B15M

I also believe slowly in with the air and slowly out. The air tends to go out the way it goes in.

That being said:
About two years ago there was a discussion on here with the same subject and the pros were saying to take that prep air in quickly. In 4/4 time you would think 1,2,3,4,breath . You get a half of beat the take in the air.

I remember thinking, this is the opposite from what I was taught.

They also went on to talk about exercises written by famous people saying to play a measure and rest 3-1/2 beats and quick breath.

Maybe I'll do a search and see if I can find it. It's pretty old and stuff was dumped a while back.

B15M

I looked and couldn't find what I was looking for but, here is a link that talks about it.

http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f131...ing-25095.html (Charles Schleuter on Breathing)

amtrpt

B15M,
I should have said that when I am taking in air slowly I'm trying develop that feeling as a habit. In actual performance it's not practical to always breath slowly. Although I do when I have the chance. In fact I will sometimes do slow breathing exercises during the rests. This helps keep me relaxed and calm, especially during a stressful piece. Mike Sachs uses the idea of saying the word hut while breathing in to take a big quick breath. You might try that while trying to remember the feeling of the slow relaxed breath.
Please let me know if this is helpful for you.
Andrew

Trumpeterswain

This has turned into quite an interesting thread on breathing habits. I think that on this issue, like so many others, there isn't a single right answer. The key is learning the habit that develops the desired sound and style for the individual player. In my lessons with David Gordon (principal of the Seattle Symphony), I've learned that he's a proponent of Yoga breathing techniques. He doesn't push that technique specifically, however, but it stands for the goal of developing a relaxed and efficient approach to managing the airflow in playing.

mrmusicnotes

slow relaxed breathes are fundamental,but we also have to practice taking in large quantities of air in at a verry quick rate for those technical pieces where there isn't a lot of places to take a slow breath if we want to get through the entire piece without running out of air.
google breathing exercises by arnold jacobs.

nplotts1

I wonder if my instructor has been reading this. Last night at the beginning of studio he had everyone put down our trumpets and we did breathing exercises from The Breathing Gym for about 5-10 minutes.

Tiscione

Andrew,
Quick question about the buzzing part of your routine.....Why do you suggest avoiding wide slurs? Having never worked with someone who was a big "buzzer," I haven't had much information/instruction about this part of my practice. Just curious.

Thanks,

Mike

amtrpt

Hi Tiscione,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I like to keep my buzzing as step wise as possible. There are three main reasons for this.

One is that I want to multi-task my practicing as much as possible and this gives me a chance to work on my ears as well as my buzzing.

Second, and this is more important for me, is that I want to keep my lips pretty focussed. When I open up too much in big slurs I feel like I lose the focus I am trying to gain by buzzing.

The other thing that happens to me personally is that I tend to really bump the ends of wide buzzing slurs with my air. Kind of like jumping on a trampolin. When I go up and then come down there is a real bump at the bottom. When I stay stepwise I really try to feel myself keeping the air smooth and easy with no gaps. Kind of like a really heavy syrup.

That last part is maybe a bit confusing and I can try an clear it if anyone has any questions.

Best,
Andrew