Circular breathing

[DanTheWhistleMan]

Hello,
Does anyone use circular breathing when playing the tin whistle? And, can it actually be used effectively?

[nickt]

Well, how do you do it? I understand that it's very difficult. I would think it unnecessary with the whistle which needs little air - it's used with didgeridoos, though I know not what else.

[sweetone]

It can be used indeed. I'm using it sometimes on bass tuba and bass trombone for very long notes. The American trumpet player Wynton Marsalis is an absolute ace in it, he's using it whenever he wants.
And as for the whislte, Colin Goldie gave me a demonstration once, he's actually using it effeciently on the whistle, I find it very difficult cause there's very little resistance from the instrument, that means it's difficult to blow out the air you contained in your mouth while breathing new air through your nose. If you have any doubt our questions I would suggest you contact Colin, he's a very kind and helpful bloke.
All the best
Erik

[Flyingcursor]

So that's how Wynton Marsalis does it? His version of Carnival of the Animals is still mind boggling.

I have tinkered with trying to learn circular breathing and envy those who have mastered it.

[thurlowe]

This is the bible for those who want to learn:

"Circular Breathing for the Flutist," by Robert Dick.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

I haven't attempted it, because I don't play any pieces that would require the technique. This book has helped people I know to learn. Mr. Dick is convinced anyone can do it.

Hope that helps!

Cara

[turtleneck]

I can manage to circular breath on my didgeridoo, but I havn't managed to do it with a whistle yet. Too many reminders from music teachers to not puff out my cheeks when I play wind instruments has given me a hard habit to break.

There are a bunch of tutorials on how to circular breath on the net. Just get googling on didgeridoo and circular breathing. One of the best excercises is to try to squirt a steady stream of water out of your mouth while breathing normally.

BTW, isn't Kenny G the acclaimed master of circular breathing; being able to hold a single note on a flute for the longest amount of time?

[Mike J]

Another exercise I came across for circular breathing is to use a straw to blow a continuous stream of bubbles into a glass of water while breathing normally.

[kevin m.]

Another exercise I came across for circular breathing is to use a straw to blow a continuous stream of bubbles into a glass of water while breathing normally.

Spooky -Just last night I met my cousin Colleen(there's a good Irish name!) and her partner Phil, at a family get together and we got on talking about musical instruments.Turns out that on a trip to Australia two years ago,he bought himself two Didgeridoos and a tutor book.
We talked about circular breathing,and he mentioned this very exercise(!).I mentioned that some oboe and sax. players used this technique.
Anyway,he's promised to bring his Didg'. along next time,so I can have a go!

[herbivore12]

I learned the technique as a brass musician, and use it now with other windinstruments, including whistle.

Works best with instruments with backpressure, as noted above. It's very easy for me to do on an Overton, which has tons of backpressure. It's very hard to do on a Shaw or similar, with little or no backpressure.

I don't know about Marsalis and "Carnival of the Animals" (maybe g4m means "Carnival of Venice", the famous trumpet piece?), but you can certainly hear Marsalis use this technique in "Moto Perpetuo", on his CD "Carnival", with the Eastman Wind Ensemble; he plays this quite fast piece for about 4 minutes, without stopping to breathe. (Lots of carnivals in that paragraph...)

It's a good party trick; in college, I'd keep a napkin pinned against a wall through circular breathing, or a steady stream of bubbles in a beverage, in exchange for free beer. Free beer is good beer. It's worth it to learn just for the drinks. . .

--Aaron

[serpent]

I learned the technique for dijeridu (how one spells it depends on which part of Oz you're from), and it works nicely there, and with my low-air whistles, though they're a bit more difficult to control without jumping octaves.

But there is a caveat:

True "circular breathing" involves more than merely puffing your cheeks out. It also involves maintaining high pressures in the chest cavity, which in turn, elevates your blood pressure. This is really easy to check, BTW, with a sphygmomanometer, so if you want to argue with me, get your BP taken just before, and during, and see for yourself, first. Bottom line, if you have high BP or any sort of cardiopulmonary condition, I'd chat with the physician before doing it.
Cheers,
serpent

[rossmpfc13]

What you do is use the muscles of your mouth to push out the air. I don't think that it's really worth it for whistles, mostly because using breathing in the notes can sound really cool; I always try to work out cool spots in which to breathe which "articulate" the music in general.

[carrie]

My whistle teacher, James Conway, uses circular breathing on the whistle and harmonica. Coincidentally, at my last lesson I taped him demonstrating it on a new whistle of mine, a Reyburn low F, with just intonation. He thought it was an especially good whistle to learn how to do circular breathing on because it requires relatively little air. I might add I have gotten as far as exhaling through my mouth while inhaling through my nose, but I can't yet sustain a whistle tone. Maybe the Reyburn will help me with the breakthrough.

Here's the clip: Give Me Your Hand

Take a deep breath before listening to it.

Carol

[herbivore12]

I learned the technique for dijeridu (how one spells it depends on which part of Oz you're from),

Actually, I think one uses "didgeridoo" or its variants if one is white, or doesn't speak one of the native Aussie Aboriginal languages; at least in northern Australia, the aboriginal people we spent time with used "yidaki", and complained about what they called the "white name", or "Balanda word" which they claimed was just a description of the sound the thing makes. The guy who taught me tried to make me promise always to call it "yidaki", but the "didge" name is too ingrained in me, now. (And maybe they were having me on: maybe "yidaki" means "funny white guy trying to play our music" or something. . .)

Who knows -- folk instruments have all kinds of tales (and sometimes tails) attached, and people are always calling my whistles "flutes", so. . .

But Carol, that just-intoned whistle sounds great (I thinkI'd like the tune better if your teacher breathed, though!). The just intonation sounds wonderful with this style of music; have you tried playing the whistle amongst other musicians, and if so, does it clash badly with instruments in other temperaments?

--Aaron

[carrie]

Aaron,

I haven't yet tried playing along with others--curious about that myself. I'll keep you posted. And, for the record, that clip was just a demo of circular breathing: my teacher plays that tune beautifully--with breaths and all--on his CD, Mouth Box.

Carol

[Wombat]

The late, great jazz saxophone and flute player, Roland Kirk, used circular breathing to very good effect. His album 'Rip, Rig and Panic' contains some particularly fine examples. He could almost induce a trance with endlessly long fluid runs.