My memory of a Shew clinic 20 years ago is a bit different. My old man's understanding of the three-part breath is as follows:
- The "normal" breath, which used to be called "diaphragmic" or "abdominal" breathing, in which the abdomen does expand (the symptom, but not the cause, please note!)
- Continuing, the rib cage starts to expand (old-school "chest breathing").
- The shoulders raise naturally as a result of packing even more air in (again, a symptom, not a cause).
With practice, the three steps become one
mf big relaxed breath.
When playing loud screaming high-notes, the air gets compressed, using the wedge and pushing down at the shoulders at the same time, "shooting for the moon," as he put it.
Letting the air "fall out" works great for loud beautiful high notes.
Thanks for the reminder, gdong! Air is everything!