>
> From: Bruce Jones <bjones@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Date: 2002/05/15 Wed PM 05:38:22 EDT
> To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: Breath
>
> >From: "Stav Tapuch" <tapuch@hotmail.com>
> >Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 17:04:58 +0000
> >
> >Recently I acted on the valuable advice to record myself with
> >playing. From the recording I was astounded to what extent my
> >pauses for breath were undermining the momentum of what I was
> >playing.
> >
> >Any advice on how to lengthen the number and duration of notes that
> >can be produced between breaths?
>
> 1. Practice, practice, practice, and go to the Shakuhachi Festival and
> listen to Riley Lee talk about breathing exercises (if he does that
> this year).
>
> 2. Instead of worrying about how many notes you can play between
> notes, think more about breathing itself. The shakuhachi is a
> wonderful instrument for "enlightening" you (and me) on how you
> breathe - on, as Riley put it in one of his workshops, making you
> aware of your breath.
>
> Someone once asked Riley when he breathes during a piece and his
> answer was, "I breathe when it's appropriate." Get a recording of
> Yamaguchi Goro from late in his life. He breathes a lot and
> apparently decided it was appropriate to breathe more often as he
> got older. I can sympathize with that notion.
>
> 3. Memorize a piece. Playing from memory somehow makes it easier to
> breathe appropriately.
>
> >Also, any wisdon on how to shorten the time needed to refill your
> >lungs?
>
> Make sure that you're inhaling through your nose as well as your
> mouth.
>
> bj
>
> -
All of this good advice points to one common point. It is of paramount importance to be as relaxed as possible. Any concerns or extraneous thoughts will impact the playing. The more you think about the things to fix the issue, the more you get drawn into the problem! What a conundrum.
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