I seem to recall messing with one of those breathing apparatus is way back in the 1970s and lung capacity apparently was way above average, so probably when I take casual breaths I've got a good bit of air in my lungs anyway...(??) Avoiding name dropping, but when studying with someone who most everyone reading this will recognize, they mentioned in one of the lessons that they didn't see me breathing. I'm not surprised that they didn't, and I did make a note of that during that lesson quite a few years ago, but never really did much about it because there never really was much need.
This huge B-flat that I've taken on over the last two years has my attention, though.
A couple of remarkably fine players have played it and sounded wonderful on it but told me that it was too much tuba for them, as far as the demands it makes on their air. I've decided to - after all these years - get more serious about breathing technique. I know what to do. I don't need anyone to tell me. As old as I am, I've sat through several in-person clinics and watched several videos and completely understand about relaxation, the most effortless and full breaths being those which resemble a yawn, and the old school "stomach" rhetoric being a bunch of hooey... I've also watched a little bit of the videos from those two gents who emphasize being able to take in tremendous amounts of air really fast, etc. etc. etc... I even recall one of Mr. Jacob's regular students - in one of those Jacob's videos - who reminded me very much of myself, in that he could manage to play most everything without taking in deep breaths, but found it all the easier to actually do so routinely, once he formed the habit to do so...
...so I know what to do and I do it a lot, but I just need to make it second nature, because I'm playing this huge tuba a lot, particularly at home. I don't spend much time at all practicing playing with my other instruments, because (as I've said before) they all sort of play themselves. This one requires much more acute lip vibration pitch accuracy (it lets me know when I'm more than five cents off or so with my so-called "buzz", which is why it was so important too rig up this instrument whereby I can blow through the center of every pitch on the fly) as well as - again - the breathing thing.
I pretty much decided that - as uninteresting as they are musically to me - I'm going to pull out the low etudes books, tolerate the compositional talents/tastes, and work through those books with a more serious attitude than in the past - probably pushing to work each of the etudes up towards recital-quality performances (though I would never assault any patrons with these pieces on any recital).
There's this thing about getting older as well. I'm told that the lips don't buzz as easily as they did in the past, things don't move as quickly as they did in the past, and the lungs don't fill up with as much air as they did in the past, so I believe I'm on the right track, in regards to pulling out this not-appealing-to-me book, yet getting serious with it...
...and (finally) there's this phenomenon - over the past couple of decades - whereby composers (who really haven't done their homework) are now viewing the tuba as being an octave below the bass trombone (which it is not)... but they write for it as if it is with their midi keyboards, so - if we're going to play their stuff (regardless of how commercially marketable their stuff actually would be to the general public), I guess I had better be very well prepared to play any and all of it (as I can't imagine any particular music director responding favorably to me raising my hand and saying, "This piece was scored by an ignoramus, so I'm not going to play it.")
