How Many Brass and Woodwind musicians are in here?

[Encephalon]

I was lucky enough to be in Drum and bugle corps as teenager. We had a boatload of instruction by some pretty cool brass musicians who were totally into diphragmatic control and intercostal, bullet-proof strength and flexibility. I'm really interested in seeing what different breathing patterns are out there.

 

If there's a Spring Forest person who can talk the delicate subject of comparative breathing patterns and trumpet playing, please chime in.

 

Jazz band nerd

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

I cannot speak on the trumpet, but my wife played a western flute through high school and college and that training made a huge impact when she started doing energy work. It taught her how to take in a lot of air quickly, expand her lungs, hold her breath, put pressure on the lower dan tien through the diaphragm, and release her breath very slowly and evenly.

 

There is an entire sect of Zen Buddhism just devoted to playing the bamboo flute (shakuhachi), instead of seated meditation. They (the fuke sect) claim that playing the shakuhachi mimics the exact breathing method and pattern used in zazen. Unfortunately, the Fuke sect was wiped out during the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s along with a lot of other religious groups.

 

 

 

Someday, when I have the time, I defiantly plan on learning the shakuhachi... But without the basket-hat.

Edited August 30, 2009 by Zhuo Ming-Dao

[JustARandomPanda]

Cool! I want to hear what anyone else says too! I play both the flute and recorder (along with plucking around here and there on the guitar, banjo and sometimes drumming on my tabla). Loved the recorder enough I ended up getting one made of pearwood instead of plastic though I don't believe there's anything wrong with plastic ones.

 

I do find sustaining breath when playing carries over to breathing exercises in KAP. I guess playing brass instruments uses a different kind of breath control than it does for ones to blow across holes or reeds? I know in hole instruments the most optimal, perfect sound is produced when the airstream is split 50/50. 50% across the hole and 50% down it.

 

The whole subject of how the body responds to music is just fascinating to me. I went to a Layne Redmond workshop one time. She is a master at playing all types of frame drums and the performance she gave that day just blew me away. I have never in my life seen such mastery. I think at one point she was a student of Glen Velez and he also is a frame drum master.

 

What interested me that day was something she described at a Women's Frame Drum Circle retreat she had sponsored for 3 days. She said there were about 25 women. All sitting in a circle just drumming on their frame drums to a regular pattern. I forget which one alas though she and her assistant demonstrated it.

 

Anyhoo...after 3 days of hours and hours spent by all these women just drumming in this circle...on the 3rd day they all felt a huge rush of energy sweep across the circle....she said if felt just like the rushing of a huge powerful wind storm. And in that moment she says every single one of the women in that circle suddenly gushed out ALL her menstrual blood in one huge rush. One weeks worth of menstrual blood just flooded out in a single instance for every one of them - all at that same moment!

 

I remember everyone at the workshop just gasping at hearing that. Such is the power of music to get the body to respond. So it is not only apparently brass and wind instruments that can do strange things. Drumming seems to have quite an effect on the body too.

 

Anyhoo...I've gone on much too long and diverged from the topic but I couldn't resist posting as playing music is one of my loves.

 

Best wishes to you Blasto. I hope this thread gets LOTS of replies.

 

[Encephalon]

Cool! I want to hear what anyone else says too! I play both the flute and recorder (along with plucking around here and there on the guitar, banjo and sometimes drumming on my tabla). Loved the recorder enough I ended up getting one made of pearwood instead of plastic though I don't believe there's anything wrong with plastic ones.

 

I do find sustaining breath when playing carries over to breathing exercises in KAP. I guess playing brass instruments uses a different kind of breath control than it does for ones to blow across holes or reeds? I know in hole instruments the most optimal, perfect sound is produced when the airstream is split 50/50. 50% across the hole and 50% down it.

 

The whole subject of how the body responds to music is just fascinating to me. I went to a Layne Redmond workshop one time. She is a master at playing all types of frame drums and the performance she gave that day just blew me away. I have never in my life seen such mastery. I think at one point she was a student of Glen Velez and he also is a frame drum master.

 

What interested me that day was something she described at a Women's Frame Drum Circle retreat she had sponsored for 3 days. She said there were about 25 women. All sitting in a circle just drumming on their frame drums to a regular pattern. I forget which one alas though she and her assistant demonstrated it.

 

Anyhoo...after 3 days of hours and hours spent by all these women just drumming in this circle...on the 3rd day they all felt a huge rush of energy sweep across the circle....she said if felt just like the rushing of a huge powerful wind storm. And in that moment she says every single one of the women in that circle suddenly gushed out ALL her menstrual blood in one huge rush. One weeks worth of menstrual blood just flooded out in a single instance for every one of them - all at that same moment!

 

I remember everyone at the workshop just gasping at hearing that. Such is the power of music to get the body to respond. So it is not only apparently brass and wind instruments that can do strange things. Drumming seems to have quite an effect on the body too.

 

Anyhoo...I've gone on much too long and diverged from the topic but I couldn't resist posting as playing music is one of my loves.

 

Best wishes to you Blasto. I hope this thread gets LOTS of replies.

 

 

Well, not what we hoped for, evidently, but there are a lot of other threads regarding the very important subject of breathing/bodywork.

 

I would very much appreciate you letting me in on what you know about KAP. I'm interested in efficient teaching techniques; I don't believe I need to be brought up to speed regarding the theory behind it.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Blasto

[sifusufi]

I have Lynns book "when the women were drummers" much to digest there.

Hariprasad Charasia is a master Bansari player.

William Parker usually plays several shakuhachi and native american flutes.

All very cool! Thanks for the awesome post

Edited February 19, 2010 by sifusufi

[mindspring]

I learnt the dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) in my teens so diaphragm breathing is now my default breathing method. My teacher would prod my abdomen with the end of a flute and I had to expand my diaphragm to push it away. After a while it becomes second nature.

 

Unfortunately I never advanced far enough to learn circular breathing. I wonder if circular breathing would be useful in qigong practice?

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

I have been playing Native American flutes for about 20 years.. i have been playing/learning the Shakuhachi for the last 5 years.. both are stunning breath meditations and excellent for adjusting energetic frequencies.. it is widely thought that the Shakuhachi is one of the most difficult instruments to learn, i agree.. i bought mine from Tai Hei (Monty Levenson) http://www.shakuhachi.com/ and, i made one myself.. the energy work involved in Shakhuchi is nothing short of profound, but.. be prepared for the hard work (Gung Fu) of learning..

 

Be well..

[~jK~]

I was lucky enough to be in Drum and bugle corps as teenager. We had a boatload of instruction by some pretty cool brass musicians who were totally into diphragmatic control and intercostal, bullet-proof strength and flexibility. I'm really interested in seeing what different breathing patterns are out there.

 

If there's a Spring Forest person who can talk the delicate subject of comparative breathing patterns and trumpet playing, please chime in.

 

Jazz band nerd

Musical instruments develop the Right and Left lobe of the brain equaly as well as fostering a communication flow between the two. And the ability to be ambidexterious - not only with the hands and limbs but also within the scope of timing.

 

Confucious is one of China's well known musicians - The Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist monestary in Hong Kong, the Yuen Yuen Institute has open house days where there are musicians playing various Taoist musical instruments - in particular the flute - as well as Taoist arts in Gardening - they also have a tremendous Buffet ... http://mehongkong.com/eng/attractions/culture-yuenyuen-institute.html

 

By the way, I play the tenor and alto Chinese Xun, tenor, bass, alto and soprano Ocarina, tenor, bass, alto and soprano Recorder; 32, 16 and 10 hole Harmonicas; C and D scale Irish tin whistle and am a classical level hillbilly whistler - Back home we have to whistle when we walk in the woods to keep people from mistaking us for a deer and shooting us ... Most deer cannot whistle ---but they is learning...

 

In Hong Kong, Musical instruments are really -really cheap. But - they usually need the final tweeking to be done by the buyer...

 

Hey - I just noticed that the time listed by the 'edited by' at the bottom is right! In HK, it is now 9:12 AM

Edited February 20, 2010 by ~jK~

[joeblast]

I almost bought a digeridoo last year, but couldnt settle on one to buy, so I put the whole matter off for another time

[Machin Shin]

Unfortunately, the Fuke sect was wiped out during the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s along with a lot of other religious groups.

 

This makes me wonder about a friend of mine...Last time I got to visit him was in San Fransisco in 2006 and he was practicing shakuhachi. He had a version of the heart sutra that was shakuhachi music.

 

It was really nice to go to sleep listening to his early skill with the shakuhachi. I wonder if he still plays....