Hello Musicians!
My name is Dr. Susie Lalama, Assistant Professor of Music Education, and active band clinician, adjudicator, and music education consultant throughout the states. I don’t think I have ever been so excited about a breathing device that was designed to enhance diaphragmatic breathing while challenging and motivating my students like the Lung Trainer. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Lung Trainer device, it is worth your time. You simply cover the holes on the tube while blowing through the copper mouthpiece. The goal is to make the weights move to the top of the clear case, but what really happens is that you feel the amount of air that must be pushed to make the weights move. When I had some of my professional musician colleagues try it, they were all impressed on how the air movement is similar to their wind instruments or voice. Other comments were along the lines of, what a great teaching tool to enhance breathing exercises, or “I can really feel it work.” If you are starting to wonder if this may be too hard for your students or if they are just beginners, stop worrying, it is not. Using the Lung Trainer can be adjusted to use one, two, or three weights, depending on the comfort level of the breather.
Check out some of the Breathing Exercises I use for Lung Trainers! These might be similar to some standard exercises of hissing, but when you apply it to Lung Trainers, the air must work! I am using Lung Trainers with my beginning brass students this semester and I get so excited to see their desire to keep trying to improve their breathing based on their last Lung Trainer attempt. Sometimes, they don’t want to stop using it! That’s why I like to add an instrument or singing warm up exercise immediately after using the Lung Trainer a for smooth and applicable transition. I have made Lung Trainers a part of my warm-ups.
If you have not had the opportunity to test out Lung Trainers for yourself, give it a try!
Level 1 Breathing Exercises
The Lung Trainer is designed to improve diaphragmatic breathing from beginner to advanced musicians. Each device comes with weights that can be added or removed for a healthy breathing training session. We recommend everyone starting Lung Trainers for the first time to use only ONE weight. If this seems too easy, then add a second weight, and later the third weight. The success of the amount of weight being moved depends on the air speed of each musician, so there is room for development. The following Level One Exercises were designed for musicians new to Lung Trainers and/or relatively new to wind playing or singing.
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Make it Move
Covering all three holes on the tube, take a deep breath and use a fast air stream to move the weight(s) to the top of the device. Use the timer to see how long you can sustain the weights at the top of the device. Challenge yourself by extending your time. Repeat exercise but now only cover two holes (then one hole, then zero holes)
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4-in 4-out
Start the Lung Trainer Timer (or a metronome mm= 60). While covering all three holes, take in air for 4-beats then use the air by blowing through the tube to make the weights move for 4-beats. Loop this exercise at least three times while ensuring the weights move to the top every time. No breaks or added beats of time in between the cycle (it must be consecutive). A full exercise would look like this:
Breath in through your mouth for 4-beats
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 4-beats,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 4-beats,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Rest.
Repeat the exercise by covering two holes (then one hole, then zero holes) with sufficient rest time between each exercise as needed. As you progress, experiment by using different tempos on a metronome.
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2-in 4-out
Similar to exercise #2, start the Lung Trainer Timer (or a metronome mm= 60). While covering all three holes, take in air for 2-beats then use the air to make the weights move for 4-beats. Loop this exercise at least three times while ensuring the weights move to the top every time. No breaks or added beats of time in between the cycle (it must be consecutive). A full exercise would look like this:
Breath in through your mouth for 2-beats
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 2-beats,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 2-beats,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top.
Rest.
Repeat exercise by covering two holes (then one hole, then zero holes) with sufficient rest time between each exercise as needed. As you progress, experiment by using different tempos on a metronome.
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1 and 4
Similar to the previous exercises, start the Lung Trainer Timer (or a metronome mm= 60). While covering all three holes, take in air for 1-beat then expel the air into the tube making the weights move for 4-beats. Loop this exercise at least three times while ensuring the weights move to the top every time. No breaks or added beats of time in between the cycle (it must be consecutive). A full exercise would look like this:
Breath in through your mouth for 1-beat,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 1-beat,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top,
Immediately breath in for 1-beat,
Expel air into Lung Trainer Tube for 4-beats while keeping weights at the top.
Rest.
Repeat exercise by covering two holes (then one hole, then zero holes) with sufficient rest time between each exercise as needed. As you progress, experiment with using different tempos on the metronome. Remember, the idea is to take in sufficient air “in time” and immediately expel the air with the speed needed to move the weights.
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1 and a number
This exercise creates an opportunity for the musician to set his/her own goal. Similar to exercise #4 where the musician is taking in air for 1-beat and expelling the air for 4-beats, now the musician can select the final duration. Perhaps he/she wants to try the loop in terraced increments (i.e. in for 1 out for 5 looped for three times; then in for 1 out for 6 looped three times), or successive increments (in for 1 out for 4, in for 1 out for 5, in for 1 out for 6). This is a chance to vary the exercise but still reinforcing the fundamental diaphragmatic breathing.