MENC: The National Association for Music Education

The Effects of Breath Management Instruction on the Performance of Elementary Brass

Players
Author(s): Karin Harfst Sehmann
Source: Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Summer, 2000), pp. 136-150
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for Music Education
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 136 JRME2000,VOLUME48, NUMBER2, PAGES136-150
Thepresent study is an investigation of the effectsof breathmanagementinstruction
on the performanceof elementarybrass players. The experimentalgroup (N = 32)
receivedinstruction on the use of air during brassperformance.The controlgroup
(N = 29) continued with instruction from their method books. Three measuresfor
breathing (thoracic displacement,abdominal displacement,and lung capacity) and
for performance (range, duration, and tone quality) were the dependent variables.
The data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance.
Independent variables included group (experimentaland control),instrument (trum-
pet, horn, and trombone),and grade level (fourth,fifth, and sixth). Main effectsfor
group showed that the experimentalgroup had significantly higherscoreson measures
of abdominal displacement,range, and duration (p < .05). Therewereno treatment-
by-instrument or treatment-by-grade-levelinteractions. Breathing instruction in
group lessons was effectivein improvingthe breathingand performanceof elementary
brassplayers.

Karin Harfst Sehmann, Eastern Kentucky University

The Effects of Breath

Instruction
Management
on the Performance of

ElementaryBrass Players
Instrumental music in the United States has become a basic part
of the music curriculum in most schools. The importance of this
early instruction to the total school instrumental music program has
been noted by the Music Educators National Conference (now
MENC-The National Association for Music Education) in The School
Music Program: Description and Standards (MENC, 1986). Recommen-
dations in this document include beginning wind instruction no later
than Grade 5.
Given the importance of this instruction, little is found in the
research literature concerning effective teaching techniques for

Karin Harfst Sehmann is an associate professor of music in the Department of

Music, Eastern Kentucky University, Foster 101, Richmond, KY 40475; e-mail:
musksehm@acs.eku.edu. Copyright @ 2000 by MENC--The National Association for
Music Education.

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 JRME 137

beginning instrumentalists. Areas that have been investigated

include strategies for rehearsals (Caimi, 1981; Price, 1983; Witt, 1986;
Yarbrough & Price, 1981) and curriculum for instrumental lessons
(Kendall, 1988). Several authors have commented about the lack of
research concerning the psychomotor process of learning to play an
instrument (O'Donnell, 1987; Rainbow, 1973).
Experts in wind playing, especially brass teachers, stress the impor-
tance of psychomotor skills. Johnson, in his 1981 book The Art of
TrumpetPlaying, states that "highly developed motor skills are critical
in implementing fine musical performance" (p. 6). The well-known
trombonist Denis Wick (1971) writes, "Playing any brass instrument
for an extended period at a high standard is very much an athletic
pursuit. It demands prolonged concentration, precise coordination"
(p. 25). Of the motor skills involved, the respiration process often is
mentioned as the most important physical aspect of brass playing
(Farkas, 1956; Johnson, 1981; Wick, 1971). Kleinhammer (1963)
states that "breath control is directly related to everything the trom-
bonist plays" (p. 15). Kohut (1985), in his book Musical Performance:
Learning Theory and Pedagogy, discusses all aspects of musical perfor-
mance. He stresses the importance of breathing for the musician,
writing that "breath directly affects intonation, articulation and dic-
tion, vibrato, dynamic level and intensity of the tone as well as phras-
ing, accents, and other aspects of musical expression" (p. 163).
Arnold Jacobs, long-time tubist with the Chicago Symphony, became
known for his work with musicians on the topic of respiration (Bobo,
1981a, 1981b; Jacobs, 1991: Kelly, 1983; Russo, 1973; Stewart, 1987).
He taught the same mode of abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing
that has been described by the previously mentioned writers on brass
pedagogy (Kohut, 1985), stressing that the rib cage can be expanded
simultaneously with the abdomen. Jacobs instructed the instrumen-
tal teacher to "start mechanical movements without the instrument
so the student experiences change in the abdominal/diaphragmatic
relationship" (Kelly, 1983, p. 11).
Kohut (1985), in his writing on instrumental pedagogy, notes the
lack of concise, accurate writing about musical performance. He
stresses that perceptual-motor learning is a large part of musical per-
formance, but that it is neglected as a research topic and in peda-
gogical sources. He gives a thorough explanation of the breathing
process for musicians and cites relevant research. Medical authori-
ties, specialists in respiration, acousticians, and master teachers have
studied the breathing process. The research and knowledge from
these sources have not been synthesized into a systematic methodol-
ogy for teaching brass players.

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138 SEHMANN

Taylor (1968/1969) is perhaps the first to have surveyed the 20th-

century scientific and pedagogical sources on breathing as related to
wind playing. Taylor reported the most common type of respiration
used by most teachers and players of brass instruments to be abdom-
inal/diaphragmatic breathing. Later scientific findings and expert
opinions support this survey.
Medical researchers have conducted studies on the breathing
process as to efficiency and functioning. Vellody, Nassery, Druz, and
Sharp (1978) studied the functions of the chest and abdominal
regions in breathing, finding that both areas of the torso contribute
to the possible capacity of the lungs. Such scientific knowledge has
provided a basis for an understanding of the breathing process as it
relates to musical performance. Druz and Sharp (1981) studied the
effect of body position on lung capacity and noted that an upright,
standing posture allowed the greatest amount of air to be inspired
into the lungs. Watson and Hixon (1985) found that active breathing
of the type used by singers and wind players involves different action
and uses different muscles than passive breathing.
Advances in technology for measuring respiration (Bouhuys, 1964;
Cugell, 1986; Konno & Mead, 1967) have made the study of breath-
ing more objective and quantifiable. The instrumentation used by
Cugell (1986) in a study of brass players (respiratory inductive
plethysmography, or RIP) was similar to that used in the present
study to measure movement of the chest and abdomen during brass
playing. This method (RIP) was originally developed for medical per-
sonnel, but has been used for studying respiratory activity in musi-
cians (Cugell, 1986; Fuks & Sundberg, 1999; Phillips & Sehmann,
1990; Phillips & Vispoel, 1990). The RIP equipment consists of one
elastic band placed to measure chest expansion and one to measure
abdominal expansion during respiration. All researchers found that
wind players and singers use a combination of abdominal and tho-
racic lung expansion to perform.
In several studies, investigators have measured respiratory func-
tion in wind instrumentalists (Berger, 1965; Bouhuys, 1964; Cugell,
1986; Huttlin, 1982; Smith, Kreisman, Colacone, Fox, & Wolkove,
1990; Van Middlesworth, 1978). Results from several of these studies
indicate that brass players have larger lung capacities than the aver-
age nonplayer; only Van Middlesworth reported no significant dif-
ference between the lung capacities of wind players and nonwind
players. Staples (1988) investigated the effects of different conditions
placed on brass players during inspiration and found that restricting
the chest and shoulders decreased measured lung capacity. Dennis
(1987/1988) researched the use of instruction in the Alexander tech-

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 JRME 139

nique with brass players, noting that a short amount of instruction

did not alter musical performance or respiratory function, but was
highly regarded by the participants of the study. Smith et al. (1990)
found that trained musicians had a much higher level of control over
breathing than the average population. A study by Phillips and
Sehmann (1990), which served as a pilot study for the present
research, was an investigation of the effects of breath management
instruction on college-level brass players. These investigators found
that instruction in breath management significantly improved
breathing mode and some measures of musical performance for
those subjects receiving the experimental treatment (breath man-
agement instruction). All of the studies cited used adults as subjects.
The mode of breathing used in the present study was based on the
one recommended by most leading authorities on brass playing and
breathing physiology (Brown & Thomas, 1990; Jacobs, 1991; Kelly,
1983; Kohut, 1985; Sataloff, Spiegel, & Hawkshaw, 1990; Taylor,
1968/1969), which emphasizes abdominal/diaphragmatic breath-
ing. The technique is characterized by a lowered diaphragm, lateral-
ly extended lower ribs, and an expansion of the abdominal wall dur-
ing inhalation. Proper breathing motion allows for more air to be
inspired than is required for normal respiration.
Many authors have commented on the need for correct breathing
(Farkas, 1956; Jacobs, 1991; Johnson, 1981; Kleinhammer, 1963;
Kohut, 1985; O'Donnell, 1987; Wick, 1971), but few have proposed
methods to teach breathing. Rainbow (1973) notes the shortage of
research on the physical aspects of instrumental performance, stat-
ing that "one of the most urgent needs in instrumental music educa-
tion is the development of a theory of instruction based on fact and
not speculation" (p. 9).
A review of older method books intended for elementary-age brass
students reveals that most traditional methods include little discus-
sion about breathing (Erickson, 1988; Feldstein & O'Reilly, 1988;
Froseth, 1984; Pearson, 1982; Swearingen & Buehlman, 1984). The
writers of these books may assume that instrumental music teachers
cover the psychomotor aspects of playing, or the absence of this
information may reveal a lack of understanding as to the importance
of breathing for young brass players. Even the more recently pub-
lished methods, such as Essential Elements (Rhodes, Biershank, &
Lautzenhauser, 1993), Standard of Excellence (Pearson, 1993), and
Accent on Achievement (O'Reilly &8Williams, 1997), include little about
breathing in the student books. In a descriptive study of beginning
brass pedagogy, O'Donnell (1987) also notes a lack of psychomotor
instruction for elementary brass players.

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140 SEHMANN

Teaching students to breath properly for instrumental playing may

be the most important part of the teaching sequence. The ability to
perform articulations, dynamics, phrasing, and most other "musical"
aspects of wind playing are contingent upon correct breath manage-
ment. Kohut (1985) stated that "correct breathing, therefore, is an
essential requisite to good performance, since it affects practically
every aspect of tone production and musical expression" (p. 163).
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of breath
management instruction on the breathing technique and musical
performance of elementary level brass players in Grades 4, 5, and 6.
Specifically, the investigator sought to determine if instruction in
breath management would effect a significant change in the physical
breathing mode and lung capacity of brass players and would signif-
icantly improve the following performance measures: tone quality,
range, and duration. To this end, an instructional manual was devel-
oped to present a logical, sequential method of instruction in breath-
ing.

METHOD

Subjects
The subjects in this study were all of the 64 brass students repre-
senting five elementary schools within a moderate-sizeIllinois school
district. Prior to the beginning of the study, the researcher set a min-
imum attendance level of eight lessons during the 10-week instruc-
tional sequence. Three students did not complete the study:one did
not meet the minimum attendance requirement, one student moved
out of the district, and one student dropped out of the instrumental
program. Therefore, 61 students completed all the requirements of
the study.
Subjects were grouped by instrument class for lessons, and these
same groups were used in the study so as not to disrupt the school
schedule and possibly bias the results (since students might have real-
ized they were in an experimental research setting). The instrumen-
tal lesson groups were randomly assigned to experimental (breath
management instruction) and control groups. The lesson groups
were matched for group size prior to assignment to treatment or con-
trol; that is, groups of five students per lesson were assigned equally
to treatment or control, groups of four students per lesson were
assigned equally to treatment or control, and so forth. The 61 sub-
jects that completed the study included 34 trumpet students, 6 horn
students, and 21 trombone/baritone students; tuba students were
not a part of the study due to the lack of tuba players in these grades

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 JRME 141

and the small number of tubists in elementary schools in general.

The subjects received 30-minute group lessons once each week in
the semester preceding this research project. The group structure
remained the same for the duration of the second semester, the peri-
od of this study. Lesson groups were assigned to either the experi-
mental or the control group. There were a total of 24 lesson groups
involved in the study. All subjects were taught by the same instru-
mental instructor that they had had prior to the beginning of the
study. The experimental group received 5, 6, or 7 minutes of instruc-
tion, depending on the length of treatment in breath management
during each group lesson, whereas the control group continued
group lessons in the same format as had been used the previous
semester. The total amount of treatment time within lessons for the
experimental group was 65 minutes.

Duration of the Study

The duration of this study was 16 weeks. During the first week, all
preliminary dependent measures were taken. There followed 5 weeks
of breath management instruction in weekly group lessons. This
treatment period was followed by 4 weeks during which the subjects
prepared for a solo and ensemble contest. No treatment was given
during this 4-week period. During the final 6 weeks, treatment
resumed for 5 weeks, and the final week of the study was given to
posttesting.

Instructional Procedures

The psychomotor instructional sequence, as devised by the inves-

tigator, was a combination of psychological and physiological
approaches for achieving the optimum breathing mode for brass
playing. Specifically, the psychomotor instruction included parts of a
sequence used with college-level brass players (Phillips & Sehmann,
1990), practice with breathing tubes (Staples, 1988), instructional
aids used with schoolchildren in a previous study on breathing
(Phillips, 1983), recommended exercises for improving breathing
(Zi, 1986), and researcher-devised instruction suggested by scientific
respiration research.
Since the material from the investigator-devised instructional man-
ual was taught by the regular instrumental teachers, the investigator
conducted two 1-hour training sessions with the two instrumental
teachers. These training sessions were designed to make the instruc-
tion from the manual as identical as possible, since there were two
different teachers involved in teaching the treatment groups

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142 SEHMANN

involved in the study. The investigator explained the goals and theo-
ries behind the development of the manual, the physical characteris-
tics of proper breathing and posture, and the procedures to be fol-
lowed for record keeping. The teachers were given demonstrations
and tried specific exercises and activities for each lesson.
The first portion of the instructional sequence included postural
exercises to reduce muscle tension. The next part of the instruction
was the establishment of the technique of abdominal/diaphragmat-
ic breathing, the type of breathing recommended by almost all brass
experts (Taylor, 1968/1969). The students' instruments were not
used in the first exercises.
The second set of breathing exercises were designed to improve
the exhalation portion of the breathing process, which determines
the actual tone production on brass instruments. These exercises
were intended to improve the action of the muscles involved in
breath management. Activities such as deflating the abdominal area
with the hands, exhaling in varied counting patterns, and exhaling
while tonguing imaginary quarter notes ("toh, toh, toh," etc.) were
part of these lessons. The instruction manual included instructions
that the chest should remain expanded as much as possible and
should not be restricted in any way for maximum volume of air
(Staples, 1988). The application of breath management instruction
to the subjects' instrumental playing occurred during the second 5-
week period of lessons. Students performed long tones throughout
their ranges while the instructors checked for application of abdom-
inal/diaphragmatic breathing to tone production. Another exercise
consisted of tongued patterns designed to ensure that the breath
management remained the same in all styles of playing.
The sequence of treatment exercises were presented to all of the
lesson groups in the experimental group. Depending on the lesson,
5, 6, or 7 minutes were spent on this instruction during the regular
30-minute lesson; the remainder of the lesson was spent playing out
of the method book or working on solo and ensemble pieces. The
control group played only out of the method book or worked on solo
and ensemble literature.

Data Collection

Pretests and posttests of the three dependent measures of breath-

ing (thoracic displacement, abdominal displacement, and lung
capacity), as well as the three dependent measures of performance
(tone quality, range, and duration) were obtained for each subject.
All of the measures were taken individually during separate sessions
by the investigator and an assistant during the 1-week pretest and

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 JRME 143

posttest periods.
The measures of thoracic and abdominal displacement were
obtained using respiratory inductive plethysmography. This method
was originally developed for monitoring medical patients, but has
been used for studying respiratory activity in singers and wind players
(Cugell, 1986; Fuks & Sundberg, 1999; Phillips & Sehmann, 1990;
Phillips & Vispoel, 1990). The instrument used was a Respitrace unit
(Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc., Ardsley, NY). This breath measure-
ment device consists of two gauze-like Respibands placed around the
subject's torso, one at upper chest level and one at the abdominal
level. The Respibands contain sensors that, when connected to a pen
chart writer (called a "penwriter"), are able to transmit the amount of
torso displacement at these two levels. Measures of displacement were
produced by the penwriter tracings and were measured in millime-
ters. These measurements were made during the performance of long
tones. A statistical analysis of the sum of the measurements for the
three trials was done for both thoracic and abdominal displacements.
Lung capacity was measured before and after the treatment peri-
od with a Respiradyne pulmonary function monitor. The investigator
recorded the lung capacity, called "vital capacity" in the medical
world, in liters on three separate trials. Statistical analysis was done
on the total of the three trials. Three trials have been used in previ-
ous studies (Bencowitz, 1984; Huttlin, 1982; Phillips, 1983; Staples,
1988) and have been accepted as reliable. Lung capacity was includ-
ed in the study to determine if taking a "deeper" breath (abdomi-
nal/diaphragmatic mode) increased subjects' lung capacity. A signif-
icant increase in capacity was not expected.
Tone quality was assessed using an 6tude from a beginning level
band book, Best in Class (Pearson, 1982). The subjects' performances
were recorded and later scored by judges experienced in working
with beginning brass students. Prior to listening to the taped exam-
ples, the judges attended a training session and practiced using the
rating scale on sample etudes. Four items from a multiple item 5-
point rating scale (Abeles, 1973) for clarinet performance were used.
The range test consisted of subjects playing scales from music pro-
vided by the investigator. The investigator recorded the highest and
lowest pitches played by each subject on three trials. The number of
half-steps between the highest and lowest pitches was calculated, and
the total number of half-steps for the three trials was the score for the
range measure.
The measure of duration determined how long each subject could
sustain a pitch. The same concert pitch (the concert B-flat nearest
middle C) was played in the same register by each instrument (on the

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144 SEHMANN

staff, these appeared for the trumpet, as middle C; for the horn, as
the F above middle C; and for the trombone, as the B-flatjust below
middle C). Research shows that equivalent concert pitches produce
the same airflow rate on all brass instruments (Cugell, 1986;
Bouhuys, 1964). To ensure similar playing levels, the subjects first
practiced the pitch while looking at a decibel meter (100 dB at one
meter). When the reading on the decibel meter dipped to the line
below the set level, the subject was instructed to stop playing. This
procedure was repeated three times.

RESULTS

Reliability estimates for thoracic displacement, abdominal dis-

placement, vital capacity, range, and duration range from 0.85 to
0.99. The interjudge reliability estimate (coefficient alpha) for
judges' scores of the tone quality ratings was 0.92.
A two-by-three-by-three factorial design was used in the study. The
three independent variables were Group (experimental and con-
trol), Instrument (trumpet, horn, and trombone), and Grade
(fourth, fifth, and sixth grade). The data were analyzed using multi-
variate and univariate analyses of covariance on the SAS computer
program (SAS, 1989). The results are shown in Table 1. The results
for main effects showed that the experimental group had signifi-
candy higher scores than the control group (p < 0.05) on breathing
and performance measures. Among the breathing measures, signifi-
cant differences were found for abdominal displacement, but not for
lung capacity and thoracic displacement. These results were expect-
ed, since the instruction stressed increased abdominal expansion
and did not work toward increased thoracic expansion. Among the
performance measures, significant differences were observed for
range and duration, but not for tone quality.
There were no significant grade level main effects for either the
breathing or performance measures according to a MANCOVA
analysis. However, there were significant effects for instrument classi-
fication. In both duration and tone quality, differences were noted.
The horns had significantly higher duration scores than either the
trombones or trumpets. Tone quality scores were significantly lower
for trombones when compared with horns, but only marginally lower
when compared with trumpets.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study show that breath management instruction

is effective in improving both breathing and performance aspects of

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 JRME 145

Table 1
MANCOVAand ANCOVAResultsfor Breathingand PerformanceMeasures

Measure Treatment (T) Instrument (I) Grade (G) T xI TxG

MULTIVARIATE
F= 6.35** F= 0.44 F= 1.90* F= 0.73 F= 0.98
(6, 40) (12, 80) (12, 80) (12, 80) (12, 80)

UNIVARIATE

Thoracic displacement
F= 0.03 F= 0.01 F= 0.19 F= 0.48 F= 0.09
(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

Abdominal displacement
F= 8.83** F= 0.20 F= 1.82 F= 0.35 F= 0.24
(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

Vital capacity
F= 2.72 F= 1.15 F= 0.28 F= 0.67 F= 2.22
(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

Range
F= 12.51** F= 0.11 F= 1.92 F= 0.57 F= 0.55
(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

Duration F= 21.63** F= 6.30* F= 0.33 F= 0.60 F= 1.19

(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

Tone quality
F= 1.45 F= 3.59* F= 0.13 F= 0.65 F= 1.14
(1, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50) (2, 50)

* p < .05; ** p< .01.

Note.Multivariatetests were run using the GLM procedure from SAS (1989). Pretest
scores on all six dependent variablesserved as covariatesin the MANCOVAanalysis.A
single covariate (the appropriatepretest measure) was used in the follow-upANCOVA
analysis.

brass playing. Group main effects for the dependent measures were
found to be significant for the sample of fourth through sixth grade
brass players. The results of the study reinforce the view that improv-
ing the brass player's breathing will improve the player's perfor-
mance (Dale, 1965; Johnson, 1981; Kohut, 1985; O'Donnell, 1987).

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146 SEHMANN

Among the breathing measures, abdominal displacement was found

to be significantly higher for members of the experimental group
(mean, +5.59 millimeters; standard deviation [SD] of 6.47) when
compared to the control group (mean, -1.37 millimeters; SD = 6.82).
The control group still exhibited abdominal contraction, meaning
the abdominal area got smaller when taking a breath. Therefore, the
regular instrumental instruction does not seem to aid the develop-
ment of abdominal breathing.
Among the performance measures, the range measure showed sig-
nificantly higher scores for the experimental group. The experimen-
tal group showed an average range of almost 22 half steps (SD = 3.91).
The control group (18.72 half-step mean scores, SD = 4.22) improved
slightly with a semester of regular instruction, but the larger increase
in range for the experimental group seems to be due to the specific
instruction in breathing. The experimental group also improved on
the duration measure from pretest to posttest. The posttest experi-
mental group averaged 13.92 seconds per held pitch. The control
group showed a lower score for duration on the posttest (mean, 9.39
seconds) than they had on the pretest (mean, 11.47 seconds). The
treatment appears to be responsible for the increase in duration for
the experimental group.
The instruction in breathing mode was successful in improving
abdominal displacement. Both the experimental and control groups
showed a lack of abdominal movement on the pretest, but the exper-
imental group was able to change from a thoracic mode of breathing
to an abdominal/diaphragmatic mode of breathing. Both groups
showed about the same thoracic displacement on the posttest as they
had on the pretest. This was expected, since the breath management
instruction did not stress chest movement, and the students were
already actively using the thoracic mode of breathing.
Various researchers have measured lung capacity among instru-
mentalists (Brown & Thomas, 1999; Huttlin, 1982; Staples, 1988;
Tucker, Faulkner, & Horvath, 1971; Van Middlesworth, 1978), but
only the Brown and Thomas study explored the effects of breath
training upon the subjects. The control group in the present study
increased their lung capacity slightly from an average of 1.81 liters to
1.97 liters. The experimental group also increased their lung capaci-
ty, although not quite reaching the significance level set by the
researcher (1.85 liters to 2.17 liters; SD = .46). These results may have
been due to the practice in taking deeper breaths by the experimen-
tal group or general maturity.
Among the performance measures, significant differences were
found for range by group. The exercises in the instructional manual

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 JRME 147
stress using the airstream to produce higher pitches instead of using
embouchure (or mouthpiece) pressure. An inspection of the means
for the range measure shows that the control group increased about
1 half-step in overall range, while the experimental group increased
their range about 5 half-steps.
Significant group differences also were found for the duration
measure. The control group did show a decrease in their duration
scores; perhaps the effects of improper breathing cause the inconsis-
tency in both inspiration and expiration and can have a negative
effect on this aspect of playing. The results of these two measures
show that the treatment (breath management instruction) made a
positive difference in an important component of brass-playing dura-
tion. This may have occurred because certain of the exercises
stressed the control or slow emission of the air. These techniques
enable the subjects to learn to relax the diaphragm more slowly, per-
mitting the subject to conserve breath.
Among the experimental group, the horns had significantly better
scores on the duration test than either the trumpets or trombones.
This is probably due to the initial bore size of the instrument. The
horns, of all the instruments in this study, have the narrowest lead-
pipe and, therefore, the most resistance and less air expended on the
same airflow rate, allowing subjects to play slightly longer. More resis-
tance makes it easier to slow the flow of air through the aperture.
Tone quality varied little from pretest to posttest between groups.
It may take longer than 16 weeks to see any change in the tone qual-
ity of elementary brass players, or the rating scale used for judging
may be too imprecise to measure small differences in tone. Also, tone
quality may be a function of other variables than just breathing style;
these variables might include instrument, aural memory, aural tone
model, articulation, and embouchure.
The tone quality scores for the trombone players were significant-
ly lower than those for horn or trumpet players. Tone quality may be
a function of variables other than just breathing style (e.g., instru-
ment, aural memory, aural tone model, articulation, and
embouchure). The young trombonists are playing in a range lower
than their own singing range, and this may cause a difference in
aural perception of the pitches as well.
Taken as a whole, the results indicate that the addition of some
breath management instruction is more effective than traditional
instruction alone for enhancing breathing and performance skills.
The absence of group-by-instrument and group-by-grade interac-
tions, coupled with the significant group main effects, indicates that
the breath management instruction was equally effective with all

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
148 SEHMANN

grade levels and instrument classes. Brass teachers should be focus-

ing on teaching breathing skills to their students to obtain the most
growth in their performance abilities. Future research might focus
on high school students and the benefits of breath instruction for
increasing their performance skills.

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Submitted January 26, 1999; accepted December 21,1999.

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