Re: Re: circular breathing


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on June 13, 2000 at 13:20:38:

In Reply to: Re: circular breathing posted by Jobey on June 13, 2000 at 12:34:53:

Pardon the comment from a no-talent, but if only a handful of tubists in the world do it correctly, then it must be, um, hard to do. Gee whiz, I can't do a lot of things that every good tuba player can do.

I'm awestruck by how Chester Schmitz does just about everything.

But my real question is...

Why is it that we think a phrase is broken because we take a breath in the middle of it? The start and finish of phrase is shaped so that it goes the direction we want it to go. I don't see any reason why a small gap here and there in middle upsets that direction, unless we let it.

I've been listening to the new Arnold Jacobs CD since yesterday. In his playing, he takes breaths in the middle of phrases all the time, without upsetting the musical flow.

A conductor of a band I once played in was a fantastic general musician, and he taught us to breathe as the phrase was swelling to its climax. His contention was that if the entering note after the breath is stronger than the departing note before the breath, AND if the departing note swelled right to its end, then the breath would not even sound like a gap. But that's to mechanistic--it either makes musical sense, or it doesn't.

Rick "Inhale" Denney


Follow Ups: