Using a five or six liter rubber bag, inhalation and exhalation can be practiced. Since the same air is breathed, carbon dioxide, rather than oxygen, is transferred avoiding hyperventilation.
Practice emptying and filling the lungs by slowly rebreathing air several times in a row. In this exercise the muscles of enlargement will learn to work apart from the muscles of reduction. It is important that the lungs go from extremes, empty to full. Rebreathing air from a breathing bag can be done repeatedly for about twenty seconds without discomfort.
An air bag can also be used as a rough gauge of a person's vital capacity. Another use is with an instrument. After a full inhalation, exhale into the bag filling it as much as possible. Hold the air in the bag with a finger over the tube. After positioning the instrument for playing inhale from the bag and start playing the instrument. The bag gives a visually known quantity of air.
Using a five or six liter rubber bag, inhalation and exhalation can be practiced. Since the same air is breathed, carbon dioxide, rather than oxygen, is transferred avoiding hyperventilation.
Practice emptying and filling the lungs by slowly rebreathing air several times in a row. In this exercise the muscles of enlargement will learn to work apart from the muscles of reduction. It is important that the lungs go from extremes, empty to full. Rebreathing air from a breathing bag can be done repeatedly for about twenty seconds without discomfort.
An air bag can also be used as a rough gauge of a person's vital capacity. Another use is with an instrument. After a full inhalation, exhale into the bag filling it as much as possible. Hold the air in the bag with a finger over the tube. After positioning the instrument for playing inhale from the bag and start playing the instrument. The bag gives a visually known quantity of air.
The simplest divice to use is the Breath Builder. Developed by the late Bassoonist Harold Hansen of Las Vegas, Nevada, the Breath Builder is a device used to feel the sensation of inhaling and exhaling. It is a tube of plastic [at least six inches tall] with a ping-pong ball inside. The bottom is sealed and the top has three holes drilled to vary the resistance.
To use the Breath Builder, place the tube between the teeth on top of the tongue. Next, get the ball to the top of the tube by either inhaling or exhaling, [which is easier]. Then hold the ball at the top of the tube while slowly inhaling and exhaling. The Breath Builder requires fourteen ounces of pressure to hold the ping-pong ball at the top of the column.
The incentive spirometer, or Inspiron [Inspirx®]. It is a device used in hospitals to give respiratory patients a visual demonstration of how much air they can inhale. While the instrument was designed for inhalation, if it is turned upside down, it can also be used for exhalation. There is a gauge to measure resistance, with the most open position providing the most resistance.
Another use of the inspiron is in conjunction with mouthpiece practice. Remove the large hose at the base, replace with a four-inch rubber hose, and place a mouthpiece in the other end. The Inspiron must be upside down [the exhalation position]. Adjust the resistance so the ball can remain in the up position while buzzing several notes on the mouthpiece. Imagine that the air supporting the ball is a fountain of water--its height will vary but it should not hit the bottom between notes. The object is to play throughout the range of the instrument while keeping the ball suspended. When moving into the high range any attempt to increase pressure while decreasing the rate of air flow will cause the ball to drop. One of the most important uses of the incentive spirometer is to teach the relaxed low pressure/high flow rate concept of playing.
Peak flow meters are commonly used by asthmatics as an exercising device. It requires a flow of 60-880 liters per minute. Great for use with players low flow rate instruments to develop the skills of exhaling great quantities of air in a short period of time, a skill needed for playing in the low range.
Similar to the Inspiron®, the Triflo® is an incentive spirometer. It has three chambers with their own balls that requires air pressures from 600-1200 cc per second. Designed for inhalation, it can be turned upside down for use with exhalation. Great for studying the relationship between air flow and air pressure.
Before Jacobs introduced these devices to the music world in 1982, he made several devices. As a part of the original studio (around 1960), Mr. Jacobs attached a compound gauge (for both inhalation and exhalation) to an aluminum pipe with holes drilled to vary resistance This is a tool that he used for decades and many of his students have desired this for use with their own students. Working with Mr. Jacobs, we developed the Variable Resistance Compound Gauge using a similar gauge developed for use by respiratory technicians.
The gauge for the original cost over $300 (in 1960). The key to the reproduction was to make it affordable - the primary cost of this tool being the gauge. Rather than developing expensive molds or using computerized lathes, the pipe is hand-made of inexpensive but sturdy delrin. While not having the cosmetic perfection of more expensively produced pipes, this is just as functional at a fraction of the cost.
To determine a person's actual vital capacity, a test is given to determine how much air [in liters] can be moved in or out of the lungs in a single breath. These tests are given on medical equipment such as a respirometer or spirometer. In 1982, Jacobs introduced to the music world the Voldyne®, an inexpensive medical device that can give an approximate reading up to five liters. There are two chambers--the larger [right] is to measure the air volume and the smaller [left] for air pressure.
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