Dallas Brass WindMaster, Instructions Manual

Page 1: ...DALLAS BRASS Breathing Apparatus and Method Version 3 0 Michael Levine WindMaster creator...

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Page 3: ...Touch With Your Natural Breath 7 Staying Relaxed 7 Being Ready to Breathe and Play 8 Inhale to Exhale 8 SECTION 3 How the WindMaster Works 9 WindMaster Procedure 9 The Design 10 Four Important Benefi...

Page 4: ...ous For all players including professionals the WindMaster will help maximize the natural breathing mechanism thereby increasing the amount of air we use and developing greater breath control Origin o...

Page 5: ...e keeping that easy relaxed manner Think of filling from the bottom up 3 Sit or stand tall Keep the throat open so the air can flow freely Think oh 4 Young Players The instrument should already be up...

Page 6: ...endent on the quality of the air you put through it This is not something to be taken for granted It takes awareness and training Great players are great breathers For singers the entire instrument is...

Page 7: ...at s going on What is misleading to young players is that since we always have some air in our lungs a sound can be made without taking a good breath or any extra breath at all Many young players play...

Page 8: ...eel your body expand in all directions starting low in the stomach area and moving into the back and upper chest And even with the expansion everything is relaxed the head neck and shoulders in partic...

Page 9: ...take your breath Bring it up two measures or at least five seconds before the first note if possible Then keep the basic position of the embouchure when taking the breath It is not necessary to open t...

Page 10: ...WindMaster in front of mouth Hold it as close as you like but without touching the pegs to your lips Be sure pegs are directly in front of mouth so the head will not tilt up or down when blowing 2 Ho...

Page 11: ...breathing muscles Typically students think of the warm up as getting the embouchure going as well as the fingers slide arm and instrument itself Warming up and stretching the breathing muscles is esse...

Page 12: ...instrument we just need to breathe more deeply and quickly while staying relaxed The ultimate value of the WindMaster is as an exerciser something to be used on a daily basis I ve seen some students...

Page 13: ...a WindMaster routine into your program a few ideas to follow An effective way to demonstrate the relaxed breath is to push all the pegs away from the student except the first one Ask the student to si...

Page 14: ...e body to rebalance itself Continued practice will result in greater breathing endurance Alternate WindMaster with Instrument The WindMaster can certainly be used on its own However it is best to inco...

Page 15: ...ive to not skip a peg Count the pegs if you skipped one only count the number of pegs up to that point Reset Try again Take note of your level Be systematic If you are getting 7 pegs most times then t...

Page 16: ...gin with long tones listening for a full clear steady sound Play a scale taking one breath per note as if you were going to blow over the pegs holding each note as long as possible Notice the air fill...

Page 17: ...ngle breath Possible playoffs for TOP 10 Have incentives for winners Students can also be graded on the results The director should monitor these challenges whenever possible especially so that feedba...

Page 18: ...lafian Arizona State University formerly Empire Brass who have inspired me for many years watching them breathe and hearing the awesome results Yoga Instructor Michelle Hammarley for helping me apprec...

Page 19: ...ude the Cincinnati Pops conducted by Erich Kunzel New York Pops conducted by Skitch Henderson and the Philly Pops conducted by Peter Nero The Dallas Brass has performed at Carnegie Hall the John F Ken...