Breathing Exercises for Marching Band and Drum Corps

Welcome to the wonderful world of breathing exercises! Popularized by the great tuba player Arnold Jacobs, proper breathing is now approached as a fundamental of musicianship. While many of his methods required one-on-one coaching and a variety of breathing "toys" - methods that are impractical for large group settings - in recent years they have been adapted to the world of the marching arts by teachers such as Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian. The duo's "Breathing Gym" has become standard pedagogical fare throughout both the Drum Corps and Marching Band world. Many of the exercises below are based upon ones you can find in their breathing method. Since these are only verbal descriptions, I highly recommend you purchase their DVD "The Breathing Gym" for a complete visual representation of the method.
The exercises I describe below are a compilation of exercises I have been taught and teach. I in no way claim to represent the above mentioned DVD and am posting this simply for pedagogical purposes.

Free Breathing
Free breathing refers to exercises that focus solely on inhaling and exhaling full breaths of air. There are literally thousands of different permutations on this exercise and everyone seems to have an opinion on how to do it best. The most common is the metered breath, where performers inhale and exhale based upon certain timings that gauge the rate of breathing. This is usually done without instruments in hand and a raising arm motion used to visually indicate the breath. The arms move from the relaxed position at the side of the to touching over ones head on the inhale, then they are lowered back down to the resting position on the exhale. The arm motion also serves to stretch and open the chest cavity allowing a fuller breath.

Typically, the exercise will start with performers inhaling for four counts and exhaling for four counts. The focus is to move the air freely with no restriction or tension. The breath should occur evenly throughout every count of the exercise. Inhalation through the nose is sometimes implemented as it forces air to fill the lungs from bottom to top. When the mouth is opened for breathing, inhalation should be silent and also create a "cold spot" on the back of the throat. Exhaling should also be silent, however performers should feel like they are blowing out hot air. A good visual is to imagine fogging up a mirror that is placed in front of the performers' mouth.

After the "in four, out four" has been established, the inhale and exhale counts should be moved around. Shorter inhales with shorter exhales will work the lungs hard, but will teach them to move lots of air quickly, while longer inhales with longer exhales will teach how to budget the air to make it through long phrases. Some instructors dislike meters and just breath without a tempo by using a visual indicator. Some instructors will also do this exercise with instruments in hand, exhaling through the instruments. This provides a more realistic situation and also gives a little external resistance to the airflow.

Visual Breathing
This I believe comes straight from the "Breathing Gym" exercises and focuses on air at different volume levels. There are three different parts to the exercise;air at a piano dynamic, air at a mezzo-forte dynamic, and air at a fortissimo dynamic.

1. air at a piano dynamic - have the performers visualize making a paper air plane and throwing it. The goal is to link the idea of the smooth gentle toss of the the paper airplane to the gentle slow air that they use to play at a piano dynamic. As they toss their imaginary air planes, have them exhale and visualize their air gliding along the flight path of the plane.

2. air at a mezzo-forte dynamic - have the performers visualize throwing a dart while exhaling with their air. The air is faster and a little more directional. The gentle air that pushes the paper air plane will not work for a dart.

3. air at fortissimo - this is the fun one. Visualize using your air to shoot a bow and arrow. Have the performers pantomime pulling back the bow in the inhale then shooting the arrow forward with a very fast and directional stream of air.

During every step a "hiss" may be added to the end of the exhale when the performers feel they have expelled 90% of their air. The hiss is used not only to aurally indicate when the performer runs out of air, but also to engage the abdomen in expelling the last bit of air out of the lungs. Personally I do not find this helpful to do as it introduces unneeded tension into the exercise.

Fight for air
The purpose of this exercise twofold - 1. to get as much air into the lungs as fast a possible without tension; and 2. to stretch and strengthen the muscles of the chest and diaphragm.

The exercise begins by performers exhaling all of the air in their lungs (this means pushing out the air that naturally fills the lung cavity for equalizing pressure). Immediately the students are to cover their mouth with the back of their hand to create an airtight seal. Students then "suck" on the back of the hand as if they are fighting to pull air through the hand. After a few seconds (5-10) of fighting for air, performers are to pull their hand away from their mouth and allow their lungs to naturally fill with air. The inhale should be free from tension and obstruction and should happen immediately upon removal of the hand. Students should then exhale naturally. If this exercise is done correctly, the ensemble should be coughing their brains out afterwards. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Coughing can be good if it occurs as a result of air rushing into new areas in the lungs that are not used to being filled so quickly. Coughing is bad if it is the result of some obstruction in the throat cavity on the inhale.

The sip
The goal of this exercise is to increase the lung capacity of the performers. Performers take in a full breath and hold it in. After a moment or so, they sip in more air into their lungs. This is repeated a few times before finally exhaling. The performer is encouraged to try and fill up completely on the first inhale so it is impossible to sip any air. The body heating the inhaled air, coupled with the forcing of more air into the lungs on the sips leads the lungs to expand and stretch. Over time, lung capacity is increased.

The Blade
This exercise is more about perception and psychology than actual breathing technique. The performer holds his hand in front of his opened mouth longways so that his index finger is touching both the upper and lower lips and the point is touching his nose. The hand should have fingers closed and be oriented so the pinky finger is furthest from the face.

The performer inhales and exhales in one count pushing his hand away from the face with his airstream. The goal is to completely fill the lungs in a single count by inhaling with your hand obstructing the air stream. The only way to be successful at the inhale is to stay relaxed and open the airway to allow more air in. The only sound heard should be that of air rushing around the front and back of the hand to get into the lungs.

The next part of the exercise is to move the hand so it is about an inch away from your face. When you inhale this time, you mind still perceives you hand as an obstruction to the airstream and the inhale should be just as relaxed and open. This is good for replicating the obstruction of the mouthpiece when playing an instrument.

Conclusion
All of these exercises are only effective if done consistently and if the performers have a full understanding of the goals and reasoning behind each one. The goal of all of these exercises is to create, as habit, taking in full relaxed breaths when playing an instrument.

drum corps ; DCI ; marching band

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Tuning, a quick survey of different techniques...

This came up in a DCP post and I thought it would be good to kind of expand upon this idea....

From my point of view there are three different methods to approach tuning - electronically, aurally, and mechanically. I will survey each one as a separate method, however they are not exclusive methodologies - meaning a combination of the three can be effective as well.

Electronically
This approach seeks to tune the instruments first using an electronic tuner. The tuning note is generally a concert B-flat, however some people swear tuning to a concert F is better. Personally, since on a brass instrument the inherent tuning difference between an F and a B flat is so insignificant, I like the getting the B flat in tune because it is higher and generally right in the middle of the register for players. F is generally a little easier to bend, so it is harder to get a true read on where the student is placing the note. A student may be playing with a loose embouchure, causing the F to read as flat...the student pushes the tuning slide in to adjust and throws other partials extremely sharp. when the student tightens the embouchure to reach higher notes, he is suddenly badly out of tune with the rest of the ensemble. A popular method to minimize the "bending" effect is to have the students play up to the tuning note starting on F. They play "F-G-A-Bflat", holding the B flat at the top to be tuned. This is a more natural and realistic approach to the note and can sometimes help in getting a true read of a players tuning.

Electronic tuning has the advantage of being fairly accurate and immune against human error. Sure embouchure problems might throw student's pitch out of whack, however that is more a problem of playing fundamentals than it is tuning. It is also quick, speed being limited to the number of tuners available at the time. Another advantage is that no real training is required of the people using the tuner - just a simple knowledge of what to do when the tuner reads a certain way.

The disadvantage of electronic tuning is that students become dependent upon the tuners to play in tune. Using this as the only tuning method in a technique program is not recommended. Students should have an understanding of a basic concept of playing "in tune" and have advanced listening skills before this method can be totally effective. If you are using this method, take the time to make sure students know exactly what is going on and the reasoning behind how to adjust for tuning.

Aural tuning
This is the approach championed by The Cavaliers recently. It involves no electronic tuners and is focused on developing the listening skills of the performers. Tuning notes often originate from the bass voices and work their way upwards to the high trumpets and piccolos. The goal is to listen to the tuning note and attempt to match the sound, not only in pitch, but in quality as well. Often two players who can register as in tune by an electronic tuner can sound out of tune because the quality and timbre of their sounds differ. The reason for this perceived difference is while the fundamental note is in tune, the overtones that create timbre are not. This can be fixed with some individual work with an advanced electronic tuner that displays overtones, however not many programs have the time - much less the actual tuner - to spend fixing individuals. On the field, techniques that develop sound, "air and valve/key", mouthpiece buzzing/squawking, and simply listening to a pure characteristic tone can help. I run into this problem a lot with Saxophones and Trumpets. Saxes range from a very mellow, clarinet-like sound, to a harsh jazz timbre. Depending on your ensemble you may want either one. Trumpets have either a "stuffy" sound or a "bright" tone. The factors that go into these and how to fix them are many, but that is a topic for another post...

Anyway, the aural tuning method trains the performers to match their tones to to one another. This becomes useful in actual performance when they can recognize they are out of tune and respond by independently adjusting it. Performers also become more aware of the tuning tendencies of their instruments and can better anticipate when adjustments will be needed.

A good method that I use is the idea of a "tuning trio." This is a good extension exercise that uses skills from aural training to help with blend and balance. After being tuned in some fashion, three students with like instruments will face each other and play the three notes of a B flat major chord. On a signal, the students will switch and pass around the notes, the goal being to keep the sound consistent. This is quite difficult to achieve as not only do performers have to listen and be aware of tuning and timbre matching, but also be aware of their chordal responsibilities.

Mechanical tuning
This third method is definitely in the minority in terms of use. This is the method that was championed by The Blue Devils in the 90's and, more recently, by Gino Cipriani and The Cadets. The basic premise is that instruments of the same brand, using the same mouthpiece, played in the same manner, will be in tune mechanically at the same point as a function of the air temperature. This method is only applicable to bands and corps who play on instruments of the same brand, and whose mouthpieces are the same. This is very important, because different mouthpieces and bran of horn have different tuning tendencies.

What happens is the staff carefully make marks on the tuning slides of instruments a few millimeters apart. Each day,a small group of players representing each type of instrument will tune using one of the methods described above. The air temperature will be recorded as well as which mark on the tuning slide the instruments were in tune at. The rest of the ensemble will move to the mark that their instruments are in tune. After enough data is collected, the staff can make pretty good estimates on where to set the marks on the tuning slide based on the air temperature alone. From there only minor adjustments can be made on an individual basis. As with the electronic method of tuning, exclusive use of this method is not recommended as students should have an understanding of tuning on a functional level.

The advantage of this system is, while data collection takes time, once it is in place it is by far the fastest way to get a group in tune. Also, it creates consistency throughout the hornline, especially if a last second adjustment is needed. It is a lot more precise to say "move out two marks" instead of the vague statement "pull out." This method also allows for changes in air temperature in the performance venue - for instance if performing in a dome. The staff can set the hornline to be in tune at the aur temperature inside, instead of having tuning go bad because they tuned in a warmer environment.

The disadvantage of this system is it requires absolute consistency, not only in horn and mouthpiece selection, but also in the approach to playing the instrument. Every program has the goal of consistent approaches to playing, however it is up to the individual directors and staff to recognize when there are exceptions. Each player has different tuning tendencies that are discounted as part of this process. Certainly individual work and identification of a player's tendencies can happen, however it is time consuming and ever changing depending upon circumstances.

Also uncertain is how this system could work with woodwinds. I suppose one could mark the corks in a similar manner as tuning slides, but I can't speak to this as I have never seen it done.

None of these three approaches should ever be used in isolation. As educators, we should all strive to help performers understand tuning and how to play in tune, and not glance over tuning the same way we would gas up a car.. Our approach to tuning should be from a variety of angles, recognizing that students learn in very different ways. What a student sometimes cannot hear suddenly may become very clear to him after seeing the needle on a tuner, for instance. We should mix up our routines and not be afraid to try new methods.


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