Anxiété et air.
Réponse de Forest E. Aten Jr (Clarinettiste au Dallas Opera)
à un email évoquant la composition de l'air dans les poumons,
les effets du CO2 parfois constatés lors de la pratique d'un instrument à vent.
Merci à Forest E.Aten Jr de la part des Soufflants/EJMA.
From: "Forest E. Aten Jr." <forestaten@home.com>
Newsgroups: alt.music.clarinet
References: <9cplt0$lte$1@inf6serv.rug.ac.be>
Subject: Re: Problem
> I have a problem with my clarinet playing. When I've been playing very
> intensively for a few hours or when I get nervous (especially when I get
> nervous... during exams, concerts...) I notice that my breathing is
> climbing. Then i really loose control in breathing and in sound. It gives
> me the feeling that i cannot get enough air, and I try to enhale as much as
> possible, which is making it worse.
> I don't have this problem when I'm practising.
>
> Does anyone have any tips how keeping the breathing down in stressfull
> situations, or how to get it down again once it's too high?
>
> I would appreciate answers very much!
>
> Greetings,------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your problem is very common. A number of factors are coming together to
cause your problems. I'll discuss two.1. Hypercapnia
As you play a wind instrument, pushing the air out of your lungs, (over
a period of time) you increase the partial pressure (Dalton's Law) of the
air (a mixture of gases) available to your body. As you play, you deplete
the oxygen in the mix, it is replaced by carbon dioxide...as waste gas
produced by metabolization. As the carbon dioxide increases in the mixture
of air in the lungs, these additional molecules of CO2 are absorbed (at the
higher partial pressure) by the body.
Several things now happen physiologically.
a) the feeling that you urgently need a breath
This is caused by dissolved CO2 in the form of carbonic acid. A set of
chemo receptors called the 'carotid bodies' keep track of this acid and
activates a set of alarms....telling your heart to beat faster and for you
to breath more frequently.
b) increased anxiety
Same principle at work....different mechanism.You can develop a higher tolerance to CO2 if you practice long tones
everyday. This is one of the best arguments a teacher can present when
asking a student to practice the infamous long tones in a daily warm-up. Be
sure to push as long and as hard as you can when doing these drills. The
point is to build up the partial pressure of CO2 in the body.
Be sure to note your limits....you don't want to fall out of your chair in a
faint!!2. Adrenaline
The clue here is when you say...I don't have this problem when I
practice..........
In stressful playing situations, players often experience what we like to
call nervousness. This is a normal physiological response to the stress.
When in a stressful situation (any discipline) we might activate a normal
process called "fight or flight". In this process our body makes certain
chemical changes and adrenaline is dumped into our system to help us cope
with the stressful situation. This is a normal process!
Learning to become more comfortable with the daily stress associated with
performing a musical instrument is not easy for some people. Gaining
experience in performance will often help improve comfort levels and reduce
the amount of adrenaline released into the body (and the resulting
physiological changes associated with this chemical change). Sometimes
simply "knowing" what's happening to you will help in managing anxiety.
(remember the CO2 from the first issue adds to this anxiety equation)Some of the symptoms related to the additional adrenaline:
- dry mouth
-shaking hands and knees
-sweaty hands
-rapid shallow breathing
-feeling "faint"
-feeling "sick to your stomach"
-feeling "nervous"
-having to go to the bathroom frequentlyA very important key to manage the stress is to always prepare properly
before a performance. Do anything and everything else you can to reduce the
stress. Always be rested, use deep breathing exercises,
meditation.....whatever works for you. Different things work for different
players.
While this may not eliminate the stress entirely, it should help get you to
a point where it is manageable.Good luck,
Forest E. Aten Jr
Clarinet
Dallas Opera
www.dallasopera.org
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