http://www.thefunctionalmusician.com/

The Functional Musician, 139 W Broadway, Waukesha, WI (2026)

03/16/2026

For a long time this trombonist thought their wrist was the problem.
They tried resting it. They tried stretching it.
They tried multiple PT sessions and strengthening exercises.
But the real issue wasn’t the wrist.
It was how their bodies were organizing breathing and tension while playing.
Once we improved breathing mechanics and ribcage movement, the wrist stopped having to do extra work.
This kind of thing happens ALL the time.
Pain shows up in one place, so we assume the location of pain is the problem.
The body is incredibly interconnected, and oftentimes, the real solution starts somewhere else.
This is actually the first step I usually recommend or coach for musicians (or my in-person clients) dealing with breathing-related tension or random symptoms showing up in the body, whether that’s in the neck, shoulders, arms, or even the hands.
Once breathing and tension patterns improve, it becomes much easier to build strength, train in the gym, and return to higher-level playing without constantly fighting your body.
That’s exactly what I’ll be teaching inside Breathing Foundations.
If you’d like to hear when the program opens, you can join the waitlist through the link in my bio.

03/15/2026

Neck and shoulders overworking while you play?
That usually means your body is trying to create airflow and stability from the wrong places.
When the ribcage can’t move and expand well, the neck, scalenes, upper traps, and shoulders often jump in to help. Over time that can lead to tightness, fatigue, and that feeling of always working too hard when you play.
This quick routine helps decompress the ribcage, reduce excess tension, and restore better breathing mechanics so the neck and shoulders don’t have to do the job alone.
These exercises are a small part of the Decompression + Release phase inside my Breathing Foundations program, where we focus on restoring expansion and clearing unnecessary tension before building more efficient breathing and movement patterns.
Try this during:
• a practice break
• a warm-up before rehearsal
• or a cool-down after a demanding concert
Small resets like this can make a huge difference in how your body feels behind the instrument.
These drills are a small part of the Decompression + Release phase inside my Breathing Foundations program that will release this month.
If you’d like the full guided versions of these exercises, comment RELEASE and I’ll send them to you!

03/14/2026

For years, many musicians have been told, “Don’t raise your shoulders when you breathe.”
The intention behind that advice is good, as excessive shrugging usually means the neck and upper traps are doing extra work.
But the cue often gets misunderstood.
When you inhale, the ribcage doesn’t just expand forward. It expands in multiple directions:
• forward�• sideways�• backward�• upward
That upward expansion naturally causes the collarbones and shoulders to expand, externally rotate, and elevate subtly.
This is normal anatomy.
The real issue isn’t shoulder movement, it’s tension-driven shoulder lifting, usually led by the traps or the neck.
When the neck and traps take over the inhale, the breath becomes effortful and inefficient. But when the ribcage can expand freely, the shoulders move subtly and naturally as part of the inhale.
No shrugging.�No forcing air in.�Just the ribcage doing its job.
For Functional Musicians, the goal isn’t to “keep the shoulders down.” �The goal is to restore 360° ribcage expansion so breathing becomes easier and more efficient again.
When you have access to this breath, the neck and shoulders relax, the ribcage moves freely, and your shoulders will indeed move during inhalation and exhalation.

03/12/2026

Can anyone else relate?
For years, teachers told me the same thing:
Use more air.  Take a bigger breath.  Support the sound.
And they were right!
But I kept running into the same problem, the breakthroughs would last for a week or two, and then the tension would come back.
It took me a long time to realize the issue wasn’t effort (well - sometimes I tried to hard!)
My body simply didn’t have the capacity yet.
That realization eventually led me to build Breathing Foundations, a program designed to help musicians restore natural breathing and build the physical foundation for sustainable playing.
The program opens next week, and I am SO excited to share this with the world.
Join the waitlist for early access!

03/10/2026

Shoutout to all of those musicians who feel low back or upper back tension!
I’ve been so busy the past week with training in person and working on finishing the last touches of my breathing foundations course, that I haven’t been able to post as much as as I’d like.
In an ideal world I’d have all of this contact prep ahead of time and schedule to post, but I am only a human my mental and physical health are always a bigger priority for me.
Anyways, here is one of my favorite exercises to do when I have access to this equipment.
Rather than do traditional, lower back extensions on this machine, I can turn this into a decompression, breathing drill by grounding, my feet, back of my ankles,
And my pelvis.
From here, I round forward, relax my neck, and slowly breathe through the nose.
Sometimes I’ll add in small twists, glute contractions with release, and long inhales (like 8-12 counts), to really help decompress my back.
For me, I am aiming to feel the most relaxation in my lower back and upper back.
For all of you nerds like me, this positional allows me to fill up the top of the ribcage first, decompressing and opening up space in upper back and cervical spine.

03/06/2026

You’re not running out of air - you’re running out of space.
There is a difference, and it changes everything about how you approach breathing and recovery as a musician.

03/05/2026

Found myself with a nice break between training sessions with an empty gym and racquetball court.
Turns out… this might be my favorite space to play in for sound and intonation.
I did a bunch of body work yesterday, including an incredible manual therapy session with who helped me reached my right foot contact. If you know, you know!
If you’re a local to Cincinnati, give James a follow and check him out at he is doing some fantastic work, and glad we have stayed connected and collaborative through the years.
Anyways, nothing special about this post - just focusing on recalling and signing lines, without too much attention to my breathing or posture. Letting my body find the best way to organize and work based on what I’m playing.

02/28/2026

The functional musician is evolving!
I knew 2026 was going to be an exciting year full of new experiences, internal shifts, and impact.
This is a time for building, refinement, and pressure testing the concepts I’ve been working on for the past six years.
Thank you to all for being part of this community, and excited to share these projects with the world.

02/27/2026

Breathing and posture answer from the last reel, and the winner is….
Option B and C!
Option B is the most comfortable and the best position I can access at that moment in time.
Option C, IMO, would be the optimized position, but I don’t have access to this position, so in order for me to access this position, I need to use a degree of muscle activity
There are many professional players and teachers that preach finding the most comfortable position to play, and I 100% agree
What I think teachers and professionals could also take into consideration, is encouraging students to work on improving their position (in my case - access to this position) away from their instrument
Being able to access this position, not only improves overall efficiency, but it also makes playing your instruments in the extremes easier.
It also improves your endurance, increases your energy levels, improves your ability to phrase, breathing quickly, and self regulate in a high stress performance situation or when playing starts to go south
We don’t want to force ourselves to access the stack - we want to be able to access the stack without thinking about it.

02/25/2026

Posture posture posture!
Three common positions, same player.
Only one of these positions gives me access to the most efficient movement, breathing, and support options.
Which one are you choosing?
Comment which option and tell me why! 👇👇👇

02/24/2026

“You don’t need help breathing, Just breathe.”
“Stop overthinking it, just relax and breathe!”
I understand the logic.
Breathing is automatic. Your body knows how to keep you alive.
But survival breathing and performance breathing are not the same thing.
When musical demand increases, such as long phrases, loud dynamics, endurance, or performance pressure, overall load on your system (body) increases.
And if that load is too much for your system to handle, your mechanics start to shift.
As tension rises and accessory muscles (neck, upper chest) start to dominate:
• Rib motion decreases • The diaphragm loses leverage • Tidal volume drops • Recovery breaths get shallow • Compensations increase
Yes, You’re still breathing.
But now you have less usable capacity and increased effort.
So in the practice room if you are someone that does overthink the breath, the idea of simply breathing and relaxing is extremely helpful.
but when we are talking about breathing breaking down in performance?
This is no longer about relaxing, it’s about managing pressure efficiently under stress.
Yes, Breathing is automatic, but Efficient breathing under performance load is trained
And your foundation will determine your ceiling.
Breathing Foundations opens soon.
If you’re ready to reconnect to your breath and build capacity instead of fighting tension, join the waitlist.

02/23/2026

Ever been told to support with your diaphragm?
What about push with your diaphragm?
How about use your diaphragm?
Although these cues may be helpful to get a desired result with students, they are not anatomically correct and are often shortcuts to help a student achieve a result, but can cause more problems in the long run.
Let’s break this down.
The diaphragm is our primary muscle of inhalation. When we inhale, the diaphragm contracts to bring air in
When we exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and rebounds, while the abs, obliques, back, intercostals, pelvis musculature, etc. all work together to help close the ribcage and exhale air.
From a muscle behavior perspective, the diaphragm cannot push during the exhale - that’s the role of the abs, core, pelvic floor, and intercostals.
So the support you feel is actually muscle behavior that isn’t the diaphragm!
For those who are interested in A better way to help someone feel supported
Encourage them to find their natural stack, beginning with the feet, pelvis, and ribcage
If you aren’t aware of proper anatomy and breathing mechanics, that is okay! Simply Focus on external cues that help naturally feel this support, like:
Blow to the end of the room or Blow like you are blowing out a candle
Of course, this is dependent on what instrument you play, but you get the idea.
What other breathing cues or myths did I miss?

The Functional Musician

03/16/2026

03/15/2026

03/14/2026

03/12/2026

03/10/2026

03/06/2026

03/05/2026

02/28/2026

02/27/2026

02/25/2026

02/24/2026

02/23/2026

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