Voltomere 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2009 I am new but I figured I would share some of my knowledge. CIRCULAR BREATHING What is Circular Breathing? - Circular Breathing is a method used by some musicians to hold a really long note on a wind instrument. In theory a person can hold a note infinitely. I was bored one day and held a single note for a half-hour, my record. The method is very useful when playing instruments such as the Didgeridoo (Long Australian Instrument, Think Outback Steakhouse Commercials.. LOL). I taught a tuba player I met to do this because he had a Didgeridoo he wanted to play and hopefully some of you find this tutorial helpful. Please give me questions, comments, and feedback, so that I can keep improving this tutorial. The Concept of Circular Breathing - What happens during circular breathing is that when a person is playing a note and needs to breathe, he/she stores air in the cheeks. This is not a full puffing of the cheeks, just enough to get the job done. The concept is much like that used with Bagpipes, but in the mouth. Then the person breathes in through the nose while simultaneously letting air out of the cheeks into the instrument to keep the tone going. It took me a lot of practice to get the timing down on this so do not get discouraged. Steps and Tips - When I first tried to learn to Circular Breath I tried to do it while playing my trombone. This did not work out to well because I was dealing with trying to keep my do to many things at once. I would suggest putting the instrument down and focus on the stream of air. *I found it very helpful to put my index finger in front of my mouth like I was going to tell someone to be quiet. This allowed me to feel the fluctuations in the airstream. - Focus on keeping the airstream constant while breathing in through the nose and out of the cheeks at the same time. The intake of air should be quick snuffs not large breaths. Keep the lungs 50-75% full. If there are some fluctuations in the stream don't get frustrated. Take what you get and just keep focusing on the airstream. Eventually the stream should start to become more constant. This can actually be quite relaxing! :sleepy: - Pick up your instrument once you feel comfortable with your constant airstream. Your brain should have the concept down of how to breathe by now so the focus now is to be able to play a sustaining tone with the instrument. Again, fluctuations are all right. You will have sound feedback now so use it to your advantage to work out the kinks and not to discourage you. - The biggest tools you can have in learning to circular breath is patience and practice. Once the concept is down it will not seem difficult any longer because you have wired your brain to work in that way. The wiring process can just take a while. Example of Circular Breathing on Didgeridoo. The Didgeridoo player is Larry "Winiwini" Gurruwiwi: Enjoy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
