Klarinet Archive - Posting 000827.txt from 1998/04

From: "Brian Catchlove" <bcatch@-----.au>
Subj: Re: wind instruments and circus tricks
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 08:16:26 -0400

Dan,
My understanding of clarinets of last century is that they require less air
volume, thus allowing longer phrases in a single breath. Some of the phrases
in the music of Schubert are also very long and sometimes require breaths
that were not required originally. So, why not try and recreate this length
of phrase by circular breathing? Circular breathing is a valid technique
and its use should be encouraged so that it may become a standard technique
rather than a "circus trick". ( This applies to double tongueing also)
Brian Catchlove
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel A. Paprocki <dap@-----.net>
Date: Thursday, 16 April 1998 6:20am
Subject: wind instruments and circus tricks

>I know this will bring out the flame throwers but so what. I just finished
>listening to a couple of recordings of the Schumann 3 Romances. I wanted
>to hear different interpretations and where everyone breathed. The three
>CDs were Richard Stolzman, Paul Meyer, and Charles Neidich. Everything was
>fine until I listened to the Neidich disc with headphones. Neidich doen't
>breath (well normally) throughout the movements. He's almost always
>circular breathing AND you can hear it AND it is annoying and detracts from
>the music. I do realize this is the latest trick that everyone wants to
>master (along with double tonguing) but why??? We are playing a wind
>instrument that people like to compare to the human voice so why do we have
>to circular breath?
> Who first started to circular breath? Was it for the sake of the
>music or as a circus trick? A friend of mine in Europe likes to refer to
>people like that as real tricksters - in a noncomplimentary way. It still
>amazes me that at the clarinet conventions, tricksters will get standing
>ovations and someone that ONLY plays musically will just get applause. Why
>can't we look past the flying fingers, tonguing, and aqualung breathing and
>be able to tell when we hear truly great musicians?
>
>Dan
>
>
>*********************************************************************
> Daniel A. Paprocki
>
> Instructor of Clarinet & Music, Malone College
> Adjunct Professor of Clarinet, Kent State University - Stark Campus
>
> dap@-----.net
>**********************************************************************
>
>
>
>