Three Surprising Metaphors that Will Improve Your Airflow

Airflow– the production, management, movement, and guidance of air– is among the most difficult aspects of recorder playing to master. As you may have discovered, making a sound he recorder is easy….but producing a clear, resonant, well-shaped, beautiful sound is not.

When I’m teaching about airflow (which I am, constantly, because it’s the beating heart of any and all recorder playing), I like to come at the topic from two angles.

First, the bottom up….since I’m an anatomy and physiology nerd, I think it’s essential to address what your body should actually be doing as you play.

But it’s also useful to talk about airflow from the top down, starting with the sound we want to produce and identifying thought patterns that can help us achieve it.

And that’s why, like every other teacher before me, I love a good metaphor! The right metaphor can act a shortcut, ushering you toward beneficial patterns of movement without your having to build them up from scratch.

I’ve got literally dozens of airflow metaphors. Some of them work for most students and some of them work for only a few. Some of them are standard issue and some of them are unique. And some of them, to be totally honest, are wacky!

In honor of April Fool’s Day, here are three of my more offbeat metaphors. They may be a little odd, but try them out! They work more often than you’d think!

The ORD People Mover

Your air is the moving sidewalk between terminals at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. You simply step on and admire the moving patterns of lights as you float toward your destination.

The Endless Towel Dispenser

You know those resusable towel dispensers in highway rest stops of yore? The ones where you pulled down on a loop of reusable material to dry your hands, and then pulled again to expose fresh towel? The ones to which the pandemic most likely dealt a killing blow? The towel loop is your air, and you’re pulling it out of your instrument in one never-ending loop.

The Rubber Duckie

Your sound is a rubber duckie bobbing gently up and down on a warm, slowly moving sea of air! Yes, really!

What’s your favorite metaphor? Is it more common, or a little bit quirky?

Want more on how to improve your airflow? My three-part webinar series on tone sttarts with Breathing.