Lesson 70: Circular Breathing

Keep a short tone steady through one circular breath.
Practise cheek pressure with bubbles before trying it on the recorder.

Let the air flow while the lungs refill.

Circular breathing lets cheek air keep a note going while you breathe in through your nose. Learn the switch in short tries; later lessons also work with normal phrase breaths.

Try the mechanics

Fill your cheeks, push their air through a straw into water, and inhale through your nose; keep the bubbles continuous.

Repeat through a straw in air, listening for interruptions.

On the recorder

Sustain low DG; push cheek air, inhale through the nose, and return to lung air without a break.

Try one circular breath; end the note early if needed, then rest.

Apply: Handel, HWV 365 — Larghetto

Play bars 5–8 at a practice tempo.

Breathe at the eighth rest in bar 6; try circular breathing in bar 7.

Source: Chrysander, via Mutopia/Björn Sothmann, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Now play these

Handel: HWV 365 — Larghetto: Shape the phrases with breaths.
Van Eyck: Doen Daphne — complete: Use continuous air sparingly.

When the phrase stays steady with comfortable ordinary breaths, continue to Lesson 71; return to circular breathing as a separate practice task.