THE CIRCULAR BREATHING TECHNIQUE
a.k.a. protracted breathing technique


Here is how a musician is capable of producing and maintaining a continuous breath through an instrument. From the beginning of the piece played to the end, without the slightest interruption.

To the reader, it could appear impossible to blow continuously without stopping at all for more than an hour. But it's possible to recover breath without any difficulty and without interrupting the piece of music.

The technique:
The musician breathes deeply and re-takes a breath at every Semibreve. He exhales steadily until the end and then with the last of his breath he forcibly inflates his cheeks (stored  breath). Then while he deflates his cheeks he takes in breath by inhaling through his nose. This can continue indefinitely.

HOW TO LEARN THE CIRCULAR BREATHING TECHNIQUE:
The way to learn the protracted breathing technique is the same as described for the player above; for the learner however it is slightly different because even if he is an adult, before learning he cannot produce sufficient air so as to play; he will have to use a little cane. We will provide instructions so that this little cane can be made and instructions in order to use it.

Take a BIC pen, remove the ink tube and plug the little hole on the side. Between this hole and the upper part of the pen (where the little plastic plug is placed, which will remain closed) make another hole smaller than the other already found on the pen. In order to do this use the tip of a red-hot needle.

Fill a glass of water and after having placed it on the table put the plastic pen container in your mouth on the side from which the ink tube was taken out. Place it in the glass of water until you reach and cover the new tiny hole and then blow; you will notice the tiny bubbles and the sound created by them. You will also notice that when you have finished blowing the bubbles will stop too.

Summarizing the technique then:
Concentrate, set the pen in your mouth, place it in the water and blow slow and steady. During the first three counts; that is at one two and three, you store the air for the last quarter, by forcibly inflating your cheeks. In the last quarter (without interrupting the flow of wind coming out) you should simultaneously deflate your cheeks and compress the air in them and at the same time you take in air trough your nose, and continue blowing the other semibreve. If you don't succeed the first time, try again. Don't feel frustrated because rarely people, even understanding the technique, have succeeded at a first attempt.

When the learner has acquired this, he just needs practice until he is capable of going on for at least 10 minutes. After this it can be said that he is at a good stage, because he has reached a stage and resolved a problem that seemed impossible to reach at the beginning.

DEVELOPING THE BREATHING TECHNIQUE:
The breathing technique is developed by gradually enlarging the hole in the pen and by practicing at every stage (with the water bubbles) until one is able to blow for at least 10 minutes. If the student practices three times a day, he will notice that from the first to the third attempt, he will feel pleased with what he has accomplished. If he practices every three days it will be difficult for him to make any sort of progress from the initial practice.