Deanna Swoboda
Deanna Swoboda is Associate Professor of Music at the Arizona State University, USA. She teaches tuba and euphonium and is an expert on breathing for brass instrument players.
Maybe it is your dream to play a brass instrument. Maybe you cannot afford to buy one yet. But that doesn’t mean you can’t already practice! Start by learning how to create a smooth, even and constant air stream. Yes, it is all about breathing! Once we are in command of our breathing many doors open! It is the basic skill for many professions!
If you already play music, be aware of the breathing of your fellow musicians. It tells you so much! Find the breathing in compositions. Breaks are comparable to breath holds.
And are you aware how film music is designed to make us hold our breath at times? Control your breath while watching a scary movie and find out if it is still that scary. Or watch it without the sound and observe your breathing.
Breath is relevant in any aspect of music. We make music with our breath, and music plays with our breath.
Connect with Deanna Swoboda:
Ok, music lovers, here we go:
Ruth Phillips uses breath as a cellist for many different reasons. And we can all learn from her for life.
Barbara Tanze is an opera singer and incredible breathworker!
Get your diaphragm working with Nicola Moses and if you face serious physical issues Robin de Haas can help.
And one other person in a teaching position changing the tone in the classroom is Denise Cady Arbeau.
Lip slurs for tuba by Deanna Swoboda
Now, what on earth are lip slurs? It has to do with playing a brass instrument. It is changing notes without changing the fingering. You say “eee” to get from c to g and “ahh” to get from g back down to c. And it happens with tongue position and wind speed.
To the majority of us, those books might not have any relevance. However, if you are like me and haven’t heard about lip slurs before, it is a clear sign that the interview with Deanna is very relevant to you!
To be empowered means to be knowledgeable and willing to learn. We never know what is relevant until we discover it! If we stay ignorant, we are victims.
To get a basic understanding of how breathing matters in making music, let’s listen to what Deanna can tell us about it.
I challenge you to listen to a piece from Deanna Swoboda. Can you identify lip slurs? Can you hear the tuba in Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso? And hear the sounds in short successions in Concert Piece for Tuba and Piano. And imagine, for each of those sounds our exhale needed to travel 16 feet, just under five metres through the tuba!
