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Saxophone Instruction DVD

SAXOPHONE BREATHING EXERCISES

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BREATHING EXERCISES

Yoga Breathing (Complete Yogic Respiration)

This is easiest to do lying down on your back, but can also be done standing or sitting with your back straight. It consists of three phases in and three phases out, each phase should flow gradually from one to the next

  1. Expand the abdomen while breathing into the lower part of your lungs. While expanding the abdomen, imagine the diaphragm under your lungs expanding downwards into your pelvic regions. Do not worry at this stage about tensing the abdomen muscles too much
  2. Expand the rib cage around your chest, remember to keep the throat as open as possible
  3. Expand the very top part of your ribs and shoulders upwards and outwards

Hold this for a second or two without closing your throat, it should be your diaphragm, abdomen and rib muscles gently tensed that stop the air rushing out. Next breathe out in the same order, abdomen, chest and shoulders and hold for a second or two without closing your throat. Of course, you are not actually breathing into your abdomen, but it can be useful to think that as your abdomen muscles expand outwards, air is flowing into it. In fact the lower part of your lungs is expanding downwards to fill the place left when your abdomen moves forwards.

Frontal Expansion (Vertical)

Start this standing up with a straight back, arms by your side

  1. Keeping the arms straight, raise them smoothly forwards while breathing in, until they are vertically above your head.
  2. Hold your breath for a second or two without closing your throat
  3. Lower the arms smoothly while exhaling until they are back by your sides

You can combine this with the yoga breathing exercise, expanding the abdomen, chest and shoulders in that order

Frontal Expansion (Horizontal)

Start this standing up with a straight back, arms straight out in front of you

  1. Keeping the arms straight, move them smoothly apart while breathing in, until they are fully stretched out sideways
  2. Hold your breath for a second or two without closing your throat
  3. Bring the arms back together and in front of you while exhaling

Concentrate on phase two of the yoga exercise, i.e. chest expansion

Sideways Expansion

Start this standing up with a straight back, arms by your side

  1. Keeping the arms straight, move them smoothly sideways and upwards until they fully stretched out above your head
  2. Hold your breath for a second or two without closing your throat
  3. Lower the arms smoothly sideways and downwards while exhaling until they are back by your sides

Concentrate on phase three of the yoga exercise, i.e. shoulder expansion. Also be aware of your ribcage expanding sideways

As with any exercise regime, it is bad to rush in and overdo things. Try starting with 10 of each exercise once or twice a day and gradually build up.

I have noticed that these exercises will also build up the muscles around the chest and shoulder blades.