Power circular breathing bass clarinet, bare torso demo2, Sleep"Dragonaut" riff-Cornelius Boots-2015

Video 2 of 4 - opening riff from Sleep's "Dragonaut"
Bass lines and riffs for holistic woodwinders require advanced application of the "sub-technique" of circular breathing, also known as perpetual exhale or constant exhalation.
But that's just the beginning: what do I mean by "power circular breathing"?
To paraphrase the legendary Bruce Lee: true power requires flexibility and flow.
Please carefully read the following, and see why a shirtless video made sense here:
Compared to only playing melodies -- a limited musical scope if ever there was one, great though melodies are -- in order to effectively play a part derived from how a rhythm section player plays (drums, bass, guitar, etc.) within most styles that use rhythm sections (rock, jazz, metal, funk, etc.) you need to marshal MANY more energetic resources to properly convey the drive, forward motion, power, oomph, aggressiveness or groove.
I've been pioneering this difficult physical work on reeds and flutes for about 25 years and have observed -- I submit as humbly as possible -- a truly wretched and abysmally poor uptake of this primary point.
In other words: very few reed and flutes performers can match the mojo, drive, consistency, groove or oomph of even a mediocre bass player, for instance.
Some of the reasons are: sustain (we must circular breathe to play many of these parts or types of parts); poor rhythmic integrity; remedial stylistic intelligence. But much of it has to do with a lack of Power.
Woodwinders generally concentrate on precision and refinement, and are consequentially often weak when it comes to drive and oomph. Very often, very weak. The truth is, we do not live in an either/or world when it comes to this. And understanding how to lay down foundation parts while playing with a drummer connects you to most music that has been made for the last 100 years -- even as circular breathing itself connects you to our deeper, Paleolithic woodwinding history.
Power circular breathing means putting ALL THIS TOGETHER, and the demands on the abdomen, diaphragm, respiratory system and, really, the entire body are serious. This takes work, physical work, deep understanding of the mechanics and the musical intentions involved and hours and hours of practice. Hence -- the bare torso demo short videos we filmed just before I retired from bass clarinet back in 2015.
If you want to do this, you must take lessons from someone who can do this. You will not:
a) successfully learn to do this on your own or
b) successfully learn to do this from an otherwise "qualified" player who cannot actually do this
Practicing "hard" must be accompanied by training "smart."
Another example, one of the first such power riffs for the bass clarinet:
corneliusboots...
• "In a Crowded Comb" fo...
[Note: if a riff or bass line has sufficiently, naturally-occurring syncopation, a non-circular-breather can still attain driving forward motion if they understand the above principles that are not sustain-related -- this riff almost has such a gap -- but you still need power in the breath. A good example of a riff that does is Good Times aka Rapper's Delight -- a great example of a riff that does not is No Quarter.]
Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet
edmundwelles.b...
Sheet music:
corneliusboots...
More information about robot bass clarinet (electric bass clarinet) and Cornelius Boots:
corneliusboots....
the single-reed conspiracy:
From 1996-2014, EDMUND WELLES was transmuting many musical styles into bass clarinet quartet form. The single-reed conspiracy has at its disposal the following devices culled from the world of heavy metal music: a thickness of tone, a density of texture, absolute rhythmic precision, and the extreme use of dynamic contrasts. The bass clarinet: a synergy of designs from all saxophones and clarinets, themselves the culmination of hundreds of years of single-reed instrument evolution. A four-and-a-half octave voice, multiplied into four equal parts and breathing together to create a dense, pulsing sound capable of expressing and reflecting the full range of human emotions.
There was no precedent for a wind-based ensemble such as this attempting to build these massive bridges between avant jazz, new music, black metal and classic rock.

[@claribaixos]

Thank you for sharing. 🙏