Instrumental Technique

Until the second half of the 20th century, publications on breathing techniques for woodwinds have been scarce and often failed to adequately address this aspect of performance and pedagogy. It is through various sensory experiences and because of recent technological advances that academics recognize a gap in the existing literature and have since included studies using various methods, as well as modern technical devices and experiments into the woodwind literature and teaching. These studies have proven to be of great importance to confirm ideas and hypotheses on the matter.
The aim of this project is to collect woodwind journal publications into a meta-analysis, focusing specifically on the breathing techniques for woodwind instruments and provide a comprehensive annotated bibliography on the topic and its application. The project is limited to journal articles on breathing techniques applied for woodwinds only, and will not review literature discussing breathing from other perspectives or in a broader sense.
Major findings show that misconceptions and contradictions on the subject still exist. At the same time, they also highlight unique approaches used to help the learner overcome general and specific challenges while mastering the art of breathing.
The project highlights areas where future research on breathing would be encouraged and should be complemented by measured data. Such studies might include a woodwind specific examination of the relationship between the tongue and the soft palate, or analysis of how tension in the torso muscles influences the movement of the diaphragm, or how rhythmical breathing affects breath control and capacity, and finally a discussion on how larynx influences the air stream.

"This anthropological study describes a specific form of mediation, as it is practiced in Ethiopia (Northeast Africa) by members of the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups. It introduces elders as male household-heads in their advanced ages, who settle conflicts and arrange marriages for the members of the junior generations. There are not only 'easy' cases dealt with, which one might assume to be too 'unimportant' for state courts or other juridical institutions but also aggravated cases that may affect the wider group or that have inter-ethnic dimensions. The study uses specific case studies of marriage, bride abduction, physical injury and homicide for illustration. Within the book, reference is made to speech-act-theory and the 'new ethnographic' approach related to it. Both rhetoric strategies and non-verbal means of communication are discussed, such as postures, gestures, spatial arrangements, numerical symbolisms, or the deliberate use of certain kinds of dress and of material objects. Special attention is paid to the use of ritual in mediation procedures. The book brings to light significant regularities that are inherent to the different types of elders' proceedings. Peculiar elements and phases can be distinguished that re-occur in all types of processes analysed in the study. This cannot exclusively be explained by reference to 'process', as a general idea of people negotiating law. It moreover hints to the existence of a formal 'procedure', which follows its own rules. Accordingly, a change of perspective 'from process to procedure' is suggested in the book's programmatic title.

http://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_2776.ahtml

Book Order US:
http://www.amazon.com/From-Process-Procedure-Aethiopistische-Forschungen/dp/3447066113/

Book Order Germany:
http://www.amazon.de/Process-Procedure-Mediation-Formality-Ethiopia/dp/3447066113/
http://www.buchhandel.de/detailansicht.aspx?isbn=9783447066112"

El objetivo de este trabajo es repensar los conceptos comúnmente usados en la enseñanza
de la técnica de la percusión, a la luz de una propuesta fenomenológica guiada principalmente por las ideas encontradas en la obra Fenomenología de la Percepción del filósofo Maurice Merleau-Ponty. La fenomenología replantea los conceptos de cuerpo, movimiento, espacio, tiempo, mundo, sujeto, por lo que aplicar esta perspectiva a la técnica canónica provoca un giro conceptual de temas fundamentales como son: postura, agarre, tensión, relajación, movimiento. Este cambio radical se debe a que la fenomenología estudia la experiencia vivida, mientras que la técnica ortodoxa parte de la perspectiva clásica de las ciencias naturales. En la primera parte se expondrán los cuestionamientos a la ciencia clásica, cuestionamientos que abren una discusión entre dos perspectivas para explicar el mundo; una clásica (paradigma moderno) y otra emergente (pensamiento sistémico). Discusión que será el hilo conductor para revisar el cuerpo y las dificultades de pensarlo a la manera clásica. Con estos antecedentes se examinará la técnica canónica de la percusión, para evidenciar que gran parte de su discurso viene de ver el cuerpo y la naturaleza bajo las ideas del paradigma moderno. La segunda parte comienza con una exposición de las temáticas principales de la Fenomenología y de la obra de Merleau-Ponty. Este marco conceptual será desde donde se reflexionará sobre la técnica bajo una propuesta fenomenológica, para llegar así a unos lineamientos generales que soporten una alternativa para pensar el estudio técnico. Por medio de las herramientas fenomenológicas concluiré que la experiencia del cuerpo es una continua construcción de sentido, donde no hay ideas verdaderas o falsas, sino una imaginación–corporeizada, que es un campo posible de exploración para la técnica. Esto afirma que un entendimiento fenomenológico es viable para sustentar una alternativa en el estudio técnico del instrumento, que permita diferentes posibilidades de experimentación, reflexión, y futuro desarrollo.