Back Breathing: A Tutorial

This is the final article in the series about breath. The other two articles are here and here. This is a very advanced breathing technique. It creates the most amount of resonance possible in the body, therefore making your sound better. It also increases the amount of air available to you.

How Do You Back Breathe?

Fill up your lungs to about 80% full. When you breathe out, keep your rib cage expanded. This will create a reserve of air that you try not to use. Try to keep your stomach muscles as relaxed as possible.

You know you’re doing it right when you bend over and feel your lower back expanding and contracting with your breath.

While exhaling, if you need to use the reserve air because it’s a particularly long passage, feel free to use it. Try not to use the reserve for every breath.

What If I Can’t Get It?

I learned this technique through reading a book. It said, “If you don’t understand how to do it from my description, talk to a singer.” That’s a common phrase when you read flute literature.

When I talked to a singer, she said to imagine the bottom half of your rib cage as a barrel that you’re holding around your midsection. It’s as full as you can get it and you shouldn’t let the barrel collapse.

An Odd Way to Practice Back Breathing

This breathing technique is hard until you get the hang of it. I practiced it while I was driving, doing tone work, etc, but I was holding too much tension in my shoulders and my stomach.

Enter marathon training. I tried breathing in this way while I was running and it worked! I was able to keep everything relaxed (because a 10-mile training run is exhausting) and my pace increased by a minute per mile! This was because I was using so much more air.

I was able to incorporate this kind of breathing into my flute practice within a week after my breakthrough while running.

How Should I Use Back Breathing?

You need to master the first two breathing methods first. After that, this should be your primary way of breathing while playing the flute. You can incorporate J breathing into back breathing if you wish – meaning, do both at the same time.

This form of breathing gives your sound more resonance because you’re allowing enough space for the organs in your rib cage to have a deeper vibration than normal.

Another plus is it helps you play longer without taking a breath.

Conclusion

Please don’t attempt this form of breathing until you’re fluent in belly breathing and J breathing. I didn’t learn it until after college, myself, but I could conceivably see someone learning it towards the end of high school at the earliest.

This form of breathing is very advanced, so don’t be upset if you don’t get it right away. It took me a whole year to figure it out.

When you do figure out how to back breathe, your sound will be better and you’ll be able to play longer between breaths. What’s not to love about that?