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I read some college boy's comments about orchestra auditions (posted on social media), and - via their epic naivete - they stated, "When it comes down to the last two people, the one who can circular breathe is the one who gets the job."

...so here's the opinion of someone who absolutely has it mastered:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bu3gDdhDi/

(I apologize if you don't have a Facebook account, but I just can't help you.)

I don´t have an active FB-account, so I have no idea what people have to say over there.

I DID notice, though, that Gene Pokorny is making fun of people circular-breathing their way through the opening chord of Rheingold (I believe, that was) on his excerpts-CD.

No, I´m not convinced it might earn anyone a job.
It was nice to spend time on in the practise room to have some fun (the same way emulating slap bass was both fun and educational)
Even more so after I figured I heard Sam Pilafian circular breathe on one of his "Travelin´Light"-CDs.

It has helped me cheat in the past and, revisiting the same passages later, usually I can come up with more intelligent choices to breathe for real and make it work. On a good day, I can pull it off semi-convincingly to not mess up the continuous sound too much and hide that transitioning moment within stuff that may be going on in other people´s parts.

Just like emulation of el.-bass articulations (slap, pop, pull-off, hammer-on, skip, ghost-skip...), practising stuff you won´t need in an orchestral tubist´s day job has its real-life benefits, though: You need to consciously do stuff your teacher might slap your wrist if you offered those in your Bordogni studies, and do it well.
Perfect control over stuff you´re not s´posed to do gives you perfect control over the avoidance of the same when they´re not called for.

Along that idea, take circular breathing as an exercise in cavity control.

I'll just drop this here



I don't know nothin' about winning tuba jobs... or ever played das Rheingold... but I do know that Rafael Mendez was the GOAT.

Oh extended technical passages without the novelty of circular breathing... yes he could do that too...

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17cMoeKfXE/

Steve Sykes is very adept at circular breathing but I have only seen him use it in performance as a comic effect. In this video he holds a note for about a minute, starting at 1:37, but it’s just to annoy the conductor. If you ever have a chance to have a curry and a few beers with Steve don’t miss the opportunity. He is a great guy with a never-ending supply of hilarious stories.

The urban legends surrounding Dvořák and Sibelius get repeated often. Gotta wonder what a tuba player did to Tchaikovsky around the time he was composing Romeo and Juliet.

He’s pretty good at circular breathing.

gocsick wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 6:38 am I'll just drop this here



I don't know nothin' about winning tuba jobs... or ever played das Rheingold... but I do know that Rafael Mendez was the GOAT.

Oh extended technical passages without the novelty of circular breathing... yes he could do that too...

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17cMoeKfXE/

Albert Wieder did it on a Tuba:

If I could get good at that -- really good -- I'd be able to play in the low contra range for more than one second.

I make my living with circular breathing. Keep in mind that I'm about 5'6" and my air capacity is just a little under 4 Liters of air. A few of my colleagues use circular breathing including the late Ryan Anthony. I use it on all kinds of repertoire daily.

I was not hired because of my ability to circular breathe because nobody knows when I use it.

bloke wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 12:14 am "When it comes down to the last two people, the one who can circular breathe is the one who gets the job."

BULL CRAP!!!!!!!!

I would say Don Harry is the best in the business at circular breathing.

I have a very clogged nasal passage due to my nose design, and not even Don could get me to use his trick with water. My DMA professor could circular breathe (and held a full time orchestral position over 35 years) but chose to quick breathe the majority of the time.

Most younger students can't control pitch at the end of phrases or before a breath, and circular breathing sure does effect the pitch and sound. I think that will effect an audition more than the ability to circular breathe... but then again, I was told that the model of horn I play is "too small" and that "people who are advancing aren't using that model".

My previous comment is not meant to belittle anyone who has mastered circular breathing. Though I never mastered it, I had 6.1-liter vital lung capacity and could do most of what I needed knowing how to select places to breathe that would not distort a musical phrase. Though circular breathing did always sound like a good tool.

My outburst was aimed at anyone who did not believe that the winning candidate was the player that:

• Plays the most "musically".

• Plays in a style most fitting to the composer that wrote the excerpt/s being performed.

• Plays with a sound that is most compatible to the orchestra for which the audition is being held.

• Demonstrates a knowledge of the orchestral repertoire by his/her interpretation of the excerpt

• Etc.

The final decision is who is the VERY BEST candidate that day whether or not the candidate uses circular breathing.

Chester Schmitz. Any register and at any volume.

I observed the very best ive seen, at a horn workshop (IHS) some decades ago. I was in the first row right under the soloist who was circular breathing on a long-held high C. I could see him doing it but there was no change in the sound. I was impressed.