Hi
I've just started playing the trumpet-well a few months ago, and I have a problem with my breathing. When I get to the end of a phrase I want to breathe out rather than in!
I play bassoon, clarinet and sax and do not have the same problem with them.
Please help- I've always wanted to play a brass instrument and am not going to admit defeat.
I did have a teacher for a while, but he was unable to help with this problem.
I'm trying to find a new teacher.

Could you manage 2 phrases to one breath at all?

maybe you could try putting more air through the notes, this way you will use more air up and hopefully help! I know its no consolation, but I wish i had your problem! some of the phrases i have to play make me wish i could have double the lung space xxx

I don't have any experience with this specific problem, but I think it might be just a bad habit that needs to be broken. Maybe you can try playing slowly through a phrase and at the end of it consciously force yourself to breath in and not out. This will of course affect your timing, but you can fix that when you don't have to force yourself anymore to do it right. Hope that is of any help, good luck!

Disclaimer: I'm not a brass player... but just a thought - this reminds me of several threads I have read about people learning the oboe. Because the oboe requires a tiny volume of air but with masses of support and air volume behind it; the player has to breathe in a lot but only uses a tiny proportion of that breath to actually make the sound. At the end of phrases they HAVE to breathe out to get rid of stale air before they take another breath, or they risk fainting or dizziness from lack of oxygen. I wouldn't imagine it's as great an issue on the trumpet as on oboe, as you're not blowing into such a tiny space as with playing the oboe, but it might cause similar issues...?

It may be that from playing your other instruments you have a really good lung capacity and playing the trumpet is not ridding you of all the air in your lungs by the end of a phrase. (It's been posted on here that flute uses more air than the tuba due to wastage: though I think sax/clarinet/bassoon probably waste less air, maybe they need more than the trumpet does so your lung capacity is good? I'm guessing here!)

Forcing your body to breathe in when it's telling you it wants to breathe out doesn't sound very healthy maybe that's just me. If you can find out how much air trumpet requires relative to the instruments you already play you might find that's the problem? Or maybe part of it? It seems worth investigating.

& at the risk of sounding totally dumb - have you tried playing longer phrases?? Though I guess you may end up not having enough air in your lungs to support the sound, I don't know...

Sorry, this is coming from a non-brassist's perspective, but can't help thinking it'd be worth looking into. If you know any woodwind/brass doublers you could see if they have experienced similar problems, or ask around oboists and see if their experience rings any bells for you. I may be talking complete tosh, so don't act on this unless by research you find that it is what's going on, but it does sound a lot like the experience oboists have from the descriptions I have read. You may discover it's something else entirely, of course! A good teacher and maybe one who has experience of teaching doublers would be a massive help to you.

Good for you for sticking with it - I really hope you find a solution.

I tried playing longer phrases last night - it's easy to overlook the obvious ideas when you hit a problem- and it does help to some extent.
Thaks for the help so far, it's great to be able to chat to you wish I'd discovered the forums before now.

I also reply as a total novice about brass playing. Singers and recorders (these I do know about) have to gauge their breathing so that they take in enough air for the phrase, but not too much so that they will need to exhale before taking in a fresh supply! This is why it is so important to practise pieces well so that you know how much is wanted for each phrase and that you work out exactly where to take breaths.

I learnt trumpet as a teenager and remember having exactly the same problem. The solution given by my teacher was "take smaller breaths". It worked.

You soon get used to judging how much you need and when you practise a piece you work out at what points you need just a small breath and when to take a real lung full.

There is sometimes a feeling that you need a big breath to support the tone. Try thinking about using the diaphram and stomach muscles.

Best of luck

Thanks earplugs, so nice to know someone else has had this problem, will try smaller breaths tomorrow.