Re: The Diaphragm


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on September 15, 2003 at 00:33:37:

In Reply to: The Diaphragm posted by AAR on September 13, 2003 at 22:00:04:

As I study my own body, I realize that the abdominal and diaphragm muscles are in a state of dynamic balance, held there when relaxed by the shape and elasticity of the surrounding soft tissues and organs.

When I relax those muscles without closing the air passage, the lungs naturally relax to what seems to be about a quarter or less of their maximum content.

Thus, when I enhale to near maximum capacity, the lungs are under elastic tension, and the only way I can keep them there is to close the air passage or continue to tense my diaphragm. As soon as I relax my muscles (assuming my air passages are open), my lungs evacuate at least 3/4 of their contents. Thus, at the pressures expected for tuba playing, the natural elasticity of my chest cavity provides enough force to fuel the vibration of my lips. The use of abdominal muscles may increase the speed with which air expulsion takes place, but it is the difference between emptying the top 3/4 of the lungs in perhaps a second versus half a second. The forced exhalation brought about by recruiting the abdominal muscles, it seems to me, do not have a musical value when playing the tuba.

Yes, the diaphragm may be only partly involuntary, but the best musicians never seem to recruit it consciously. Instead, they think only about large quantities of air passing through their mouth, and in so doing, the autonomic system recruits the necessary muscles automatically. Brass pedagogy in the last many decades has moved in the direction of keeping players focused on the object of motion--air flow--instead of consciously attempting to manage the muscles necessary to do so.

This is also consistent with all physical skill training of which I am aware, ranging from typing to cycling. Typists think about words, not fingers. As a former Ironman triathlete (and a fast typist), I have a good deal of experience learning physical skills to a level of competence. Believe me when I say it would not be easy to swim 2.4 miles if one had to consciously direct all the various hand, arm, and leg motions needed to move through the water efficiently enough to remain aerobic.

Thus, while your unsolicited treatise on which muscles do what may be accurate, it is still misleading. Tuba players take in a great deal of air by focusing on the rush of wind as it passes their lips rather than on what they do with their diaphragm and abdominal muscles, and they let that air back out again through the natural relaxation of the chest cavity. Before they reach the point where that relaxation runs out of force, they take in more air. Those who focus on the diaphragm and abdomen will always be working with the bottom quarter of their lung capacity, playing catchup with empty lungs, instead of working with the fullest three quarters of their lung capacity, where the air will rush out merely as a result of not keeping it in.

As you can see, tuba players spend lots of time thinking about how air moves.

Rick "with no Ph.D. but with some awareness of his own body" Denney


Follow Ups: