The Musician's Breath notes

1 I selected The Musician’s breath by James Jordan to review because breathing is important in my personal yoga practice and I want to learn how to connect that to vocal technique. It comes with a guided yoga DVD focusing on understanding breath and freeing points of tension.

2 Dedication:

“To my good friend Maurten Lauridsen whose music has inspired us through sound, for all to ponder breath and its miracles, within and among the notes he sets to paper.” (American composer Maurten Lauridsen has also dedicated the third movement of his Midwinter Songs to Jordan).

3 Jordan has over thirty publications dealing with conducting pedagogy and spirituality in music. This book is part of a series including The Musician’s Walk, The Musician’s Spirit and The Musician’s Soul (which Emma reviewed for us last week).

(other suggestions: Evoking Sound and The Anatomy of Conducting).

4 Dr. Jordan is Senior conductor at Westminster Choir College of Rider U, where he teaches choral conducting. He frequently travels to conduct and perform lectures.

He has a “far reaching pedagogical and philosophical impact” on the choral world.

Jordan has studied with several “landmark teachers of the twentieth century” including Wilhelm Ehmann (who we learned about in Adrian’s presentation).

5 Mark Moliterno holds Bachelor degrees in voice and opera. He is also a certified yoga instructor having studied hatha yoga since 1985. (His vocal teachings apply yogic principles to the lives and work of performing artists).

Nova Thomas teaches at Westminster alongside Jordan and Moliterno. She teaches musical theatre and is an accomplished soprano performer.

6 Jordan writes to support his belief that breath transports the human spirit. Being mindful of the breath underlies all creativity and music-making yet many artists spend their careers subconsciously avoiding this simple truth. (“To deny the power of breath is to deny one’s ability to be truly expressive and honest in all things musical”).

7 The prologue outlines issues with some musicians’ disbelief in the power of breath. Conductors must use the breath to effect color and texture changes in an ensemble. Musical idea and intention can’t be translated without it. Often for beginners, it is a challenge to open up to body and allow the breath to move.

8 Part one focuses on convincing readers of the power of breath as a carrier of musical expression.

In chapter two, Jordan notes that conductors who do not use their breath yield a monochromatic sound.

Chapter three talks about the clairvoyant moment that can occur when your breath coincides with expressive thought.

9 In chapter four, Jordan talks about the process of breathing with musical intention.

The first step is stillness during which the musician is calm and mindful.

The second step is opening your mind and body to psychological vulnerability.

You then must connect to your center, define your intention and breathe into it. Next you must allow others to read the breath, and release unencumbered sound.

10 In Understanding breathing through semantics, Jordan examines how breath enters the body. The breath’s rhythm physically affects your bloodstream and heart rate. “Unnecessary tension created by the ineffectual use of breathing often occurs because of dis-harmonic inner states of mind”.

The anatomy of breathing is examined with the use of charts.

11 Chapter seven makes the interesting point that effective music performance is often described as “coming from deep within” and although we know what this means viscerally, it is difficult to describe.

Technically discussing breath gives us some vocabulary to help explain concepts of the “inner” self.

12 Jordan claims that the fearlessness and boundless creativity felt in childhood comes from a feeling of internal spaciousness which diminishes over time. He calls the reader to reclaim their internal spaciousness.

13 Jordan believes in the power of the rest. Moments of rest before beginning a piece and during have the “mystical power to influence the trajectory of a phrase”. Musicians should see rests as opportunities to infuse expressive idea.

14 In the final few chapters of part one, Jordan talks about what it means to “be in the moment” as a musician. He talks about his personal struggles and triumphs throughout his career in defining and finding “artistry”.

15 Part two focuses on specific ways to incorporate breath into musical creation. In chapter thirteen Jordan notes the many kinds of musical connection such as

the spiritual connection between the conductor and the ensemble,

the physical connection between the conductor’s gesture and the ensemble’s breath,

and the physical connection between the conductor's hand and their own breath.

16 In chapter sixteen, Moliterno offers his unique perspective on the creative process combining his knowledge of vocal technique and yogic breathing. Breathing is not commonly talked about in Western culture but it is central to many Eastern philosophical traditions.

“In Classical Yoga, breath is viewed as part of the energetic field which lies between mind and body”.

(Specific guided breathing practices are provided).

17 In the following chapter Nova Thomas writes about the power of breath from her pedagogical perspective as an advanced vocal technician. She notes the variety of opinions on the singer’s breath in existing literature which ranges from ignoring the breath entirely to labelling each miniscule step of the process.

Thomas also provides breathing exercises for vocalists.

18 Many musicians stumble upon some method of mind-body-spirit connection through Yoga, Tae Kwon Do or the Alexander Technique throughout their career and find that its helps them to release physical and mental tension and positively influences their breathing.

The author suggests the ancient Chinese healing practice of (CHEE gong) Qigong for all musicians.

19 Jordan summarizes:

“There is a great deal of belief and some artistic security in believing that if we tend to our technical house, then our communicative expression will somehow magically appear in the sounds we make. As a musician, you must realize that those details are only ever the framework. Human expression is birthed in the breath.”

20 I loved this book and definitely recommend it to you guys.

The arguments are very well supported with many quotes, and each section provides an extensive bibliography.

Jordan writes with a connection to human emotion

and there are practical lessons and suggestions for conductors.

In my opinion there were way too many quotes. Some sections were almost entirely composed of quotes making it difficult to hear the author’s voice and at some times non-cohesive.