Teaching students how to breathe

Breathing while playing the piano seems like a no-brainer if you’re reading this as a non-musician.

But wow is it so very important to learn.

What do we mean by, “Breathing while playing the piano”? I mean, if you don’t breathe, won’t you keel over anyway?

My first instrument was the clarinet. I was a concert clarinetist for Detroit’s City Wide Honors Band at age 13, and went on to perform in Baroque ensemble groups.

My understanding of how to breathe while performing came from my woodwind experiences. I learned about phrasing and sustained holds. I learned how my respiratory system worked, and learned how diaphragmatic breathing could enhance my stamina in performance.

And here we land on The Why of it all:

When we watch someone like Yuja Wang perform whole concerti in concert, we are all blown away by her skill and technical acumen and her overall vibe.

But rarely do we consider her stamina.

Think about it—a concerto is about 20 minutes long. She sits there for 20 full minutes, playing three full movements, with an orchestra. The first movement is usually an allegro—fast. Then she has to shift to an andante—a slow movement. Then she has to end it with a flourish—fast.

She has to listen to and respond with 100 other musicians and a conductor, with 2,000 people sitting in the audience. I don’t recall her ever using sheet music, so she’s also memorized all 30 or 40 pages of notes.

You can’t show up tired for this. You must have stamina.

And to have stamina, you must breathe in such a way that sustains you throughout.

If you have conditions like a perpetually clogged nose, you’re going to have issues (we are in Allergy Season right now in southeast Michigan so this is on my mind). Same if you have a conditions or medications that cause shortness of breath, or if you breathe primarily through your mouth. Your entire physiology is affected, and this can affect your endurance and stamina.

So, we learn how to breathe while playing.

We learn how to sustain breaths during phrases, much like when we sing. For example, we don’t take a pause in the middle of a word (unless you’re a shivering Frank-n-Furter)(you’ll be happy you Googled that). Our posture adjusts to accommodate certain movement across the keys, and it’s necessary to adjust our inhalation/exhalation patterns as well so that the end result is seamless.

I am not sure when other piano teachers teach breathing in their lessons, but we teach it on Day 1. On the first day, I can tell immediately if someone has back problems simply by how they are breathing.

We definitely teach this.

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