Breathing Exercises

Technique
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A student asked me somewhere recently about breathing exercises away from the harp, and I’ve been reviewing Filisko’s Breathing Guide for the umpeenth time and it’s funny how things can strike us differently based on our experience. This document is SO RICH and can be round here (I recommend downloading all the pdf’s and reading them from time to time, but Filisko’s Breathing Guide can be downloaded at the bottom right labeled BREATHING WHILE PLAYING THE HARMONICA:)

#1 and #2 here are great exercises to do away from the harmonica:

#1 ~ Use the [EP], and VERY SLOWLY allow air back in until you are relaxed at the R, half full place. again & again. You should be breathing ONLY in your lower range. Think of this as backwards breathing.

Repeat

#2 ~ Perform #1, but when you get to your half full place of rest R, continue to inhale until you are full, F. You

want to be able to inhale smoothly and evenly through your entire breathing range.

#3 ~ Perform #1 and then eventually #2 with the harmonica just sustaining something. Next try it with a throat

tremolo or sustaining a chordal effect. DO NOT inhale through your nose! If you suspect that you are, you will

need to pinch off your nose with your free hand or a nose clip. You will want to be able to control your ability to

open and close off your nose and generally only exhale through your nose and not inhale through it. Check out

the song, “Inhale Blues” or “I.O.U. Blues.”

#4 ~ Practice the [NP] by playing a slow two bar sustained chordal effect and using the [NP] on the last beat to

release the necessary air to comfortably continue indefinitely. Check out the song, “N-P Blues”.

A couple other exercise you can do are:

  1. Work on breathing out your nose and mouth at the same time. See if you can push air out of your nose HARDER than you’re using air out of your mouth.
  2. You can do the big tone train - two throat articulations out followed by two throat articulations in, using “sh” sound so you can hear. and work on keeping your nose open while you do it (allow air to come in and out through the nose at the same time as the mouth.) This is an especially great exercise to do while walking.
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This was an interesting thread. I don’t focus too much on breathing as a lot of my playing is trying to play along with some tunes on youtube while my wife is watching TV. She actually enjoys hearing it but I play softly so as to not intefere with her watching a TV show.

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@Luke, my esteemed friend and teacher, most respectfully, There are other perspectives about both practicing and teaching breath.
Let’s start with the common observation that breath is both the symbol of and exercise of life itself. It can be both passive and active. Both conscious and unconscious.. Controlled and uncontrolled.
Harmonica is a musical sound representation of that breath. That intrinsic will to live.
In my particular situation, my father has COPD. So I gave him a harmonica for Christmas in order that he might consider the breath. Strangely enough, though not so strangely, it seems to be working.
I would be happy to explicate exercise thereof with your interest and consideration. But you already know this, sir.

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Sensei coming through Thank you, sir @Luke

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Thank you for sharing this. I need it so badly. I don’t give much attention to breathing while playing, but I think these exercises can increase my play time as I get tired after playing the harmonica a little.

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@mel_ody555 Welcome to the forum!!!

Yep, you’re probably playing too much in the upper range of your lungs.

Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 5.02.22 PM
Screenshot 2026-01-12 at 5.02.22 PM1756×2260 165 KB

The goal is to learn to play from the lower range of the lungs.

To think I played for like 35 years before discovering these secrets. They are total GAMECHANGERS.

Thanks to Joe Filisko for sharing this knowledge with us.

@LittlePriest the Low Tuned harps are EVEN better for efficacy of treating COPD with harmonica.

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Yes! This is only an expert can tell.

Thanks for your suggestion. I’m still learning, I must try this out.

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This is absolute genius. Breath is life itself. And it can be regulated and heard through a harmonica.
Thank ya @Luke

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So it’s a long time since I did scuba diving but I had to practice breathing for that for floatation. I’m guessing it’s going to be similar practice in using my whole lungs :lungs:. Thanks for the great post. :grinning_face:

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