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A did you know thread?


I can indeed help with that one. For a brass player, circular breathing is more of a party trick than a useful tool, although I did know one trumpeter who had such god awful breath control that he turned circular breathing into an art form. It does tend to cause problems in other technical areas though. I've done my fair share of Didg playing though and it is fun to learn.

To answer your question, no. Circular breathing wouldn't make this possible as most of the air "circulation" happens above the vocal chords and order to do it successfully - ie not fall over and die, you need to open your throat and use the muscles in your throat and mouth to keep the air flow constant. I think the air pressure/direction is wrong for vocalising. I can't do it on the horn. I get a slight glitch in the sound when I transfer to using new air - as it were, but I can do it on a trumpet. Something to do with the emboucher - the way your face muscles are set I think.

- My teachers used to tell stories about people using the technique to beat the old style breathalyser tests!


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Lrw, being a fact-obsessed geek, with no malice, I thought there were two types of bomb in Japan. An atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb. I think they were code-named fat man and little boy, can't remember the order. (I can't ***** to look it up now, getting ready for work)
 

I didn't know that, which is the point of this thread, to educate and amuse. The survival of the Japanese man was one of those facts that appear from goodness knows where and stays in your head. In my case I can remember the registration number of our first Transit mini-bus bought in 1967, but up until recently I couldn't tell you how old I was! I know when my birthday is, but I always had to work my age out. Ridiculous.
 
The hydrogen bomb was first developed and used in 1952.

Little Boy, used on Hiroshima and Fat Man, used on Nagasaki were the second and third atomic bombs to be made and used, the first one being the Trinity Test as part of the Manhattan Project. The americans had a shortage of fissile material.

The 4th atomic bomb was called Able and was dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1946. There were a series of tests at Bikini. The baker test in 1946 was to see the effect on shipping in the area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S53IdBc-_Xc
 

LOl My mum and dad had one of those telephones, it was the latest model, light green oblong base and I think a darker green handset? It was in the hall on the telephone table, under the stairs with a shelf for the telephone directories and a cupboard underneath which held vinyl records, Ooooooo they were the days.

RRB
 
Ahh, hornplayer! Circular breathing a party trick? Blooming handy for those sustained notes up top on a sop! Makes you quite lazy wrt breathing, bit trickier on lower notes though! Should teach everyone that while you're learning triple & double tonguing! Shame there's a "thing" about it - poor kids think it's hard to do!


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Funnily enough, the person I was talking about who was really good at circular breathing was a brass bander. I think maybe the symphonic brass style is a little different to brass band playing. I know that, on a horn (French horn, not Tenor horn,) circular breathing would be useless in a performance situation. You couldn't produce the depth of sound or play fluently through the full four octaves, let along produce the sort of volume needed. I think this might be true on any instrument where an open throat is needed. The guy I knew in college, - beautiful cornet sound but never could sustain any sort of decent orchestral trumpet sound. - one good long loud passage and he'd pass out! But then the sop cornet just glides across the top so it doesn't need the power the orchestral brass do.- I spend half my life trying to get kids to NOT breathe through their noses! Trying to get them to develop abdominal muscle strength and control as well as get them used to using their full lung capacity. Circular breathing would derail that. I don't think that double or triple tonguing is always necessary either. I've never found anything that I can't single tongue, and that includes all the brass band test pieces I've played over the years. ( transposing the tenor horn parts or messing about on Flugel )- I do know that I'm in a minority there though. Maybe sop cornet should be in a separate class of wind instruments, with the Didg?


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Did you know a cow does not have four stomachs but has four digstive compartments.

RRB : D
 
He he - separate class for Sop along with the didg ;-) yeah, brass handers tend to blow into the instrument & hope something'll pop out the other end. I do get told regularly, as I'm filling up & blowing the thing straight & strong, "Simon it isn't a trumpet". (also the brass banders stands are FAR too high, you can't see the conductor & you're blowing at a wall! Perhaps I spent too long in swing-bands )
French horn though - wow, that's a real beast to play! Forever up in the high register & having to transpose a semitone all the time the hand's in! Talk about making things difficult, worrying about breathing & tonguing just pales into insignificance!


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You don't transpose coz your hand's in the bell! - someone's been telling you porky-pies!! You transpose coz, well, that's what horns do. There is an explanation, but its way too involved to stick up here! It has to do with the way the instrument evolved. Your hand in the bell usually lowers the pitch by about a quarter tone, which you compensate for with tuning slides. Its very useful as the intonation on some harmonics is dodgy. You can bend the note down wards by about three quarters of a tone by closing your hand but if you close it completely, it jumps up a semitone. That's called hand stopping, and, yes, then you do have to transpose down a semitone to compensate. - is that what you were thinking about?

I totally agree with you about brass banders and their stands. I don't get how they manage to be so tight (well, the good ones anyway! ) when the obviously don't watch the band master??

Isn't it fun how differently different brass instruments are blown? I have loads of fun with the trumpeters since I started teaching, especially the other staff. The horn has a completely different technique from other brass instruments. Much softer face, loads more air and much more abdominal strength. - when I pick up a trumpet, I blow the others off the face of the earth! I don't mean to, but my style is definitely Big Band! ( When i wasn't playing Mahler, i was banging out film scores. i think the best description i've heard of my playing style is "heroic". - do you think he was trying to find a nice way of saying "in your face"?? ) I like playing the cornet, coz it has more resistance and behaves more like a horn. I recently bought a pocket trumpet and that's better again. - For the very reason trumpeters hate them! Loads of resistance to play with, bad intonation, stops me getting bored and, what can I say, it's cute and I'm just that much of a girl!


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(Also have to do the old "semitone transpose" if I ever have to venture into pedal-note land, which, thankfully, is almost never - but sometimes fun to show-off to smug euphoniums)


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I know! What is it with euphoniums??

Got a nice one today, - Brahms 2. Horn in H! That's down an augmented 4th. Can't remember what the equivalent for trumpet is. My least favourite has got to be A flat basso. Down a major 6th. For some reason my brain just doesn't want to co-operate!


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Noo, H is B natural. Easy for you. I think the equivalent on trumpet would be trumpet in E. - I had to look that up. Down 6 semitones.( so C becomes F sharp etc ) Apparently there's a chunk of the New World symphony in it.


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- we should start a musicians thread. This must be way boring for every one else! - although, they are learning all about transposition! lol

Going to rehearsal now....... Bye


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Musician's Thread? Good stuff! I'm a guitarist (Electiric and acoustic, bass, bouzouki and mandolin).
Anyone else? We could form a band! :mrgreen:
 
I can play the triangle, not very well mind
 
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