Circular breathing
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Circular breathing is a technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. This is accomplished by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously blowing out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks.
It is used extensively in playing the Australian didgeridoo, the Sardinian launeddas and Egyptian arghul, as well as many traditional oboes and flutes of Asia and the Middle East. A few jazz and classical wind players also utilize some form of circular breathing.
Although many professional wind players find circular breathing highly useful, few pieces of European orchestral music composed before the 20th century actually require its use. However, the advent of circular breathing among professional wind players has allowed for the transcription of pieces originally composed for string instruments which would be unperformable on a wind instrument without the aid of circular breathing. A notable example of this phenomenon is "Moto Perpetuo," transcribed for trumpet by Rafael Méndez from the original work for violin by Paganini.
Costa Rican saxophonist Geovanny Escalante holds the world record of almost ninety minutes for continuous playing of a wind instrument, breaking the previous record of 45 minutes held by saxophonist Kenny G[1], which had previously been broken by Mark Atkins of Australia for a cool 50 minutes.
Method
The person inhales fully and begins to exhale and blow. When the lungs are nearly empty, the last volume of air is blown into the mouth, and the cheeks are inflated with this air. Then, while still blowing this last bit of air out by allowing the cheeks to deflate, the person must very quickly fill the lungs by inhaling through the nose prior to running out of the air in the mouth. If done correctly, by the time the air in the mouth is nearly exhausted the person can begin to exhale from the lungs once more, ready to repeat the process again. Essentially, circular breathing bridges the gap between breaths. The air stored in your cheeks is used as an extra air reserve to play with while you sneak in a breath through your nose.
Instruments having circular breathing as an integral part of their technique
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Musicians known for circular breathing
Some musicians who do not play the instruments mentioned above are known for using circular breathing.
- Kenny G - American jazz saxophonist
- Djivan Gasparyan - He plays the duduk (or "tsiranapogh" literally "apricot horn"), a double reed woodwind instrument
- Evan Parker - Free Improvising saxophonist famed for his lengthy circular breathing excursions on soprano and tenor saxophones
- Wynton Marsalis - classical and jazz trumpeter from New Orleans.
- Andy Sheppard - jazz Saxophonist from Bristol England.
- Daniel Goode – avant-garde clarinetist[2]
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk – jazz multi-instrumentalist[3]
- Eugene Rousseau – classical saxophonist[4]
- Roscoe Mitchell – jazz multi-instrumentalist[5]
- David Murray- Plays tenor saxophone and, on occasion, bass clarinet[6]
- Irvin Mayfield – Grammy Award-nominated jazz trumpeter, composer and cultural ambassador to New Orleans[7]
- Sergei Nakariakov - classical trumpeter [8]
- Vladimir Kachmarchik - flute
- Xavier Rudd - modern one-man band
- Colin Stetson- Avant-Garde saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist [9]
- Quinn Pariseau- very skilled trumpeter and composer
- Ferhat Erdem - Turkish kaval player at TRT
References
- ^ News on Yahoo! Music
- ^ "Daniel Goode: About". Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ University of Chicago
- ^ Eugene Rousseau
- ^ "Roscoe Mitchell Interview". Perfect Sound Forever. May 1998. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ BBC Radio 3 profile
- ^ "Irvin Mayfield: Hombre of Hot Music and Vital Education". AllAboutJazz.com. 2004-08-30. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ "Sergei Nakariakov: Biography". Retrieved 2009-11-27.
- ^ "Colin Stetson: Press". Retrieved 2010-3-25.
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Bibliography
- Katchmarschik V. Some Mysteries of Ancient Greek Aulets // Journal Internationale Double Reed Society. – 1994, July. – № 22, – Р. 93 – 99. http://www.idrs.org/publications/
- Katschmartschik W. Zur Geschichte und zur Entstehung der Methode des «permanenten Ausatmen» // Brass Bulletin. – 1989. – № 67. – S. 32-35.(en. ger. fr.) http://www.editions-bim.com/brassbulletin/index.php?