How Does A Flute Player Adapt His Breathing And Playing To Musical Tasks?

This study was triggered by the flute players' and teacher's claim that a high quality of playing cannot be reached without a precise control of the breathing, starting during preparatory phases. Among all the controls developed by the musician, the work focuses on the interactions between respiratory activity and hydrodynamical parameters during flute music performance. In order to study these interactions, the following parameters are measured during the playing of a flautist: muscle activation, chest-wall compartment displacement and volume, blowing pressure in the mouth, lip position, and radiated sound. All these measurements are taken simultaneously, using a combined set-up developed to acquire both respiratory and hydrodynamical data. Three musical excerpts with different complexities (one scale and two pieces of the flute repertory) are analyzed. The results show that in preparation to a long musical phrase, the player takes a deeper and longer inhalation than for a standard phrase and, that he needs to develop a specific control of flow for playing. This control of flow requires the flautist, as opposed to normal breathing conditions at rest, to coordinate the respiratory muscles while expiring. This control, in correlation with the lip geometry, allows the player to produce musical variations such as "dynamics". Additionally, the respiratory analyses show that the flautist develops three different patterns of chest volume variations, one for each of the three musical tasks. Finally, a simple, qualitative model is presented in order to link respiratory and aerodynamic parameters to muscular activity, mouth pressure and chest volume during flute playing.