Circular Breathing
I first figured out how to circular breathe back in 2016, which was the beginning of my senior year of high school. I’ve been using it ever since, and I wish it was a standard thing to teach musicians so that anyone who wants to learn it doesn’t have to become a detective just to find out how to do it. If you don’t know what circular breathing is, here’s an explanation.
Here’s a clip of me doing it on TikTok while holding long tones: https://www.tiktok.com/@connor.bagheri/video/7675120023710502158?lang=en
Here’s a clip of me doing it while playing the trumpet solo in Lincolnshire Posy: https://www.tiktok.com/@connor.bagheri/video/7636946981566303501?lang=en&q=lincolnshire%20posy%20connor%20bagheri&t=1789164314159
How to do it
The hardest part about circular breathing is first learning how to do it. The age old adage I love to repeat to students is this: “Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.” Try as many methods as you can possibly find until you finally figure out how to do it. That being said, here are the steps I give when teaching it to students:
Get used to taking deep breaths (inhalations) through your nose. Nearly everyone underestimates just how much air you need to take in through your nose in order for circular breathing to be of any notable use to you.
Exhale through your mouth while keeping your cheeks puffed out. A lot of people also have a hard time with this, yet it’s a necessary step if you want to circular breathe successfully.
After going back-and-forth between those two steps, during the exhale, use your fingers/hands to press your cheeks inward to speed up the exhale. This will simulate what it’ll feel like to use your cheek muscles to expel air in place of your lungs.
While doing step 3, try to take a breath in through your nose. I’ve never met anyone who gets this right away, so you’re likely going to have to try this quite a few times.
These four steps are the basic idea, but most people will have to mess around with this for awhile before they finally get it. I had a student first figure it out while they were playing the instrument; I figured it out just by trying to do it without the instrument (and without using my hands as an aid). There’s a lot of variation, so it’s important that you try as many techniques as you can possibly find until you get it. One of those techniques is the “Straw and Water Exercise”.
Conclusion
Once you can circular breathe, it’s going to take a really long time to get good at it to the point where people can’t really hear you doing it. The only way to get good at it is to use it over and over again. I tell students that once they can do it, they should start using it in rehearsals; especially if you play in ensembles that are a fair bit below your caliber of playing, you can get a lot of practice in on the technique without having to do it on your own. With enough reps, you’ll get to a point where you can use it and sound great while doing so.
If any of you figure out how to do it while articulating (single or multiple), please let me know how you did it. I’ve been trying to figure that out for years and I still can’t do it.
