Klarinet Archive - Posting 000686.txt from 1996/12

From: Randolf Keller <rkeller@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: What is circular breathing...
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 14:39:06 -0500

>Okay...stop laughing...I'm only a junior in high school and I'm wondering
>what exactly circular breathing is...
>If anyone can explain this playing technique...please let me know.

Just a brief explanation from my side as there seems to be not much response
from the experts on this list.

Circular breathing enables you to play while breathing. Which means that you
could play for ages if there wouldn't be other requirements for your
survival (e.g. eating ;-).)

To get a slight idea of how this is working try following small exercise
which is also the initial step to circular breathing in the book "Circular
Breathing" by Trent P. Kynaston (Belwin Inc., 15800 N.W., 48th Ave., Miami,
FL 33014), from which I Iearned this Technique:

Without clarinet:

- Take a mouth full of water
- Try to "blow" the water out of the mouth slowly, by using the cheek muscles.
- Try "blowing" the water out of the mouth while taking in air through the nose
- If you can do this in a relaxed way, take your clarinet, try to play an
open "G" (no keys, as this usually speaks easiest) the same way, and after a
bit exercise you should be able to hold that tone for quite a while without
having influence in pitch, volume etc...

The first time I saw somebody playing by using circular breathing was in
Bern, in the Swiss Jazz School, where Mr. Clark Terry was guest and holding
a class for the trumpet guys there. I was amazed. He played a 15 Minutes
solo (all fast semiquavers) without any stop or impact on tone quality. Just
played 15 minutes in one run. And he could have continued for ages it seemed.

The next time I saw people using circular breathing was in China, where I
heard a folk group playing the "Sho-na", an instrument similar to the old
german "chalumeau" (?) with a double reed like a oboe.
Those chinese guys where from the far end of china, probably never been away
from there which means for me that this Technique is and has been used quite
a while already.

Hope this helps, anybody more infos on this?

Randolf

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Randolf Keller

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