Wind Instruments: How to Improve Your Breathing Technique and Stamina

The right breathing technique is the foundation for strength, stamina, and a good sound at all volumes.  Every wind instrument has its own set of challenges. And yet, some basic rules are similar or even the same. Here are some tips and tricks on how to practice your breathing for improved control and endurance for longer phrases. 🎺

First things first: Warm up!

Yes, we breathe continuously and fill and empty our lungs without even thinking about it. However, this is fundamentally different from the active breathing required for playing a woodwind or brass instrument. Good breathing begins with a warm-up that activates your breathing, relaxes your lips and tongue, and gets your instrument up to operating temperature.

No matter which wind instrument you play, you should prepare for every practice session with some breathing exercises. Before you even pick up your instrument, let your lips flutter without using force, gently stretch your mouth, jaw, throat, and your whole body, and feel free to come up with other light exercises that suit you. Then gently ease into your instrument by, for example, playing some sustained notes without applying pressure. This prepares your lungs for the workout they’re about to get.

1. Saxophone: Long notes and breathing through the corners of your mouth

As a sax player, it makes sense to breathe through the corners of your mouth while keeping the rest of your lips on the mouthpiece. A good exercise for improving your breathing technique is to play long notes, focusing specifically on your breathing. While inhaling, consciously fill the lower part of your lungs. While exhaling, play a sustained and controlled note, ideally without shaking. Focus on your breath support – the area of the abdominal muscles, diaphragm, and middle back – to maintain constant air pressure.

2. Trumpet: A sheet of paper blown against the wall

Stretch out your arm and turn your palm towards you. Breathe in so that your body fills with air from below. Now blow a thin but strong jet of air against your palm – as if you were buzzing, but without making a sound. The other hand rests on your abdomen to control your inhalation and exhalation. In the next step, repeat this exercise by holding a slightly crumpled sheet of paper up on the wall at a distance of about arm’s length using only your breath. No cheating! Taping the paper to the wall will do nothing to improve your breathing technique.

3. Flute: The Hawaii breathing exercise

There are countless breathing exercises for woodwind and brass players. Most of them are about adapting everyday breathing to the instrument, i.e. improving it through efficiency and awareness. One that is often used by flute players is the Hawaii breathing exercise, which is divided into three phases. After emptying your lungs completely, breathe in strongly using the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and abdominal muscles. This is the “Ha” phase. It is followed by the “Wa” phase, in which the ribcage is expanded and enlarged by spreading the ribs apart and breathing into the sides. Only now – in the final “ii” phase – are the upper stretches of the lungs filled with air. The syllables help to achieve the correct technique. Don’t forget to breathe out again at the end!

4. Oboe: Highest demands on breathing technique

On the oboe, correct breathing is essential in order not to hyperventilate and simply collapse. The general rule of thumb is: breathe with the instrument. You have to learn to breathe in and out slowly. Breathing exclusively through the mouth has now become standard, as it allows for deeper breathing and a higher volume of air. As the oboe requires a lot of pressure, you have to estimate exactly how much air you’ll need for the phrase you’re about to play. When exhaling, the air is expelled at specific points at high pressure. Avoid dropping or raising your shoulders and angle your upper arms slightly to the sides to maximise the volume of your ribcage. The oboe is merely a tool. You are the actual instrument.

5. Clarinet: Holding an imaginary feather in the stream of breath

The clarinet requires controlled and precise breathing, especially for rapid passages. Start by practicing to control your exhalation, followed by deliberate relaxation. Use your body awareness to achieve what is known as full breathing, as indicated by the clearly visible – or palpable – expansion of the abdomen. You need a well-disposed, strong posture free from tension. Then imagine a small downy feather slowly falling from the sky in front of your face. Now try to blow at this imaginary feather so gently and delicately that it is held in the air by the stream of your breath and “dances” in it without being blown away.

6. Tuba: Large instrument with a large appetite for air

As a tuba player, you’re in charge of the largest brass instrument – and your lungs are in for a challenge. For a musical tone, you need optimum air management. This means that your breath must be voluminous and at the same time pleasant and natural. You need to learn how to handle large volumes of air and get a feel for your own lungs. Try this: Inhale for a few seconds and get used to the feeling of a full breath. Now blow the air into a breathing bag, inflating it in the process. The revealing effect: You get a physical idea of how much air you have at your disposal.

7. Recorder: Spit without spit

One of the comparatively simple exercises to improve breathing and stamina on the recorder is this one: Imagine that a hair is stuck to your tongue but you don’t have a free hand to remove it. The perfectly human reflex would be to try spitting it out. Now listen to yourself during this process – spitting without spit. You will feel exactly the right support. At the same time, this movement will train your pelvic floor muscles.

8. French horn: Breathing as the foundation for everything else

Circular breathing is an advanced and quite demanding breathing technique. This is quite demanding and is not used by every horn player. It is best known as the breathing technique for the didgeridoo, but, if you master it as a horn player – and also with some other wind instruments –, you’ll make considerable progress with your breathing and stamina. Circular breathing involves breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth at the same time. Strictly speaking, you don’t exhale the air, but push it out using the muscles in your mouth. When you’ve mastered this special breathing technique, you can play long passages without pausing to breathe, significantly increasing your endurance. This takes practice: take a mouthful of water and spit it out in a thin, constant stream. While you’re doing this, breathe in and out through your nose. Practice this until you can continue to breathe normally during the exercise. Once you’ve mastered it, continue practicing this technique on the French horn. Technically, you can breathe in this way whenever you want.

Our new wind instrument department in Treppendorf

Our new wind instrument department in Treppendorf offers numerous testing rooms and Europe’s largest low brass and tuba exhibition. Come by, get inspired, and be amazed. We look forward to seeing you.

Here’s the blog post where you can see Thomann’s new wind instrument department.

Here’s the complete range of the wind instrument department at thomann.de.

Take a look at the new wind instrument department in the shop with this video! 👇

YouTube Channel Wind Instruments: Thomann Brass & Winds

Check out our YouTube channel, where you’ll find exciting stories and tutorials about brass and woodwind instruments. 👇

Breathing for wind instruments: Your conclusion

Do you have any other tips for breathing exercises? We look forward to your insightful and informative comments!