 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetbeagle
Date: 2008-06-26 06:49
I was reading an earlier post on circular breathing and noticed that quite a number of people could do that. I'm completely new to all things clarinet and was wondering if circular breathing was an absolutely essential part of playing the instrument. Is it like the vibrato for the violin, a technique that you have to learn?
If it is absolutely essential then are there some people who just can't do it? Is it something that most people can learn if they put the time into it? What's the learning curve?
Also I was wondering if circular breathing was needed to play baroque music where the music often is often more continuous.
Thanks,
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-06-26 15:41
It is not absolutely essential.
Generally speaking those who perform contemporary music a great deal find it indispensable because of the nature of the literature (and the fact the composers expect them to).
This is an advanced technique that should be explored once you've spent time learning how to breathe and support properly in the traditional way.
I guess you could use it in Baroque music...although what does the clarinet have to do with that?? (Yes I do know you can transpose/arrange for this period...but the clarinet didn't exist for most of this time anyway!)
James
Koo Young Chung: circular breathing is breathing in and blowing out simultaneously without pause.
Gnothi Seauton
Post Edited (2008-06-26 15:46)
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-06-26 16:27
Circular breathing is where you inhale through you nose while still playing. Basically, the way it works is that you fill up your cheeks with air and use your cheeks and tongue to expel the air from your mouth while you inhale with your nose.
For a great example of what this looks like, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeuhD3WN6y4
Michele Gingras (clarinet professor at Miami U. in Ohio) has a podcast called "Clarinet Secrets," where she teaches how to do it (look at the iTunes store).
I think it is safe to say that circular breathing is not an essential skill for playing the instrument, even for most professionals. It's more like a "special effect," and it's often used for playing transcriptions of music written for non-wind instruments (like the Bach clip, above, where the clarinet is playing music originally written for a keyboard instrument). It's probably most useful when playing music originally written for violin (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS-CanzAtU for a really neat example of this, including a lot of other interesting special effects used for "violin emulation").
You might use the technique if you're playing a string transcription from the Baroque era, but I wouldn't expect to use it to play a transcription of a Baroque flute or recorder piece, though. That's especially true for flute music, because it actually takes more air to play than a clarinet (less air pressure, but more air, because it's a "low impedance" instrument).
Far more useful "tricks" to learn (in my opinion, at least) are pitch bending/glissando and double tonguing, because you will have more occasion to use them in playing music actually written for the clarinet. If you audition for a symphony orchestra, for instance, they might expect you to play the solo from Rhapsody in Blue (where pitch bending and glissando are essential) or an excerpt from the scherzo from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream (where rapid tonguing--however you manage to do it--is essential). I've never heard of anyone having to use circular breathing in an audition (although I know better than to claim it's never happened).
Post Edited (2008-06-26 16:43)
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-26 16:43
mrn,
Wow! You picked my two favorite youtube clarinet videos.
Circular breathing is pretty difficult, well not all of it. The most difficult part, as mentioned in the other thread, is bringing your airstream back in seamlessly. I've come close to doing that, but implementing it in music is going to be a challenge because of the difficulty of keeping pitches table. I'm just learning it for the heck of it and just to have another trick in my book.
I believe Dr. Robert Spring has a book on circular breathing (correct me if I'm wrong). He's one of the most respected experts on circular breathing.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Koo Young Chung
Date: 2008-06-27 00:18
I still don't understand it fully.
How can you inhale and exhale at the same time?
Can singers do it?
Can singers sing long,long lines without pause for several minutes using this technique?
Post Edited (2008-06-27 00:29)
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-06-27 01:13
You don't really inhale and exhale at the same time. You inhale through your nose while using your cheek muscles to squeeze the air in your mouth into the instrument (like the way a bagpipe works, except your oral cavity is the bag).
You can't use this technique for singing, because it relies on your being able to store air in your mouth in order to squeeze that air into the instrument. You can use this technique for any wind instrument, though.
Truth be told, I think the term "circular breathing" is somewhat of a misnomer, since it seems to imply a sort of continuous cycle, which is not the way this technique works at all. It's more of a way of taking a breath without interrupting the sound.
I found an instructional video on YouTube (2 part lecture) about circular breathing. It's geared toward bassoon players, but the technique is the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhZZgzzm_Mg
Post Edited (2008-06-27 01:21)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-06-27 04:27
A techinque is only essential depending on what you want to do. Theoritcal example could be somoene who only ever want to play in C major scale. Learning D major wouldn't be essential for them, but it would be for somoene who want/need to play in D major.
IMO there are two reasons to learn circular breathing (and maybe any technique). One is technical - you want/need to play pieces that require it. The other is philosophical/emotional - it becomes a natural part of the music someone is making (i.e. the player is also a composer/improviser). Though sometimes it's both, and sometimes neither.
Koo Young Chung, it is basically how mrn explained it, though if I remember right I did hear a singer do it, or something similar to it. It was a singer of a local ethnic group (what ethnic I don't remember, sorry) and he did sing a very long phrase and said it is a way of breathing while singing. It is definitely not the same exactly as circular breathing though (maybe learned to sing inside somehow).
Here is one example of circular breathing you can hear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiOcFklfqdY&feature=related
Or here one of my favorite players/musicians, starting at about 7:15 in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hAn9LghULA
You can hear one example on clarient on my MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/nitailevi it is the song called Improvisation (short improvised clarinet solo).
Post Edited (2008-06-27 04:37)
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