Circular What?

August 9, 2024

A couple of decades ago I happened to overhear a clarinetist friend of mine talking about something called circular breathing. I tried to imagine what on earth this could be, but to no avail. To my mind, there was nothing circular about it. You breathe in, and then you breathe out. End of subject. 

But my curiosity had been piqued enough for me to ask my clarinetist pal what this mysterious circular breathing actually was. He explained that circular breathing is a technique used by certain wind and brass instrument players to maintain a continuous sound by inhaling through the nose to fill the lungs, and simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks. He told me that switching between cheek and lung air without wavering air pressure was tricky, but once you got the hang of it the benefits were considerable.

Think of a flutist, oboist, clarinetist, bassoonist, trumpet player, or any other wind or brass player having to decide where best to take a breath for musical reasons, when often there is no best place. But now, with circular breathing widely used by classical musicians, another world of musical possibilities has opened up for them.

In my naïveté, I wondered who in the classical music field had invented this most useful skill, and when. So I looked it up. To my amazement, I learned that the technique is ages old, and used not only by wind instrument players of many different cultures, but also outside the realm of music by Mongolian metal smiths blowing on flames to achieve sustained, consistent temperatures.

Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen is a perfect example of circular breathing’s importance. The work’s eight movements for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano, composed in a German internment camp during the Second World War, were inspired by text from the Book of Revelation. In the eighth and final movement, “Praise to the Immortality of Jesus,” time does indeed seem to stand still, both figuratively and literally. At that highly atmospheric moment, Messiaen asks for the slowest tempo imaginable, an immense challenge to the clarinetist’s breath management. No longer so with circular breathing, however. In the performances I’ve participated in, the clarinetists using this technique have been able to concentrate more on the movement’s extraordinary aura rather than breath issues. 

The success of circular breathing has made me a bit envious. Both the cello and violin have their own problems in this movement. Wind instruments breathe in and out, but string instruments also have only two choices: up bow and down bow. In the glacier-like tempo that Messiaen demands, how and where can I disguise my bow changes so they are close to inaudible? I’m waiting for the invention of “circular bowing,” in which you simply turn a wheel covered on its edge with horsehair against the instrument’s strings. Goodbye bow changes.

I was recently speaking about circular breathing with an oboist friend (who shall remain nameless), when he told me the following totally unexpected story on the subject.

My friend had left a party having had too much to drink, and was stopped by a police officer for driving erratically.

“Sir, please get out of your vehicle, and kindly touch your nose with your index finger,” the officer requested.

My friend missed his nose by a good inch.

“Sir, I have to ask you to walk in a straight line.”

My friend only managed to walk in wavelets rather than a straight line.

“Sir, I’m going to have to administer a breathalyzer test on you.”

As the officer began to attach the equipment that would measure the alcohol content in his breath, my oboist friend realized he was possibly in deep doo-doo—that is, a heavy fine at the least, or, worse still, possible jail time. And then, even in his somewhat inebriated state, a risky solution occurred to him. Why not use my circular breathing technique while on the breathalyzer? And as this took place, the officer kept on adjusting his equipment and scratching his head, for hardly any alcohol content was registering on the machine. 

“I know you’re sloshed, sir, but there must be something wrong with my breathalyzer.”

Finally, the officer shook his head sadly. 

“I’m going to have to let you go, sir. Drive safely.” 

Attention, woodwind and brass players. Forget this story immediately. 

Please.