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There are a few things required to be able to circular breathe – it ain’t hard – BUT – there are some precautions that need to be included in this as well. Okay,

1. Can you breathe comfortably through your nose?
2. Can you puff your cheeks?
3. Can you puff your cheeks while breathing through your nose?
4. Can you squeeze the air out of your cheeks while breathing through your nose?
5. Can you make a buzzing noise when you squeeze the air out of your cheeks while breathing through your nose?

If you answered “yesâ€

Roger,

You really need to finish that book. I want to buy one for myself and several as gifts.

That was a very well written explanation of circular breathing. I learned how to do it from a substitute theater teacher in high school...what's funny is that HE couldn't do it...he just explained it in a way that made me understand it. I have to say, though, that I'm not sure if I agree with waiting until you're down to about 30% lung capacity before starting it. Understand that I am in no way, shape, or form trying to say that Roger doesn't know what he's talking about...because he certainly does. I'm just saying that I have found in my personal experience that, for the sake of keeping my tone smooth and consistent, I have to start circular breathing very as soon as possible in order to keep a note going comfortably. You end up expending much less effort if you circular breath at more towards the beginning of the phrase, and as often as possible within the phrase, than you do if you don't take a circular breath until you actually need more air.

...just my 2 cents.

Josh is right on the 30%, it should read as "no less than 30%" as at about 20% the air stream will begin to weaken making it difficult to control and begin to add tension to the body in the exhalation process. Use it wherever you need to "load-up" for what is coming at you.

Thanks Josh - all the best.
Roger

I can do it but only on sustained notes, from about low Bb up to e above the staff or so. I learned enough to get started over the Winter Break one year back in undergrad. And if I can do it anyone can.

It will drive people around you nuts, so it's best to make the attempt to learn it alone if possible. I found practicing with a glass of water and a straw useless. Do it with the horn. I trust Roger implicitly as to circular breathing on pedal C, but it's easier to learn on medium range notes. I suggest you start within the bass clef staff - say, second space c - and work out from there.

Clark Terry is an absolute master of the technique. But quite a while ago, when I asked him at a clinic to explain how he could do it while playing a phrase, he looked at me like I was from Mars. Apparently once he had gotten it, multiple noteplaying wasn't an obstacle. Tuba is tuba, and flugel is flugel, I suppose. Or else, maybe I am doing it wrong.

Anyway, good luck!

Thanks, Roger.
I can, for a short while, keep air bubbles coming out a straw, until my brain gets involved and it goes south.

However, I cannot buzz while pushing air with my cheeks; I don't see how anyone can, frankly. I can make a sort of awful farting sound with my lips while pushing air with my cheeks, but it does not even approach a buzz.

So I suppose this is where I should start. My cheeks, like my lungs, don't hold a lot of air, and it seems that only a fraction of a second's worth of buzz could be gotten using the air contained in my puffed cheeks.

I posted this comment/query (instead of PM-ing) because others may be watching the thread hoping to learn something and might get something out of the conversation.

MA

I can't do it. I tried the exercise where you 'blow bubbles thru a straw into a glass of water while trying to breathe in thru the nose'. I thought I was going to drown!

The best I've seen doing circular breathing is Sergei Nakariakov on trumpet.

Mendelssohn's Concerto for violin in D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xme4T507 ... re=related

Roger, thanks for another edifying post. One thing that's not clear to me, however: I can't for the life of me figure out what that picture in your avatar is supposed to be! Could you enlighten me on that?

Rick F, you sure are right about Sergei Nakariakov. Wow! what a player!

The avatar looks like a tuba in an open case to me.

MA

With a significant bite taken out of the bell. Bet there's a story there

oddly enough i was watching how to stuff on youtube for didgeridoo's... one of the guys taught circular breathing by filling his cheeks up with water, then propelling it out and inhaling at the same moment. then trying the same motion wth air. i thought that was a cool take on it.

Mary Ann, that's exactly where you start. The farting noise. Then put a mouthpiece lightly over your embouchure and continue it, refining the sound until you get a short buzz out of the mouthpiece. You only need a second to double the amount of air in your lungs if your sinuses are nice and clear. But this is exactly where you start, then you extend the amount of sound by doing it at a softer dynamic.

Rick F, that's why I wanted everyone to think about it for a while. I don't want your drowning on my conscience. Think about it and visualize the process in your mind - it's a circle, let it follow the very easy process. It's kinda' like rubbing your head and patting your tummy, it takes a little time to develop the coordination.

Yes, the avatar is a photo of the F tuba that saved my life back in April when the Ford Focus rental car I was in was hit by a semi doing 70 mph and I was stopped. The horn has been to the factory and been repaired and plays incredibly, but I owe my life to that horn, some luck, and someone watching over me. It was crushed flat - through the Miraphone hard case - by my back. I'm doing just fine.

Roger

I'm trying the straw in water thing now, and I think I am making excellent progress. I can exhale an all right amount of air through the straw while inhaling through my nose pretty well, but it's keeping it going that's the issue. I don't get the transition once my cheeks run out of juice.

when you run out of "juice" - exhale.

Roger

Yeah, that works. I've got the basic concept down, but what about the bump of air flow after a breath? I can make a continous sound through the horn, but there is a bump after each breath. Is there anything I can do to make the transition smoother?

I was looking around on my hard drive at some of the stuff I have downloaded and came across a file czardas.mp3 in a subdirectory I named steve_sykes. I edited the file to the first 35 seconds. Listen closely to what happens at about 21 seconds.

http://t-recs.net/mpegs/tubenet/czardas_fragment.mp3

I was looking for a file I downloaded of a tuba player doing Why Do the Nations from the Messiah on tuba with a synthesized orchestra background. I was going to post that over in the tuba christmas music thread as a smart-assed post. I couldn't find it, but I found czardas instead.