😤Taking a Big Breath to Play a Long Phrase on Shinobue? - Don't. 🫢
How to Stop Running Out of Air on Shinobue
Before you play a long phrase, the most natural thing to do might be to take a big breath. But by taking a big breath, you will most likely only succeed in raising your chest/shoulders and tensing up your neck, which will decrease the airflow.
Instead, take a diaphragmatic breath as usual and spend LESS air.
Breath is like money. You don't need to make (take in) that much if you don't waste it.
How do you spend less air? Here are the 3 tips:
Use your core muscles to control the airflow. Keep your body inflated like a balloon. Decrease the speed of your breath - Slow breath is the key.
Work on your embouchure and shinobue angle so that all the air you are spending is actually going into utakuchi (mouth hole).
Think about the phrase's important note(s) musically, then don't spend so much breath on other notes. Play at medium volume for long phrases.
Most beginners use too much air on the first note of the phrase and keep releasing air, ending up with nothing left in the middle of a phrase. Don't be so eager to let go of the air you took like you have an endless supply!
But we cannot tighten our lips to keep the air in, either. That would only create what Bunta sensei calls a "traffic jam" at the mouth, resulting in a windy and messy tone. We need to control the airflow at the source using the core muscles and create slow and "heavy" breath—not like free-flowing water but more like lava.
The most important thing is to keep practicing! Many problems we encounter gradually disappear as we acquire fundamental skills. One day, you will look back and think, "Oh yeah, I used to have that problem, but it's gone now!" 😉