13 - The taking of breath in flute-playing

Summary

How crucial it is to know about a matter so fundamental for the flute as the taking of breath at the right time and the right place, and about using it properly, as well as how much a good performance gains thereby, is well known to those who do not belong among the ordinary players – who throw everything together and play loosely, not caring what comes out – but who only want to play beautifully, seriously and clearly. It is no trifling skill to have this essential and fundamental technique in one's power, so that the listener can never be aware while one is playing either of shortness of breath, or of the taking of breath itself, and so his attention is left undisturbed and uninterrupted.

This is a refinement that many people do not have, and in those who do not possess this skill, it is a serious shortcoming. If frequent, inappropriate breaths break up the melody of the passages and make them incomprehensible, the listener not only has his attention interrupted, but is also made so anxious by the nervous taking of breath that even if he wished to attend to the continuity of the piece it would quite distract and prevent him. This does not apply only to flute-players, but every wind-player and singer must possess this skill as well. I have often witnessed singers as well as wind-players committing this fault, and breaking up the sense of the music by separating connected ideas by means of unsuitable breathing; especially in cadenzas.