Deep breathing exercises

Deep breathing exercises are a great way to improve your lung capacity for playing longer phrases on the flute.

We flutists are frequently lazy when it comes to inhaling air to play the flute.

What? Flutists lazy? How could this be? We're the hardest working people on the planet!

Yes, of course we are. But consider how easy it is to get a note to speak on the flute. Not a great note, just a note. Basically all you have to do is puff across the tone hole and you hear a sound.

Now get a trumpet or clarinet. Try making a sound on one of those instruments. Not so easy, is it? You have to really blow and you can feel it in your midsection when you actually blow hard enough to get a note out.

When something is easy, we figure, why work harder at it? Young beginners think this, because they feel that as long as the note is produced, their job is done.

That's why I say that the flute is so easy it's hard. Easy to get a sound out, hard to get a great sound out.

So it's imperative that flutists work at breathing deeply, taking in a lot of air and blowing it out fast. And that's how deep breathing exercises can help us.

Yoga practitioners are already familiar with deep breathing because it is a hallmark of the technique. If you're not familiar with yoga, there are tons of resources for it available online, including at Youtube...

This video discusses breathing deeply five times a day to clear toxins and stale air from our bodies. I suggest doing this as an exercise before you start to play the flute.

Simple exercises such as light calisthenics, running and cycling, are also great ways to rev up your breathing capacity.

Try doing a few jumping jacks, however many it takes to get you breathing hard. Now quickly pick up your flute and start playing.

Your body is automatically breathing deeply because of the physical activity you just performed. As you blow a note and inhale, feel yourself taking in lots more air and pushing it out fast. Your tone will sound so much better, too!

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