FLUTE

Inhalation

Breath control for flutists may be broken into the same basic steps as singers use: inhalation, suspension, and exhalation. Flutists must make use of every body cavity during all three steps, keeping inhalation and exhalation of breath unimpeded except at the lip. Keeping these cavities open is crucial while playing.

We fill up everything. You look at some of the good players--look at their [chest cavity] size....That's where the resonance is. It's enormous what they use there. It's a wonderfully well-kept secret that nobody tells you about. And that is resonance, and [it is] important to fill and open yourself--to make use of every little pocket of resonance you can find in your body.

The throat and mouth cavities must also be held open, for free breathing. Open your throat. Drop the back of your tongue when you articulate and really feel the openness there, just like a singer has to. Imagine the air coming from low down. It's coming through an almost equal sort of column, straight through the mouth and out into the flute.

The big problem is that you get used to playing with the throat closed....The thing is to get used to opening. I know it's hard, because you've been playing for five or ten years, and when you've got a particular habit it's very hard to change it. But I do think it's something you need to have. There's loads of sound in there, and you've just got to somehow say, "Right," and start to work at it.

Once the flutist's stance is relaxed and free and the body cavities are open, the flutist must take a full first breath. Controlled breathing has been a lifelong pursuit for Lloyd.

As do many other flutists, Lloyd advocates breathing "low." The object is to think of the lower rib cage as a bellows opening, sucking air through the open mouth and throat cavities and taking in the maximum amount. He also cites "back breathing" as a useful visualization for flutists. This concept, from William Kincaid, involves spreading the lower ribs away from the spinal column.

You're losing color, losing sound, because you don't breathe low enough. [Breathe into] an enormous barrel--right down into your ribs. Fill all the way around the rib cage.

Lloyd stresses that the first breath of any work is the most important, because it may be the only full breath the flutist is allowed for some time.

Take the time to get a good first breath ....The point of filling up hugely at the beginning is so that, when you take a breath [later]...you're only topping up. You don't need to go all the way down...and re-start, because you've not often got time to do that.

"Think of the Midsummer Night's Dream 'Scherzo'," he advises. Logically, the more breath one starts with, the more will be available to add to the shorter "topping up" breaths.

In many playing situations flutists are tempted to take a fast first breath during the pickup beat before actual playing starts. This habit hearkens back to early band training in which students are taught to take a breath during the preparatory beat. Peter Lloyd advocates taking the first breath slowly. The logic is that with a slow relaxed intake, the flutist is able to stretch and get more air in than with a tense, quick breath.

Don't breathe in fast when you have time. I said slowly. That doesn't mean too soon and freeze. You must always, with these big breaths, do everything in a rhythmic cycle with the music. A few years ago I did a class in Britain alongside a singer and I happened to know the woman who was running the thing, and I got her to give us a class on breathing....At the end of all that we came to the conclusion that the parallels are just about complete. The only thing different was that the singer said that they can't breathe as far as we can. And I know there are [flute] people who say don't breathe to your full capacity because you can't really start sound like that. That was from singers. But we can, pro-viding that you breathe rhythmically with the music. So never hold it. The whole thing is in a relaxed cycle.

A flutist who has enough breath is much more relaxed than one who does not and is panic-stricken about finishing a phrase. This relaxation enables the secure flutist to take in more air even with short intakes.

Lloyd emphasizes that one must strive to relax, even when taking short breath intakes during a piece. Players tend to try to "make the phrase," rather than using spaces within the music to take several small "snifters" of air.

Remember that we always use breathing to make music--we can't make music from the breaths we need. It's not only in order to get from the beginning of a long phrase to the end of a long phrase. And even if that's the case, you're going to get nervous sometimes and it's all going to go wrong. So, try to always make breathing part of the music. I think that's terribly, terribly important.257 Try to feel that all breathing has to be within phrasing....If you're going to be nervous [about the breath]...change the phrases accordingly....You have to anticipate....If you're going to have a breathing problem, always anticipate it so you've got enough time to re-think your phrase. Never, never...let yourself get to the state whereby you think, "Oh, God, I've got to take a breath!" because then the music's gone.258

Whenever a breath occurs, Lloyd encourages players to take as much as they can, not just what they think they will need.

When you've got a short phrase, take a big breath because usually it's leading somewhere else afterwards.259 Not only that, you get far more control of color and dynamic with a full breath, however quietly you're playing and however short the phrase.260

This is a situation in which flutists often find themselves. A relatively short phrase with, say, a bar's rest before it, is followed by longer phrases that do not allow a full breath. Flutists who take only what they need for the first short phrase will find themselves without reserves as the music continues. Then, panic, tension, and restricted intake [because of tension] ensue.

For practicing relaxed, full intake breaths, Lloyd advises using etudes.

When you practice etudes, you've got a long, long way to go. It's quite easy to play through 2/3 of an etude very well indeed. It's the last third that gets harder and harder, both from the breathing point and stamina point.261

An etude he finds particularly useful is the Paganini Perpetual Mobile. Beginning with a full, relaxed breath, the flutist should play until they have used about half their breath. Then, they should stop, relax, fill again, and play until that breath is halfway gone; then repeat the process.

You've got a lot of lines, miles and miles of [notes]. You can never let your breath get down to the bottom, because you can never recover it....You must breathe earlier, and I say about halfway--unless of course, you can see the end and you know that you're going to make it. Then of course, you can go to the end.262

By practicing taking breaths before they are actually needed, flutists will have enough air to use for color, control, and projection. Plus, they will be more relaxed and confident because they (and the music) will not be at the mercy of their lung capacity. This practice converts easily into musical phrasing.

Mostly, people tend to look at a phrase and say, "Oh, I've only got to get from there to there for the first phrase." And then [when they get to the second phrase] you think, "Oh my God, now what am I going to do?" And then you're sunk. You have to remember to...get ahead.263 For most of those sorts of places [for instance]...a Bach sonata...try to find ways by which to breathe when you still have plenty of air in.264