|
Breath Builder
Excerpted from
Arnold
Jacobs: Song and Wind*
The simplest divice to use is the Breath
Builder. Developed by the late Bassoonist Harold
Hansen of Las Vegas, Nevada, the Breath Builder is
a device used to feel the sensation of inhaling
and exhaling. It is a tube of plastic [at least
six inches tall] with a ping-pong ball inside. The
bottom is sealed and the top has three holes
drilled to vary the resistance.
To use the Breath Builder, place the tube
between the teeth on top of the tongue. Next, get
the ball to the top of the tube by either inhaling
or exhaling, [which is easier]. Then hold the ball
at the top of the tube while slowly inhaling and
exhaling. The Breath Builder requires fourteen
ounces of pressure to hold the ping-pong ball at
the top of the column.
In use, visualize a string player bowing from
frog to tip. Keep the motions of inhalation and
exhalation as long as possible, increasing the
length of the bow. Find the minimal function to
keep the ball at the top. Look in the mirror and
observe the body's motions to keep the wind moving
with minimal effort. Exaggerate inhalation
[expansion of the body] and exhalation
[contraction of the body].
Next, lower the resistance by closing more of
the holes on the top of the tube. Go for length of
breath and mentally increase the length of the
imaginary string player's bow.
Order
|
