How long is a "normal" fiato for a trained player

[Marc]

Hi… I’m doing my best to improve breathing endurance. I play my tenor one hour daily, some days I do two 1-hour sessions of practice, from long notes, to scales, exercises from books (mainly Klosé and DeVille) and simple tunes.
Besides, I frequently (not daily but almost) I do breathing exercises for half an hour or so.
So far I’m capable to play the whole 32-note chromatic scale from Low-Bb to High-F at 80 bps in the metronome which is 24 seconds long. The reverse is more difficult, I can’t reach further below D, 4 notes short, because as we all know lower tones require more airflow… just when our lungs are almost depleted.
I’m curious about how long a seasoned, years-trained player could stand. Comments welcome.
Oh… BTW fiato is the italian word for “blowing” and for “wind” in woodwind instruments as well.

Regards.
Marc.

[john]

Breath control will vary with every player but you can simply increase your tempo by one number each time. 80 bpm is quite slow if you’re playing 8th notes. so start there and then go 81, 82 etc. soon you will be playing the entire 32 notes.

[Marc]

Hey, Johnny… perhaps I couldn’t explain it clearly.
What I really want is to make the whole chromatic scale longer without breathing, i.e. slowing down from 80 bps to shorter figures. Theoretically I’ll be able to keep a 32 seconds fiato when I reach 60 bps. Right now I barely play it at 80 from low to high, and can’t make it in the opposite way.
I need to practise more, indeed.

I remember, when I started playing I keep a mid-scale C or B for about 16-18 seconds. Now I reach 27 to 30 seconds of that long-note. Just curious how long a trained player could hold.

[Kevin]

Marc, one variable that may even make it more challenging is that you will progress through more open mouth pieces with harder reeds which will require more air flow and diaphragm support. So a guy(or gal) doing the same exercise with tenor MP with say a 0.070″ tip opening and a #2 reed could perhaps do a considerably longer sustain than with a 0.120″ tip opening and a #3-1/2 reed. And also different baffle profiles will be more free blowing than others, so to do apples to apples lung capacity comparisons would require similar hardware…

[Marc]

Yep… you’re quite right, Kevin… I hadn’t considered that in my equation.
Incidentally today I grab another MP I have, to go-up slightly in terms of tip opening. I normally use a Selmer Goldentone 3 (which is a 75) and this afternoon I have been playing with a 95-open, Brand X chinese made mouthpiece. Kept the same 2.5 Rico reed tho.
Well, that was kinda exhausting LOL… Doing the 24 seconds 80 bps chromatic scale I was used to do almost turned me cyanotic.
I think I’ll give that 95 MP a 2-week try, and see what happens when I come back to the more forgiving and warm-toned Selmer.

Thanks for your comments.
Marc.

[Author]

Posts