I Hold My Breath when I Play

[mrsmile10]

This might be unusual but I realized I hold my breath when I play. I believe it's because my brain doesn't want my breathing to mess up the tempo so it unconsciously hold the breath. Is this supposed to happen? How do I get rid of this problem?

[dmauney]

Play long pieces? 

 I do somewhat the same thing so I really don't have a decent answer.

[mikeowski]

Easy, remind yourself to breathe during playing whenever you catch yourself holding your breath until the breathing becomes unconscious. Play slower if you have to.
It's just a bad habit and should go away quickly if you do this over the period of a few days (maybe even sooner).

[louispodesta]

In Thomas Mark's book, he addresses the subject of breath by saying that you can either phrase your breath, or you can breathe naturally.  It is whatever feels the best for you.

I have taken it to the next level and now practice a breath relaxation exercise called Heartmath.  It hooks up to your computer, and you can do it for five minutes a day or twenty minutes, whatever you like.

What it does is to train you to gently focus on your breath for a specific period of time.   After a while, you can "zone in" on it while you are at the piano, and essentially turn it on or off.   This also comes in quite handy when you are in other possible stressful situations.

Further, if you are holding your breath, and brother I have been there, you are probably tightening your stomach and also clenching your teeth.  That is why I recommend an overall exercise like the one above.  You cant make it work without your whole body being relaxed.

[4greatkeyboards]

If we hold our breath we will be more quickly fatigued. We usually hold our breath without knowing it when we are anxious.

Prove to yourself the worth of breathing. Try push-ups. How many can you do at once? Try it and count. Hold your breath while you do it.

Now rest and get your heart rate and breathing back to normal.

Now go for your own push-ups record: start again but force yourself to breath as deeply as you can while you are doing them. You will do many more push ups this way.

Learn to breathe deeply when playing demanding passages. This can be done without looking dorky, too. Can be hidden from the audience.

[pianoplunker]

This might be unusual but I realized I hold my breath when I play. I believe it's because my brain doesn't want my breathing to mess up the tempo so it unconsciously hold the breath. Is this supposed to happen? How do I get rid of this problem?

That is interesting.It sounds like you are not relaxed which is why you hold your breath (?). Like breathless anticipation of ........?  Maybe try singing along, make up words if you have to or just humm.  At least you wont be able to hold your breath if you do that. who knows maybe you become a great singer in the process.   

[mrsmile10]

Just to update you guys, the problem is not going away although I notice my tempo is getting better

[louispodesta]

One important point to add is that now this problem seems to be an annoyance, but left untreated, it will manifest itself in what could be a permanent level of tension in your playing.

That is why most DMA's in this country never concertize after they leave college.  Their nerves are shot, and I mean permanently.

Please get this under control and learn to play in a relaxed, and controlled natural fashion.

[unimaster]

Just to update you guys, the problem is not going away although I notice my tempo is getting better

I'm sure it is. Of course, the fact that you're passing out after the first twenty measures limits your repertoire to fairly short pieces . . . but at least they'll be played in good time. ;-)

[abacaba]

How about design a good breathing pattern with a given song.
For example, when playing Hanon, breath in every 2 measures and breath out every 2 measures. Of course when you are practising real fast then breath in every 4 measure and breath out every 4 measures. Same thing with playing, eg, a Chopin Waltz, breath in every 2 measures etc...

[stephenv]

May I suggest taking short phrases...in which you have a beautiful melody line.  play the melody slowly and inhale at the begginning...SLOWLY exhale as you play the line.   If you're up to it...Sing a HYMN line...take Come Thou Almighty King.    Take a breath at the beginning of the line...then SING thru it.....You'll HAVE to exhale...there's no other way to get thru it.  Work your way thru the hymn singing each phrase...the same way...One breath at the beginning then sing thru the phrase..STOP at the end...of the phrase and reflect...try it again.

See if that helps!    Breath is to music as it is to LIFE!    your simply gotta breathe for it to live.  One thing some musicians have trouble learning also that SILENCE is a part of the notation in music...observe the many RESTS...those notations are just as important as the NOTES! and certainly and integral part of the music.   

Breathing in music become second nature to you!  And you WILL relax.  Takes work to develop.   Now having said this....you eventually will want to omit the singing part while playing ...some musicians seem to hold on to singing during a strictly instrumental perormance!
Yikes...that DOES interrupt the music for those listening.  Best of LUCK...LOVE THE MUSIC and enjoy it!

[senanserat]

In Thomas Mark's book, he addresses the subject of breath by saying that you can either phrase your breath, or you can breathe naturally.  It is whatever feels the best for you.

I have taken it to the next level and now practice a breath relaxation exercise called Heartmath.  It hooks up to your computer, and you can do it for five minutes a day or twenty minutes, whatever you like.

What it does is to train you to gently focus on your breath for a specific period of time.   After a while, you can "zone in" on it while you are at the piano, and essentially turn it on or off.   This also comes in quite handy when you are in other possible stressful situations.

Further, if you are holding your breath, and brother I have been there, you are probably tightening your stomach and also clenching your teeth.  That is why I recommend an overall exercise like the one above.  You cant make it work without your whole body being relaxed.

Don't gorget that you're limiting your brain's oxygen intake thus affecting your performance overall, niech gud.