Three Secrets to Sneaking a Breath

Sneaky breaths are underrated!

Yes, it’s important to learn to take full, relaxed, high-quality breaths that will give you the air you need to spin long, beautiful lines.

But it’s also important to learn to sneak!

A sneaky breath, discreetly folded into a musical phrase, offers you the ability to sustain your musical intention while simultaneously protecting the quality of your tone. It opens up phrasing possibilities you might not have thought were possible. Sneaky breaths are practical, powerful, and, if executed correctly, close to undetectable!

But they do take skill! Here’s how to make them work for you.

Think Small

Sneaky breaths are basically tiny sips of air. They’re roughly equivalent in volume to the amount of air you’re taking in with each inhale as you’re reading this article (and they should feel similarly relaxed!). Especially on soprano and alto recorders, a tiny amount of air can take you a long way.

End Cleanly

One of the most common mistakes I hear people make when they attempt to sneak a breath is that they allow the impending breath to affect, in a detrimental way, the quality of the note immediately prior. Don’t telegraph your intention to breathe early: Wait until you’ve cleanly ended the note right before. And make sure your air stream stays level right up until the very end of that note!

Begin Softly

Sneaking a breath effectively is all about giving the illusion of a continued musical line. This means keeping the air level before the breath, as outlined above. And it also means that you need to enter after your intake of air with a sense that the breath was a mere suspension in on ongoing line. Practically, this means two things: The tongue stroke of your next note needs to be very soft, and your post-breath airstream needs to precisely match what came before.

The next time you’re practicing sneaky breaths, try out a few of these instructions. I predict more effective sneaking ahead!

Are you wondering not only how to sneak a breath, but where to do it? I’ve developed a practical, step-by-step process for ensuring your breathing supports, rather than disrupts, your music. My Webinar replay Where Do I Breathe? covers this and more.