CIRCULAR BREATHING

Advanced breathing

Breathing faster

The circular breathing lesson shown on this web site demonstrates circular breathing in its basic form. This breath is taken quite slowly and independently of other playing techniques.

Considering this, you may be wondering how advanced players play so much faster than the basic circular breath seems to allow. You also may be wondering how they appear to be breathing and playing fast and furious rhythms at the same time, without needing to set aside time for a circular breath (as you are probably doing if you are just learning). I will try and answer these questions below.

To answer the first question, the diaphragm and tongue can be utilised to 'force' a circular breath to occur much quicker than normal. Instead of a slow, methodical squeezing of the cheeks and an equally slow in-breath, a rapid, pulse-like breath can occur instantly and on-demand and can be inserted anywhere into very fast rhythms.

The action of the circular breath is still the same, but just a whole lot faster. This style of breathing is generally known as 'bounce breathing', because the fast breath has a strong, pulsing sound that is played in a rhythmic 'bouncy' fashion.

This technique really allows your breathing to become part of your rhythm, which is a very important concept. The pulsing sound created from the fast breath is a very effective rhythm making tool. It really becomes the structure of your rhythms, or it 'lays the foundation' for your rhythm playing.

In fact, bounce breathing is so effective in rhythm making, that you can make amazing rhythms just by bounce breathing in a rhythmic pattern. Some of the most classic rhythms around are simply bounce breaths repeated in a pattern, without any other playing technique used at all. This demonstrates the power and versatility of bounce breaths.

So how do advanced players breathe while playing other techniques at exactly the same time? I know when you are first learning to circular breathe, it seems like everything in the rhythm has to stop for your to take a circular breath, before you start up again.

The action of the inflating cheeks can be somewhat of a constraint in your rhythm; it slows your rhythm down, and you may not want the slow pulsing sound in your rhythm; you want something snappy and fast!

Because the bounce breath is taken so quickly, you don't need to fully inflate your cheeks with every breath, like you have learnt. This frees you up to do other techniques while doing the bounce breath. You can do all kinds of tonguing and other techniques at the same time as taking a breath.

The result is a seamless rhythm that appears not to have any circular breathing at all, but in fact has very small and subtle breaths interspersed throughout the rhythm amongst the other playing techniques that you are using.

There are a variety of techniques that incorporates bounce breathing and various playing techniques at the same time, such as tongue breathing, jaw breathing, hard bounce breathing, tongue hit breathing and wobbling.

Once again, the result is a fast, seamless rhythm that has many great sounds and effects, with short, subtle bounce breaths interspersed throughout. This is the way to complex, exciting rhythms!

Breathing in and out

When you learn to circular breathe, you learn how to take a breath in through the nose to keep your lungs full. This is how everybody learns to circular breathe.

Circular breathing steps

The paths of airflow that occur when your lungs are empty and you need to take air in. The 'circular breath' is shown in the middle.

You may find though, because you are always taking breaths in, sometimes your lungs get uncomfortably full to the point where you have to stop playing to let air escape from your lungs.

As your playing improves, you will eventually learn to breathe out through your nose on the circular breath as well as breathe in. This allows you to regulate the air in your lungs to keep them feeling comfortable so your breathing does not get in the way of your rhythms.

This should come naturally over time, and isn't something you should worry about too much. But it's important to know that circular breathing is not just about breathing in all the time.

So when do you breathe in or out? This depends on how your lungs are feeling. If they feel empty, you breathe in. If they feel too full, you breathe out. Didgeridoo playing consists of regular circular breaths in which air is breathed in or out through the nose, depending on the requirement of your lungs.

Circular breathing out

The paths of airflow that occur when your lungs are too full and you need to expel air.

While you will always tend towards a higher ratio of in-breaths when you first start learning to circular breathe (probably 100%), as you become more accustomed to circular breathing, you may start to find the ratio of in-breaths to out-breaths will start to even out. When I play, the ratio of in-breaths to out-breaths is probably 50/50.

This 50/50 ratio works best because it is easiest and most effective to play didgeridoo when you keep your lungs topped up at an even, comfortable level the whole time. It is not effective to allow your lungs to get completely empty, and then take the circular breath, and then let them get completely empty again.

If this happens, your rhythms will be influenced by this breathing pattern and where you take the breath will be obvious to the listener. That is, if you wait till your lungs get empty, you will have to take a slow, heavy breath in your rhythm which will affect the tempo and be audibly apparent.

Also, you need to keep fresh air coming into your lungs regularly. Sometimes your lungs feel full, but for some reason or another, they are actually full of stale air. It is not enough to let this air come out as you play, sometimes you just need to get it out. When you are first starting out, you will just have to stop playing to expel the air. If you can expel air on the circular breath and then quickly replace it with fresh air, you won't have to stop playing.

To play fast rhythms, you need to be able to keep your lungs evenly and comfortably full with both in or out-breaths. Typically, the circular breaths will be short, constant adjustments to the level of air in your lungs so they are always kept feeling comfortable. Because they are both in and out, and because there will be no particular emphasis on one breath, they can be incorporated anywhere within the rhythm, at any speed, and will not be apparent to the listener. This is the way to play very fast, consistent and regular rhythms.

Breathing out on the circular breath is not something that I actively learnt. For a long time I just breathed in on every circular breath, and this is what you will do too. If my lungs were too full, I would just continue the rhythm but wait until I needed to take a circular breath. Eventually though, I found that my nose was actually expelling air on the circular breath instead of taking air in. Eureka!

Thankfully, my nose and lungs had worked it out for myself. This should happen to you too, but there are also a few things you can do to practice this, if you would like to encourage it along.

First, repeat Step 2 of my 'Five Steps to Circular Breathing Happiness', but this time expel air from your nose instead of sniffing air in.

Now repeat Step 4, but as you squeeze the stored air out of your cheeks, expel air from your nose at exactly the same time. Before you do this, fill your lungs up with air first. This will make you more inclined to expel air on the circular breath, because your lungs are so full.

Try these steps so you understand the concept that circular breathing goes both ways. Once you understand this, your lungs will work this out for you as you put more demands on it when you play faster rhythms. Eventually, you should find yourself breathing out on the circular breath as well as breathing in.

For more info on bounce breathing, and breathing in and out while circular breathing, check out my instructional series How to Play Didgeridoo PRO.

 

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In summary

Didgeridoo tip Circular breathing is not just about taking air in through the nose. It is about taking air in, or expelling air, depending how your lungs are feeling.

Didgeridoo tip Eventually you will also learn how to expel air out through your nose while circular breathing, if your lungs are too full. This should come automatically, but after lots of practice.

Didgeridoo tip Circular breathing is a constant adjustment of in-breaths and out-breaths to keep your lungs feeling comfortable.

Didgeridoo tip Being able to expel air through your nose as you circular breathe will allow you to play faster rhythms for longer.