alexsander471 I cropped a video to where it’s just him for 75 seconds playing the note. You can set the setting to where it replays the video so that it’s a constant stream of this blissful Bb ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tp5RlA20y5E.html
being a tuba player, my compliments to you on a very difficult technique. i struggled with circular breathing too, and low range is my bane. time was my best friend, but low range never got easier, or useable . on this excerpt, I'd suggest starting with a little less than your normal full air, so you have to sniff sooner, but you'll have the room sooner too. You won't be tempted to go to far and you'll be able to keep the pitch and tone steadier. The only time, on this video, the pitch dropped noticeably was the first one, when you seemed to wait too long. Otherwise it wasn't noticeable! Try holding water in your mouth, sniff and push the water out. it may help to see the stream. I'm not sure worrying about the back pressure on Bb 0 is that important! Honestly, this is very impressive! do it in a rehearsal, that's the only way to challenge yourself. But you're a professional, you know that stuff. More importantly to a tuba player, how are you related to Roger? The eyes are the giveaway!
As far as I know, I am not related to Roger beyond the fact that almost all US Bobos are descended from Gabriel Beaubau who immigrated to Virginia in the 1680s. But I'd love to be proven wrong.
*_0:07_**_ - There is a passage in the contrabassoon part that, if taken literally, would require the contrabassoonist to hold out a PENIS MOLD an be flat for over 70 seconds._* Thats quite an unusual techniqe to play an instrument lol.
This is pretty good. Kenny G does a couple videos on this where he talks about circular breath and said it took him like 10 years to do, 20 to perfect.
I find that the highest 13-14 notes on the bassoon are the hardest to execute circular breathing on. Very interesting to hear what is difficult from another bassoonist's view
I can certainly understand that. For me, on the bassoon and most of the contrabassoon I can take in enough air in the upper part of my cheeks that I don't end up disturbing my embouchure very much. On the lowest register of the contrabassoon, if I try that I end up in an air deficit and find myself needing to do the more exaggerated "Dizzy Gillespie" thing. As I get more comfortable with the exaggerated technique and hold myself to higher standards of tone and intonation I may very well start to find the uppermost register of the bassoon the most challenging.
That's very interesting. I have not had to execute circular breathing for oboe, ever. On oboe, I do find that with its super tight embouchure, it is very difficult to execute a good vibrato technique on notes that are sustained for more than a few measures. Then again, I don't play oboe all the much.
Thank you so much for making this video! This was extremely interesting! Alpine Symphony is possibly my favourite work of R. Strauss, as well as my favourite tone poem overall, and to see you talk about the role the contrabassoon (which is an instrument I'm curious about too, as well as the more modern contraforte developed by Lewis Lipnick) plays in that dark and amazing beginning was fantastic! Also the info on the circular breathing too. Wonder if the passage would be easier on the contraforte (as well as the circular breathing). I even tried humming what is being played during those 75 seconds, as I've read the score and know what is happening. Thank you so much once again! :)
I cropped a video to where it’s just him for 75 seconds playing the note. You can set the setting to where it replays the video so that it’s a constant stream of this blissful Bb ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tp5RlA20y5E.html
Could you dive to the bottom of the lake to find the gold I lost in a boating accident? I am POSITIVE you could hold your breath for a LONG time. Awesome and you didn't look stressed at the end.
Super Flute fill your cheeks with air and push it out while you breath in through your nose. That's all there is too it. Great help if you're in an orchestra and have to hold really long notes (maybe not like the one in this video though!)
Double bass has a lower range because the contrabassoon can play in the alto clef while the double bass play’s in the bass clef only ( the contrabassoon also play’s in the bass clef
1) It's tenor clef, not alto (alto is centered on the middle line of the staff, tenor is centered on the second line from the top). 2) Both contrabassoon and contrabass (double bass) use bass, tenor, and (rarely) treble clef as necessary. If anything, contrabass uses tenor and treble clef MORE often contrabassoon. 3) Clefs and range are independent. The contrabassoon can play down to Bb0 or A0 (depending on the model), whereas the contrabass can only play to either E1, C1, or B0 without retuning (depending on the presence/absence of an extension and the number of strings). You could write a contrabassoon's Bb0 in tenor clef or treble clef (but you shouldn't) but that wouldn't change the fact that it's lower than the standard, non-retuned range of the contrabass.
My music teacher told me that the double bass plays in the bass clef only. And the contrabassoon also plays in the bass clef but has a wider range of from bass clef to tenor clef.( is where I got the idea)
First thing I did was buy several diameters of plastic tubing and found the one that best approximated the back pressure of a bassoon. Then, with that I practiced the various techniques in isolation: using "cheek air" to simply blow, blowing from the diaphragm while building "cheek air", blowing with the diaphragm while releasing "cheek air" switching from "lung air" to "cheek air", switching from "cheek air" to "lung air". (I tried a bit blowing bubbles into water but I didn't find that terribly helpful; the bubbles caused the airstream to have intermittent pressure which I found disruptive.) When I was not entirely inept at the techniques in isolation I started putting it all together. Only after that did I start working with the bassoon and dealing with the most challenging variable: maintaining embouchure (and therefore tone and intonation) during the process. I definitely have a lot of room to improve on the last point. It's probably been a year and half since I first started but it's been very gradual work.
The opera singer in the Bugs Bunny cartoon could do it in a single breath without issue. That's the one where Conductor Bugs made him hold a note until the whole concert shell collapsed.
There is orchestral precedent for tuning the contrabass down to Bb0, in George Crumb's "Haunted Landscape". (Ideally, this would be done on a 5-string contrabass, but those are quite rare in the US). A string instrument tuned lower than the contrabass would work, though it's not 100% clear that the octobass was intended to be tuned an octave below the contrabass. (Berlioz speaks quite emphatically that the octobass was tuned down to C1, giving it a low range an octave below the cello and a half-octave below contrabasses at that time, but identical to modern contrabasses with C extensions. The extra size would enable it to resonate these notes much more effectively; a job the modern contrabass is acoustically undersized for. It is, however, inarguable that at least some extant octobasses have been tuned down to C0. Whether those instruments were built contrary to the original intentions of the octobass, those instruments have been mistakenly tuned by later curators and restorationists, or Berlioz was simply mistaken, I cannot say. Though, I do find Berlioz being entirely mistaken the least likely of the three.)
It woke me up, but I assumed it was my upstairs neighbors stomping around. It was a very small earthquake; only worth mentioning because earthquakes are not something we're used to around here.
Being a low clarinet player, I'd try it on a BBb ContraBass Clarinet: a LeBlanc paperclip can reach down to the Bb0. I know they're not that common in Orchestras, but it's another woodwind option, at least.
Yea I could do circluler breathing in a alto sax and I tried it on a bari and it's just none existent you can get enough air in your checks to let you have time to breathe
Thats actually not too bad. There is definitely room, but Ibwould think with everything else going on around that note that the "hiccups" would largely be missed.
Assuming one could find another instrument and player, I guess the easiest solution for an orchestra would be to have two of the instruments alternating breaths. Maybe coordinating volume to hide when one bassoonist is taking a breath? One crescendo while the other diminuendo until a breath then reverse. Is that a thing?
Hi, i'm not trying to make fun of you, i was just wondering. Why do you shake while playing that note? Is it because of the vibrations of that loooow note? Cheers!
