taught is the reversebreath, which is known to confer manywonderful health benefits including great breath power,superb control of the breathing muscles, and the strengtheningand reinforcing of good posture.4 Practicing the reverse breathcan generate a great deal of energy in the body quickly. Thisexercise must be used with caution, especially by those whohave not been exercising regularly or are under a doctors care.It is very easy to hyperventilate and become dizzy after only ahandful of reverse breaths. Initially, do just a few at a timeuntil you know your bodys response to practicing this kind ofvigorous inhalation and exhalation exercise.

Heres how to do the reverse breath: sitting or standing,inhale through the nose and suck the belly area inward, exact-ly like a paradoxical breath inhalation. You will end up in thefamiliar pant position, with the muscles of the mid torsocontracted inward and tucked or wedged at the solar plexusas if panting. The shoulders will naturally rise and your backwiden as you fill to the top of the lungs. Exhale through themouth bringing your shoulders down as you move the bellyout toward the belt buckle. The back of the neck and shoul-ders hold no tension whatsoever. Practice reverse breathing sothat it is a smooth, continuous motion and you will see that itis essentially the same as paradoxical breathing.

When doing the reverse breath, an ancient martial arts textsuggests you imagine a pearl in your belly button that movestoward the spine when you inhale and moves outward to thebelt buckle when you exhale. When you practice this exercise,breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Onesource suggests it is desirable to have the exhalation longerthan the inhalation when reverse breathing. The number of

2011 International Trumpet Guild50 ITG Journal / March 2011

a very large number of theworlds greatest brass playersare employing some form ofparadoxical/reverse breath-ing when they perform

from lead great Lynn Nicholson and later from Shew.8Wedge Breathing and paradoxical/reverse breathing have

common elements but are slightly different. With WedgeBreathing, the inhalation starts with the abdomen going outvery slightly before sucking it in. Shew characterizes this as fill-ing only about 5% of the total inhalation from the lower belly.Paradoxical breathing does not allow for a very deep inhala-tion, so to get more air with Wedge Breathing, the gut isrelaxed at the beginning and we take just a little air in at thebelly before the sucking and tucking.

Shew then instructs us to pull the abdomen horizontallyinward toward the spine and tuck in the solar plexus area,wedging inward as far as possible. He says to lift the shoul-ders at the top of the inhalation and keep the chest, shoulders,and neck relaxed. From this description, wedge breathingseems to be just like paradoxical/reverse breathing, but there isanother big difference.

The other difference between the reverse breath and WedgeBreathing is that with the wedge, you maintain the abdominalgrip when you blow. In other words, upon the exhalation, wehold the wedge or tucked-in position as we drop the shoul-ders and blow. With a wedge exhalation, we do not push thebelly 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 inhale5% at the belly and then go right to the pant position. In thepant position, we are tucked in at the solar plexus for both theinhalation and the exhalation. The pant position is the same asthe wedge position. Then we drop the shoulders and exhalewhile holding the pant or wedge position firm.

Look at video clips of the incredible Doc Severinsen, one thegreatest trumpet players of all time, and notice how he raiseshis shoulders at the top of the breath and then drops them toblow. There is no question that he uses paradoxical breathingto support his magnificent, vibrant tone. Most animals thatlow or roar, says Feldenkrais, use paradoxical breathingand by this means produce a loud sound. Perhaps it is no sur-prise that lions, tigers, and great trumpet players use the sametechnique to roar.

Try Wedge Breathing in your trumpet practice. Shew sug-gests that you do sixty wedge breaths each day for twenty-onedays to learn to do it in one motion and establish it as habit.With persistence, you will soon hear the difference. Yoursound will ring with vitality and power. It will sound like whathas often been referred to as a well-supported tone.

To begin incorporating these new breathing ideas into yourplaying, just do a little breath work every day and see whathappens. That is the only way to make these new breathingmovements strong and automatic. Practice breath work dailyand dont think about posture or breathing at all. Your habitswill start changing naturally as you keep the breathing exercis-es in your daily routine. The breath is the best teacher of allthings relating to the breath. Though most breathing exercisestake only a minute or less, only a few players will actually putthem into action.

The wonderful Pilates exercise known as the plankstrengthens the whole body and all of the breathing muscles.The plank is just the up position of a push-up, with the bodylong and straight and the eyes looking at the ground in frontof you. Breathe in through the nose and out through the

mouth and hold the plank long enough that you are finallybrought to the point of fatigue. At some point your body willautomatically begin using paradoxical/reverse breathing.Inhale powerfully through the nose and exhale with vigorthrough the mouth. Do not lock the breath or break yourform. When the breath becomes labored and the body hasreached its limit is when the greatest reward is found; thebreath work you are doing is the most valuable at the end ofyour endurance. Even when greatly fatigued, elite athletes anddancers are still in control of the breath. We must maintainour good form and keep the breath unlocked to the endthisis the most important part of the exercise. Try using reversebreathing with other exercises such as sit-ups, walking, run-ning, light calisthenics, or stretching exercises. Always breathein through the nose and out through the mouth.

One of the best things about long tones is usually over-looked: they require us to blow an absolutely steady air streamuntil the air is exhausted from the lungs. Long tones are breathcontrol exercises. Cat Anderson, Duke Ellingtons lead trum-pet and one of the physically strongest lead players of all time,said that the secret to playing high notes was to play a secondline G like a whisper for twenty minutes every day. Manyhave heard about Cat Andersons twenty-minute G exercisebut few have tried it. Play one or two extremely soft long tonesto the very end of the breath every day for a month and youwill know the value it has for you. Time yourself to see howlong you can hold a second line G like a whisper. Most ofmy students can barely hold it for thirty seconds initially.More than two minutes may seem impossible, but it is quitepossible if you strive to improve your best time every day andkeep at it.

It takes dogged persistence to replace established habits withbetter ones. This is because when you hold the instrument inyour hands, it is very difficult to deviate from your learned skillpath. Doing breath work, especially combined with light phys-ical exercise, can initiate changes that will move you towardmore efficient performance without having to think muchabout it. With minimal effort, it can have the effect of turbo-charging your trumpet playing.

About the author: Frank G. Campos is professor of trumpetat Ithaca Colleges Whalen Center of Music. For many yearshe served as a member of the ITG Board of Directors. Cam-pos is the author of Trumpet Technique (2005) published byOxford University Press.

Endnotes1. 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. 1966. Campos, Frank Gabriel. Trumpet Technique. New York:

Oxford, 2005. 41.7. http://www.rogeringram.com/clinicalnotes.php8. http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/

viewtopic.php?p=1080163

March 2011 / ITG Journal 51 2011 International Trumpet Guild