I have a habit, developed subconsciously, of holding my breath when really concentrating hard whilst playing. Sometimes for as much as a whole page of music. I believe it helps. However, a music group friend who knows about things medical, tells me that I must get out of the habit for the reason that it slows down and limits the supply of blood/energy to the fingertips, which will then not work so well. Do any others do the same? Pros & cons please.

I know that some sports people in stressful situations do the same - Ayrton Senna was a prime example, holding his breath from the start of the race until part way round the first lap.

You could actually help your playing by breathing properly - woodwind and brass players have to do so in any case, but I've heard keyboard and strings teachers telling their pupils to breathe correctly for their playing too - it helps to shape the music, just as it helps us to shape our speech properly...

And I would also advise against holding your breath - depleted oxygen and building up carbon dioxide will neither of them do your music any good - yes, it will affect the blood flow to your fingers negatively, but also to your brain...that could possibly have given you the perception that breath-holding helps, but I really can't see how it would be of use, and can see several reasons why it would be a negative thing to do.

I happen to know that the previous poster is a doctor, so take serious note of what she said.

I have met pianists who made a study of how breathing properly helps piano playing.

I am not one of these, but I can offer this from my experience of their experience: don't hold your breath whilst playing the piano, OK? It turns out not to be a good idea.

How interesting - someone who's aware they do this! I have several younger pupils who do it without realizing, and I usually joke with them and tell them to breathe as I wouldn't know what to do if they conked out on me I shall follow this thread carefully to see if there's an answer as why people do it.....

I have noticed that I hold my breath sometimes when concentrating on a hard bit.

But I'm certainly not doing it on purpose and do try not to as I woulnd't think it would help.

I've only realised I do it recently but probably been doing it for ages and been having to concertate so hard I couolnd't even tell. Maybe the fact I notice now means my plying's becoming a bit more natural so I can be aware of other things at the same time.

Yes - I know if I have a comma or tram lines in the music for a break, I always breathe as if to start the next phrase - it just seems to give exactly the right amount of time
(I'm a pianist)

I sometimes write breath marks in pupils' copies in exactly the same way I do for my choir music.

The conductor of my regular orchestra, who plays oboe and cor anglais very well, tells our strings to breathe with the phrase they are playing. I certainly need to keep well oxygenated when playing the bass, which is my current most energetic activity.

I only really noticed I do this when I started playing the oboe. Obviously trying to play the oboe when you are holding your breath is a major problem .

One day (in desperation I think) my teacher told me to imagine the oboe was a piano and to breath naturally the way I do when I play the piano. It didn't make any difference in the lesson and when I got home I started trying to be aware of my breathing when playing the piano and realised that I hold my breath when playing that as well. I then started to look at my breathing patterns in life in general and realised that I hold my breath whenever I am concentrating on something (I am holding my breath as I type this). Once I realised this I started to try and train myself out of the habit by regularly checking to see that I am breathing when I am doing something which requires concentration. I haven't stopped holding my breath altogether but I can now (most of the time) realise when I'm starting to hold my breath and do something about it. Why it should be linked to concentration I have no idea.

For me there is also a second type of breath holding which is linked to nerves and this is much harder to do anything about. When I try to breath when I'm nervous it feels as though there is a bar across my chest which stops the air going into the lungs and even when I make a conscious effort to breath I only seem to be able to take a tiny bit of air in. I have been trying various throat opening exercices for this with some success but I don't think this is the sort of breath-holding you are talking about so I won't go into any more detail.

As an aside, I'm president of the youth tennis federation.

One major (but common, even for advanced players) problem is holding your breath while actually hitting the shot - your body tenses and the swing loses the natural fluidity. You also become slightly short of oxygen and then have to breathe deeper so eveything is uneven.

Top-trained children are taught to exhale sharply as they hit the shot, to really exagerate it.

I do the same with some of my piano kids - MAKE them breathe out. Otherwise, their shoulders inch up, the arms tense up and it all goes south.

Watch a string quartet or a wind quartet playing - or any small ensemble without a conductor. Someone has to bring in a sense of the pulse - sure, a violinist might do that with a bow, but many skilled musicians don't have anything more than a single breath to communicate that - and the same can be done at the piano - it's a useful tip for starting a piece off, but also works well when bringing in a new idea in the music. Similarly, breathing out as a phrase progresses gives a sense of the movement of the music - if you let it happen, then you will breathe with a slightly faster airflow when the music speeds up a little, and slow up when the music does - which helps to keep rubato in reasonable bounds .

I do that as well - sometimes get to the end of the page and I'm almost blue!

One of the best pieces of advise about performance came from katyjay - sit at the pinano, get youself comfortable and once you're ready to start take make the audience wait a bit longer whilst you take three deep slow breaths. It does help with the nerves.

Many thanks for all the replies and advice. It seems that there are many others who do the same, probably subconsciously, like me. I certainly hadn't realised that it would cause a shortage of oxygen to the brain which I'm sure could not aid concentration. Kerrioboe's comment about nerves also strikes a chord. I only realised after completing my grade 7 sight reading piece last month that I had held my breath from start to finish! I will now make a serious effort to rid myself of the habit and breathe normally, using the advice you have given. Thanks.

Yep - as an accompanist, I always take a breath just as the soloist is about to come in - it's a useful cue for them

I've been taught to do the same when starting off a piece as a continuo player.

On the original question - I do exactly what oldnotes does in certain places in certain pieces. Quite apart from the excellent medical explanation about oxygen supply, I definitely think holding breath like this is a habit with bad effects, which I'm trying to get rid of. In line with Alexander thinking (but I think this makes sense even if you've never come across Alexander technique or it doesn't do anything for you), I find holding the breath makes everything else that's going on in me - neck muscles, shoulder muscles, wrist locked vs free, mental and emotional attitude - also held.

It's strange but I think the instinct to hold my breath comes from a useful and good motivation - concentration and a wish not to disturb a perfect atmosphere built up in the music. (For me it's a particular problem in very sustained, dream-like passages with difficult legato). But the effect (for me) is fear, because the music is only being sustained by force - a kind of feeling of "I'm holding on with my fingernails, and if I let go I'll ruin it". Inevitably I end up losing the hold!

I'm having to take the pieces that make me hold my breath right back to basics, and do a lot of practice dedicated just to watching what I'm doing with my breath, to break the habit.

I found out that it's not a good idea to try to work out whether you are doing this when playing in front of people. Led to some rather wobbly moments in the middle of a hymn....