I have decided to learn the sax and I am starting lessons next week. My problem is that at times I have really bad asthma and find it difficult to play because of shortness of breath. If any of you saxohonists out there have asthma, how much does it affect your playing and will breath control improve with time? Or should I give up before I start? Asthma has never affected me when I play the flute and as my asthma doctor has suggested me playing a woodwind instrument maybe I should just stick to the flute.

Thanks for any advice!

Hi Noodle

I don't play the Sax but, in general, my view as a woodwind player/teacher is that any instrument from the family actually helps asthmatics provided (and this is important) that you are taught to breath properly, from the diaphragm in a controlled manner.

Quite a lot of interesting work is coming out of Russia right now helping asthmatics to improve their quality of life by improving their breathing. A past piano student of mine went on their training programme and seemed to improve by being taught to breath, much as I would teach an oboist.

Provided your doctor cannot foresee any problems in you playing the Sax, I'd say go for it.

Best of luck
Oboist

Ok, one fo your problems will be that you will take bigger breaths than you need to. For the flute, you use a lot more air than the sax, so when playing the sax, take smaller breaths and the resistance won't be as high.

Persevere, as sax is a great instrument. I am asthmatic, and I find playing flute clarinet and sax helps my asthma loads. When I'm too busy at work to do much practice, my asthma gets worse as I'm not exercising my lungs like I do when I'm in practice.

Make sure you play on a thin reed until you get used to the pressure of it, as a harder reed will make you more out of breath until you get used to controlling the air

I have heardd that the instruments that require a lot of air can actually help asthmatics.

Thanks Oboist and Kflute for your positive replies. The asthma doctor is encouraging me to play any woodwind instrument as he thinks it will improve asthma in the long term. As I find the flute considerably easier I thought that maybe the sax was simply too much for me!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Apparently the flute requires the most air out of any instrument, due to the fact that not all of the air actually goes into the instrument, so if you can play the flute you should have no trouble with air being a problem with the sax.

try with a 1.5 or 2 reed first. The softer the easier it is. It won't be a great sound, but you can move up when that becomes easy to play on that size. it really will help your asthma in the long run

Thanks Kayla, I vaguely remember reading something about that recently, but thought I'd misunderstood the article.




Thanks. There was a box of 1.5 reeds and two 2 reeds with the sax when I got it.

You didn't misunderstand it unless I misunderstood what I was told as well. But two people misunderstanding it, I doubt it. Apparently the flute even requires more air than the tuba.

That's exactly what it said and at the time I thought 'yeah, sure it does'!

I lived with a tuba player whilst studying at music college and she was the one to tell me that fact. If a tuba player owned up to using less air than a flute, then it's got to be true!!!!!

Well, it kinda makes sense. When you think about it, all of the air is going into the mouthpiece of the tuba whereas when you are blowing across the mouthpiece of the flute not all of the air is going in.

My friend plays tuba and flute and she says that flute is way more harder on the breathing.

PLaying woodwind does halp astma - I dont know how, but mt old clari teacher keptgoing on about it, as I think she & I both had astma!!

I can't get near the flute! how you sustain a note for any length of time i really don't know!.. seems the air's gone in seconds.
On oboe apparently you're meant to aim to be able to suport a note for 60 seconds without breathing... and even then you usually have air remaining in you lungs, its just stale and needs replacing! ( i can't quite manage this... generally give up at about 49seconds. )

on topic.. i have asthma, and play the tenor sax, and have to agree with the others.. it really is beneficial!
Part of the problem asthmatics have is that when they have an attack they automatically start to breath faster and more shallowly, using only a tiny percentage of their lung capacity. By learning to breathe from the diaphraghm and to control the breath (as is necessary when playing a woodwind instrument), you automatically start to retrain your body to breathe much more evenly and deeply, even when you are short of breath or your airways are restricted.

s xx

They taught us that asthmatics get short of breath because when the airways get tight, it is breathing OUT which is hardest - so you don't get rid of stale air easily, and that is what makes you feel uncomfortable. Hence training your diaphragm helps you - and yes, having worked on an asthma ward, I can confirm that the docs in the know do suggest learning a wind instrument can be helpful.

Anyone for bagpipes?

I thought that was panic attacks? Asthma's, lke anacrusis says, getting the air out, coz I remember having my mum help me push it out when I was very little

Yeah, you do hyperventilate with panic attacks also.
However, in asthma people have a tendency to start breathing faster and more shallowly when having an attack, as the narrowing of airways caused by the irritation and increased volumes of mucus produced makes it harder to either intake or expel air... ergo, it's harder to take a deep breath, and people tend to breathe shallowly, at the very top of their lungs.
s xx

hi
i play the clarinet and bass clarinet and have very bad asthma. i had an audition recently, and had just sufferedd an really serious attack the night before. i was prescribed to steroids and doubled my inhaler dose. it was impossible to play, my chest was really tight

Downer. Did you find out how you did in your audition? What was it for?

it was for this orchestra which every school in the area i live in auditioned for. i got through though, amazingly!!

Well done! You'll give them an even bigger impression when you can play properly and at your best

Thanks!

I don't play the saxophone but I do play the clarinet and my asthma has never really affected my playing. Conversely (I think), my playing has affected my asthma, in that it's never as bad as it used to be.

Oh, and don't smoke

Hi there

Given proper teaching, playing a woodwind/brass instrument should improve ashthma. When my woodwind/brass teacher was young, he suffered terrible asthma. His father, a doctor, suggested he play an instrument, which not only "cured" his asthma, but introduced him to the wonderful world of music. A happily-ever-after story

Noodle,

Both myself and my daughter have asthma. There is absolutly NO reason why you shouldn't take up the Sax; in fact I would say the flute requires far more airflow than the sax anyway. If you breath properly (Diaphramatically) you will have no trouble at all. There is a argument for encouraging asthmatics to play wind instruments and take up sport to increase lung capacity and build the diaphram.

Having said all that please accept that there maybe occations when you cant play your instrument because you cant breath properly if this happens take it in your stride and do extra practice, make up for a missed lesson at a time when you can breath!!!!

Go on pick up the Sax and have a blow....

It's true - you "waste" more air on the flute, that's why. With single and double reed instruments you use less, but it's a different type of breathing, and also if you're used to blowing masses of air to play the flute, trying to shove all that air into the tiny space available in your sax's mouthpiece will probably make you feel very ill... so it's learning to breathe and use the air differently for sax.

I should think it will help immensely with asthma... friend of mine had extremely bad asthma and went on to study bassoon at the RAM, so it can be done

I was born with a Hole in the Heart and had it until the age of 16. That meant I played the saxophone for 7 years with a hole in the heart. When I was first accepted to study the saxophone my parents wondered how I would cope with it, I apparently had trouble with breathing due to it, but I managed it.