Author: Bobo
Date: 2007-05-20 23:31
imHo, (stress the humble), circular breathing is an advanced technique, there's nothing intermediate about it...nice if you can do it - certainly it enhances some rare passages - however, if you were climbing the curve of oboedom, i would say it's much more important to master the art of regular breathing (how much air, when to breathe, when to exhale, how long to go without, etc.) and the ability to play well for extended passages without breathing when necessary, than it is to get the circular breathing notch on your belt. But, again, if you work on everything else, it's a nice thing to be able to do.
Now, for a slightly contrary point of view, that c.b. can be deployed as a normal part of one's regular technique, with some valuable tips on how you can get there:
"Gradually incorporate circular breathing into your practice. Try it during scales, long tones, trill exercises and so on. Little by little, circular breathing will become a comfortable part of your normal technique. As you become familiar with circular breathing, you will realize that exhaling is possible as well as the more common inhaling (the air simply travels in the other direction). As oboists, we have a perhaps unique use for this variation, exhaling all that air we don't use."
and
"Circular breathing – both inhaling and exhaling –make playing the oboe
a much more comfortable experience."
at
http://www.nuoboe.com/html/circularbreathing.html
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